Historical Dictionary of Botswana by Barry Morton Jeff Ramsay

Author:Barry Morton,Jeff Ramsay
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: undefined
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.
Published: 2012-12-15T00:00:00+00:00

MOLEFI (1909–1958)

Kgosi of the Kgafela Kgatla (1929–1936, 1945–1958). The first son of Kgafela Linchwe and Seingwaeng. Following his education at Zonnebloem in the Cape Province, Molefi succeeded his uncle, Isang Pilane, who had acted as regent since the retirement of Molefi’s grandfather, Linchwe I. Molefi was an outspoken and popular figure whose reign was nevertheless marred by personal problems and conflict with his uncles and protectorate officials. Molefi and Isang quarreled over the Linchwe estate, resulting in a major inquiry in 1935. The following year, after a series of incidents ending with his allowing the Machama regiment to create a two-day disturbance in Mochudi, Molefi was suspended from office by Resident Commissioner Charles Rey and replaced with his younger brother, Mmusi. In 1937, Molefi was banned from the Bakgatla Reserve. Until 1945, popular agitation for Molefi’s return was led by the Bakgatla Free Church under Thomas Phiri, a protonationalist movement known as Ipelegeng, and the Zion Christian Church (ZCC), made up of ex–Free Church and Ipelegeng members, including his mother, Seingwaeng. Molefi regained the confidence of the colonial government by serving in World War II as a sergeant major of the AAPC and was reinstalled in September 1945. The second half of his reign, however, was equally troubled.

A person of great extremes, Molefi was known both for his fair judgments in kgotla and his harshness in dealing with opponents. He banned the ZCC in 1947, even though it had worked for his reinstatement, and banished its unrepentant members, including Seingwaeng and his uncle Bakgatla Pilane, who had looked after his own children during his exile. Molefi squandered his inheritance and the revenues from his office on luxuries and entertainment, but often he spent it on his friends, who came from all segments of society. In 1958, his health had greatly deteriorated through alcoholism and tuberculosis, and Molefi overturned his car at Phapane, dying almost immediately. He was succeeded by Mmusi, who acted as regent until Molefi’s son Linchwe II was installed in 1963.

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