AmaNdebele Threaten Secession from Botswana…and claim Bakalanga have no land in the North east District of Botswana!

Please note: AmaNdebele strictly means people of Nguni stock who crossed the Limpopo in the 1800s already called Matebele, from which comes the name AmaNdebele.

Really, what's the Problem with the Ndebele? They now want Secession from Botswana and guess what, they claim Bakalanga have no land! Guys, I don't hate Ndebeles but this is going just too far. By Ndebele I mean Nguni. See what this guy is doing in Botswana.

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Mmegi Online

Tuesday, 18 December 2012
Issue: Vol.29 No.189

A man purporting to be the chief of aMandebele in Botswana is laying a claim to the North East District of Botswana (NEDB) as the homeland of aMandebele of Botswana and warns of serious consequences if allocation of plots there does not stop.

The man, Nhlanhla Simon, says Kgosi Maruje III of Masunga must get out of the way because on 1 February 2013, the aMandebele of Botswana will resume their chieftainship as a way to preserve their culture and heritage.

Among the consequences being threatened is UDI or secession into Zimbabwe's Matebeleland. The aMandebele chief has written letters to the Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Peter Siele, the Minister of Lands and Housing, Lebonaamang Mokalake, and the representative of the North East at Ntlo ya Dikgosi, Kgosi Maruje III of Masunga about this claim.

In a letter dated 10 December 2012, Simon warns Mokalake to stop allocating land in the North East District. He says the land was stolen from his people by Tati Company (TC), acting in conjunction with the Bechuanaland government, in 1911.

"Therefore by virtue it belongs to (the) tribe of aMandebele of Botswana," he writes. "Any allocation of plots/land after you have received this letter will be considered illegal and invalid until further notice in which the tribe of aMandebele of Botswana will have a right to take them back."

According to Simon, Tati Company was given mining rights in 1888 by aMandebele which had a 25-year lease that ended in 1913.

"After the death of Matebele elders from 1893 to 1915 due to (the) war between British South Africa Company and Matebele, Tati Company saw that manpower was lost hence loss of knowledge in aMandebele side," he writes further.

"It therefore used that opportunity to steal Matabeleland by illegal annexing the land between Shashe River and Ramakgwebane River into Bechuanaland with intention to defraud the tribe of aMandebele as it knew that it was impossible for the incoming generation to have knowledge about the land.

"The Tati Company allowed settlements like Masunga, Sinyawe, Siviya and many others without preventing them or advising those squatters about consequence of illegal occupation of the land. In addition to that it started to sell land to individuals, organisations and government.

"Government of Botswana provided lucrative market to those fraudsters like buying places like Gerald Estates and Tati Siding and

many others, hence she had clear conscience about the origin of land and even did so without consulting the tribe of aMandebele of Botswana in which to us it have proven without reasonable doubt that government of Botswana looked down upon the tribe of aMandebele of Botswana."

Simon says he and his people consider any development or settlement in NEDB and Francistown after 1888 as illegal and invalid because there was no consultation of aMandebele at all.

The only development they can accept for now is the road that links Tonota and Francistown. Three options are outlined for the North East District. The first is restoration of their bogosi (chieftainship) and thus recognition of the people as aMandebele of Botswana. The second entails UDI - a unilateral declaration of independence for the North East District. The third involves the territory being integrated into Zimbabwe's Matabeleland.

"But as for now we have chosen an option to be given our chieftainship and be respected by Government of Botswana, hence be recognised as tribe of Amandebele of Botswana by government of Botswana pending on negotiations with Government of Botswana," Simon writes.

"As the tribe of aMandebele of Botswana, we call upon the Government of Botswana to give us (the) respect we deserve as it does with other tribes in Botswana and stop undermining the tribe of aMandebele of Botswana's integrity and intelligence."

Another letter advises Kgosi Maruje III to stop calling himself a chief in NEDB because the territory belongs to aMandebele of Botswana and not the Kalanga people.

In this letter, which is dated 5 December 2012, Simon says he is the rightful chief of NEDB.

If, the letter continues, there is any validity to the claim that Maruje is the chief of Bakalanga, the claim can be fulfilled in Central North Botswana, a territory described as stretching from Mathangwane to Nata and its environs.

"The boundary between Central District Botswana and North East Botswana is Shashe River," says Simon. He writes to Kgosi Maruje:

"So as (the) tribe of Amandebele, we give you up to 30 January 2013 for you to get out of your idea of calling yourself chief in my territory. Continuing calling yourself chief in my territory will be considered as a threat and action of war against the Chief of Amandebele of Botswana and his tribe, in which the tribe of Amandebele of Botswana have right to respond to."

Simon has authoring these letters and dispatching them to Siele, Mokalake and Maruje but says he has not received any response to them.

Contacted, Siele said he (was) not aware of the letter while Maruje would not comment. Mokalake could not be reached for comment as his phone went unanswered.

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I may agree with this guy on North-East becoming part of Zimbabwe (as it was before Lobengula sold it to the Tati Concessions in 1911), but not as "Ndebele Land"!

Comments

  1. Unknown30 August 2016 at 00:49

    I prefer to break new ground, but it gets harder and harder with the
    territory that's already been walked on. See the link below for more info.

    #territory
    www.ufgop.org

    ReplyDelete

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