Tlôkwa people
The term Batlôkwa refers to several Kgatla communities that reside in Botswana, Lesotho and South Africa.
It comprises the followers of Tlôkwa kings and the members of clans identified as Tlôkwa, or individuals who identify themselves as of Tlôkwa descent. Most of the Batlôkwa clans trace their royal lineages to Kgwadi son of King Tabane, who was the father and founder of the Batlokwa nation. The Tlôkwa considers the Tlokwe-cat as their original totem which has since become extinct due to over-hunting for its fur, which was used by clan chiefs.
Classification
The Batlôkwa kingdom is part of the larger group of Bakgatla people, which is one of sub-divisions of the Bantu-speaking Tswana peoples. These different groups are often classified for convenience as 'Sotho-Tswana'. This is because, from an early stage of their history, they shared a number of linguistic and cultural characteristics that distinguished them from other Bantu-speakers of southern Africa. Most prominent was mutually intelligible dialects. Other features included totemism, preferential marriage of maternal cousins with the exception to Batlôkwa who prefer marrying their paternal cousins, and an architectural style characterized by a round hut with a conical thatch roof supported by wooden pillars on the outside. Other commonalities included a style skin cloaks called mekgatlha, dense and close village settlements larger than those of 'Nguni' peoples, and a tradition of building in stone in less grassy or wooded regions.The history of the Basotho and Batswana people is one of continual dissension and fission where disputes, sometimes over kingship ascendancy, resulted in a section of the clan breaking away from the main clan, under the leadership of a dissatisfied king's relative, and settling elsewhere. Often the name of the man who led the splinter group was taken as the new tribe's name.
The traditions of the Batswana people point to a northward origin, and indicate that their southward movement was part of the great migrations of the Bantu-speaking iron-age peoples. Usually, the theory asserts that the Sotho-Tswana separated from other Bantu-speaking peoples in the vicinity of the Great Lakes of East Africa, and that they proceeded downwards along the western part of present-day Zimbabwe.
Some scholars caution against this classification of ethnic groupings since Africans are not homogeneous peoples. Paul Maylam stressed that there is a common tendency for the criteria used to label African groups "to overlap between 'different' societies so that it becomes virtually impossible to use all the major criteria at the same time to define nearly differing, self-contained entities."
History
Following the death of Masilo there was a leadership crisis that resulted in the formation of the Hurutshe and Kwena clans. The Batlôkwa claim lineage from the Hurutshe clan and traced their early ancestry to Mokgatla, the founder of the BaKgatla and Tabane.Tabane fathered a son Matlaisane from his senior wife and five sons by his junior wife, Diale, Kgetsi, Kgwadi, Matsibolo, and Mosia. Each broke away to form Bapedi, Makgolokwe, Batlôkwa, Maphuthing and Basia respectively. Ten generations later, from Kgwadi, Montwedi, the son of Motonosi, fathered Mokotjo. Chief Mokotjo the father to Sekonyela died at an early age, so his mother, Manthatisi, was regent during his minority.
Kgosi-kgolo Tsotetsi
Kgosi-kgolo Tsotetsi was the paramount king of Batlôkwa ba Mokgalong, which was a senior branch of Batlokwa. He took over the reins after his father, Kgosi Seboloka, son of Mokgalo, died and he also, like most of the earlier chiefs, died at an early age, however by then he had already bore 6 sons by his Kgosihadi 'Mamohlahlwe, namely Mohlahlwe, Tsibela, Selemane, Leloka, Sethati and Thai. At the time of his death, his successor Mohlahlwe was still a minor, and Batlokwa made a consensus that Queen Mamohlahlwe becomes regent for his son Lebaka. This, therefore, made her the first queen to act as a regent in the Batlokwa nation. Kgosihadi Mamohlahlwe was greatly assisted by her late husband's siblings, namely Kganye son of Thekiso and Motonosi son of Makoro. These chiefs assisted very well in the chieftainship of Batlokwa until Queen Mamohlahlwe gave way to her son Lebaka who then became the paramount king of Batlokwa.Kgosihadi Manthatisi, wife of Kgosi Mokotjo
Kgosihadi Manthatisi was one of the best known, and most feared, women military and political leaders of the early 19th century. In the years of wars, migrations, and state-formation often referred to as the Mfecane or Difaqane, the Tlôkwa people were first known in English as the Mantatees, after Manthatisi's name, in the literature of exploration, missions and empire.Kgosihadi Manthatisi, the daughter of Chief Mothaba of the Basia people who were a sibling nation of Batlôkwa, in what later became the Harrismith district of the Free State province of South Africa, was reportedly a tall, attractive woman. She married Mokotjo, the chief of the neighboring Batlôkwa, in a typical dynastic alliance, and is said to have borne him four sons. Mokotjo died while the heir, Sekonyela, was still too young to assume the chieftaincy, so Manthatisi acted as regent for Sekonyela.
