It is a great and distinct honour and priveledge for me to have been invited to officiate at this very historic and moving occasion as a Guest Speaker and I would like to thank you heartily for the invitation which I accepted without hesitation. I am also accompanied by a number of Bahurutshe chiefs from within Botswana border and from South Africa as well as  representatives from Namibia to grace this occasion. We all thank  you very much Kgosi Radipitse, our distinguished host. It is a moving and important occasion to us and the people of Tonota.
 You have a reason to celebrate after traversing this southern continent from the Transvaal for many years to a final destination of Tonota where you have enjoyed a hundred years of peace and tranquility.
┬áTo both of us the descendants of Mohurutshe, this is perhaps the first time that we meet together emotionally to celebrate┬á after a split which was occasioned by a fight between the two sons of Queen Mohurutshe being Motebele and Motebelejana which led them to split and go their their own separate ways. Therefore the theme of you celebrations ‘Popagano ke Phenyo’ which translates to ‘Unity is Victory’ in English, captures this emotional meeting of brothers and sisters who have not known for centuries that they were actually one.
It would be remiss of me not to thank Bagwato tribe who have been your very good host and have shared everything with you being both the descendants of Kgosi Malope II.
Your initial invitation to us of August 2013, was delivered during an annual meeting of a loose organisation dubbed IPATLISE which came into existence in Kudumane in 2010 and the invitation was subsequently renewed as a reminder in August this year. IPATLISE’S objective is to know each other as Bahurutshe in different countries and network for the exchange of information in a number of cultural issues like the development of family trees,┬á compare and contrast new cultures with the past Which calls for a lot of research . Meetings have also been held in Namibia , Botswana on annual rotational basis. We engaged some of Ba(k)hurutshe to come to the party as we are the same people and identified on effective Mo(k)hurutshe,┬á Mme Seatholo Tumedi who first participated in the Tsabong meeting in 2012 and Kudumane in 2013. Attendabce of this occasion is a succes result of our networking. I may not be wrong that she was factor in our being invited that she mentioned that you have other Bahurutshe kinsmen in Southern Africa.
 We have had significant success in building a comprehensive genealogy from our ancestor Phofhu to present generations. However, we need to do more and engage more brains,  particularly from our youth to write a comprehensive history of Bahurutshe because the information the information is scattered all overin a number a number of publications. Our success has also elicited interests from other tribal groupings to join us inorder to emulate what we had started. This is also a nourishing exercise because of intermarriages across tribes.
┬áOur process of researching on cultural issues is in accordance with the United Nations Education and Scientific Cultural Organisation(UNESCO)’s Convention for the Safe Guarding┬á of Intangible Cultural Heritage, which was adopted by the United Nations Member States on┬á 17 October 2013 . This convention calls upon State Parties to it┬á to endeavour and┬á ensure the participtation of communities, groups and where appropriate individuals that create, maintain and transmit such heritage, and to involve them actively in its management. This convention defines intangible cultural heritage as the practices, representations,expressions, knowledge skills that communities and groups and in some cases ,individuals recognise as part of them. The intangible cultural heritage , transmitted from generation to generation┬á is constantly created by commuties and groups in respect of their environment, their interaction with nature and their history and provides them with a sense of identity and continuity thus promoting respect for cultural diversity and human creativity. (Articles 2 and 15 of the Convention. This is why our government annually designates a cultural week so that communities share their respect cultural heritage but it involves preparations during the year by the respective communities hence our IPATLISE concept gore o iketse. Botswana is a signatory to the Convebtion and has accepted it is therefore a State Party.
There are those who pose questions like how am I going to benefit from the exercise. The short answer is the English addage that “no man is a island” or in Setswana “Moroto wao esi ga o ele. In most of Setswana rituals you cant do a number of things without anchor parents apart from your father and mother. You invariably need your materna uncle (malome), parternal uncle (Rangwane), paternal aunt (Rakgadi) maternal aunt (Mmangwane) etc, so you must know them and if you don’t, you must look for them. This is exactly what we are doing by constructing family trees because you may be having important relative in Lesotho whom you have never heard about ÔÇô this is the essence of research. Our efforts have over the years┬á enabled us to discover our relations, our clansmen and women have also made friends for networking in general. You can contact people in Botswana, Namibia and South Africa and obtain any information you require for your benefit. This is a matter of an intangible benefit which though readily unquantifiable may nevertheless create tangible benefits for you in future.
