Land, Chiefs, Mining by Andrew Manson Bernard Mbenga

Author:Andrew Manson, Bernard Mbenga [Andrew Manson, Bernard Mbenga]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, Africa, General, Technology & Engineering, Mining
ISBN: 9781868149926
Google: CDdjDwAAQBAJ
Publisher: NYU Press
Published: 2014-09-01T04:17:20+00:00

THE BAROLONG NATIONAL COUNCIL

An interesting aspect of the clash between the Ratshidi and Ratlou lies in the formation of a body known as the Barolong National Council (BNC). The BNC was formed in 1915 but was a spent force by 1920. It was created at the height of the Ratshidi-Rapulana conflict that was increasingly focussed on the ownership of Lotlhakane. The first president of the BNC was the Reverend EM Sehumo, a member of the Rapulana ‘royal house’ and a minister in the African Catholic church, which had broken away from the mainstream Roman Catholic Church in South Africa. The stated intention of the BNC was to unify the baRolong through mobilising ethnic sentiment, but the underlying objective, strongly suggested by the timing of its founding, was to dilute the influence of the Ratshidi. As one commentator has stated, the BNC’s formation was ‘politically motivated by the Rapulana and the Ratlou … as a lever to elevate Moshete as the paramount of the BaRolong’. The Ratshidi, unsurprisingly, had very little to do with the BNC and saw it for what it largely was – a front to advance the interests of their political opponents, particularly in Lotlhakane and the Setlagole reserve. Eventually, the BNC imploded from within. In 1920, the Rapulana kgosi, EM Matlaba, and Rev Sehumo were found guilty of embezzling £578 and £78 respectively from a fund they had established, in Matlaba’s case to satisfy his well-known fondness for liquor.

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