After Mokotjo's death the Batlôkwa ba Mokotleng faced military encroachments by the amaHlubi people who were fleeing their homes in neighboring Natal. Made refugees themselves, Manthatisi who was then a Regent for her son Sekonyela commanded the Tlôkwa into the Caledon valley, driving out other Sotho communities living there. Her troops seized the crops and cattle of the people they attacked, leaving a trail of destruction and devastation.
Her reign of military conquest extended as far as central modern day Botswana. At the height of her military and political power her army was estimated to contain forty thousand fighters. However, she eventually suffered a series of defeats beginning in Bechuanaland in January 1823. Peter Becker describes the developments during this period when he stated that:
"Meanwhile Mmanthatisi was approaching with forty thousand men, women and children. It was January 1823, the time of the year crops were ripening and food was usually plentiful. But the Wild Cat People were compelled to live frugally, for so great had been the chaos brought about by difaqane/difetlwane in general and the plundering of Mmanthatisi, Mpangazita and Matiwane in particular that entire tribes had vanished from their settlements even before they had tilled their fields in preparation for planting. Indeed, the Central Plateau swarmed with hunger-stricken stragglers and small, detached parties of bandits. Apart from roots, bulbs and berries, there was little food to be found in the veld, certainly not enough to feed so large a horde as that of Mmanthatisi."
Nonetheless, the most prosperous of the Botswana chiefs, Makaba of the Bangwaketsi, made a firm decision not to surrender to Mmanthatisi without a struggle. Becker, described this in detail:
"Meanwhile, the old Chief had decided not to surrender to Mmanthatisi without a fight. He called up every available warrior, garrisoned every pass leading to his capital, and with the guile for which he was famous, prepared traps into which he planned to lead his aggressors.
"Since her flight from the Harrismith district Mmanthatisi had managed to brush aside all opposition in the territories she traversed, but now in the stifling bushveld of Botswana, she was to come face to face with a foe whose fighting forces were as numerous as, and also better fed than, those of the Wild Cat People. The vanguard of Mmanthatisi's army strode into ambuscades; large groups of men topped headlong into concealed pitfalls and met their death beneath volleys of barbed javelins. A battle broke out, in the course of which hundreds of the invaders were massacred. Before the situation could develop into a rout Mmanthatisi suddenly disengaged her armies and retreated with her hordes to the east. Thus Makaba became the first "Sotho" chief to repulse the formidable BaTlokwa Army, and to this day he is spoken of as the 'Man of Conquest.'"
Because of Manthatisi's notoriety, all Sotho-Tswana raiders became known as “boo-Mmanthatisi”, or “Mantatee Horde” by the English. Known also as the “Destroyer of Nations”, she was only stopped from entering the Cape Colony by British Forces near Aliwal North. Eventually Manthatisi settled her people on the Marabeng Mountains.
After Mmanthatisi's son Sekonyela reached maturity he took control of the baTlôkwa social structures and military.
Kgosi Sekonyela
was born in 1804 near Harrismith next to the Wilge River. His mother sent him away from the Tlôkwa to protect him from political rivals. He rejoined the Tlôkwa in 1824, after his mother had led the Batlôkwa during the early Difaqane/difetlwane wars. Amidst the social and political chaos which gripped the present Free State and Lesotho regions, Sekonyela continued to build the Tlôkwa into a major military power. When the worst phase of the wars ended in the early 1830s, he settled on the naturally fortified mountains near the Caledon River.Kgosi Sekonyela's major rival for control of northern Lesotho was Moshoeshoe, the founder of the Basotho kingdom. For twenty years the two rivals raided each other and competed for adherents from among the many refugee bands in the region. Moshoeshoe – much the better diplomatist – gradually outstripped Sekonyela in numbers of supporters. In November, 1853 Moshoeshoe attacked and defeated Batlôkwa ba Mokotleng which Sekonyela fled to Winburg for asylum. After this defeat the people under Sekonyela disintegrated, some fled to Lesotho where they were absorbed into Moshoeshoe's state, others to Eastern Cape with a substation portion fleeing north to present Tshwane region in Gauteng.
Sekonyela later obtained land in the Herschel district of the Eastern Cape where he died in 1856.
Kgosi Sekonyela's downfall is commonly attributed to his personal defects. His love of war alienated his neighbours while his rough treatment alienated his own people. On the other hand, Moshoeshoe's rise to power was attributed to his love of peace and to his benevolence.