┬áMay I now proceed to impart a bird’s eye view of the Baphofung Confederacy as it is decsribed by historians in relation to King Phofhu’s descendants. In the final analysis you will find out that Bakhurutshe, Bahurutshe, Bakwena, Bangwato, Batawana, Bangwaketse, Bakgatla and a substantial populations of South Africa are all descendants of Phofhu.┬á There are about┬á nine rulers from Phofhu to Masilo II and the son of of Malope I whom most people know well because has been the reference point in the books┬á for many years. I thin┬á that it might be a better treatment of this Confederacy to refer to the numerous break ups┬á by a number of groups and hiving off from main stream to form their tribes, clans etc. otherwise it is a subject which could keep us many days here.
 
BAKGATLA
Let me start with Bakgatla. Bakgatla are may be the  first group to leave the Confederacy when a Mohurutshe  in the nameof Malekele broke away from the main stream to from what was to be Bakgatla tribe. Professor John Makgala who has recently mentioned this fact in his book of the history of Bakgatla and is a Mokgatla is here with us today. He could help us to write a book about our history and is very well know to Mme Tumedi as they are former colleagues at the University of Botswana. Of course they would need to be facilitated by being well resources as well. This may not be difficult because the government could facilitate funding through UNICEF in accordance with the Convetion.
┬áThe seventh ruler, Mogale lived around “Dithaba tsa ga Mogale” the so called Magaliesberg mountains and there are a number of Baphofung in the villages and towns around that area.
Malope I, the son of Masilo II-a-Melore I -a_Mogale had Queen Mohurutshe in the first House and her younger brothers, Kwena, Ngwato and Ngwaketse in the second house. On the death of Malope most of the tribesmen and women opted for Mohurutshe, a lady  to rule them but Kwena would not agree and influenced his two younger brothers, Ngwato and Ngwaketse to agree with him and they split from the tribe and they chose Kwena (crocodile) as their new totem theby delinking from the totem Phofhu (eland).The majority of the tribe stuck with Queen Mohurutshe and they continued to venerate  Phofhu.
┬áQueen Mohurutshe had two sons, Motebele and Motebejana and the tribe was now called Bahurutshe derived from the name of the queen. After the death of their mother, Motebele was installed King but later on he also split with his younger brother Motebejane because of an incident of the disappearence of a young baboon (Tshwenyane). Motebejane was asked by Motebele to keep an eye to this baboon at the cattle post with his regiment.┬á One day the baboon escaped to join a group of baboons passing by during the absence of the regiment. On reporting the matter to the Chief, he punished them severely “kana e nkgwe ke ya mosimane”. This action did not go down well with most of the tribe and war was waged with Motebele who is reported to have been unpopular and he was defeated. They separated and┬á Motebelejane adopted ”tshwene” (baboon) as the new totem of his group because it had had assisted the tribe to get rid of his elder brother.┬á Motebele continued to venerate Phofu as you continue to do and you will continue to be the senior tribe of of all of us Ba ÔÇôana- Phofhu.
 
MOTEBELE
Before Motebele left for Otse in Bechuanaland, he  is reported to have founded and ruled a grouping in Blauberg around Zoutpansberg and therefore there should be some of his descendants located there, a cause for research. After crossing into Bechuanaland first living in Otse and later Lobatse. He then moved northwards through Boswelakgosi next to where my village of Manyana is presently located , then to Shoshong, Tati etc and finally settled in Tonota from Sefheegwane and Shongwane   a century ago.
The history of Motebele’s descendants continue to Lesotho. Apart from his sons Moatshe and Lesele, his other sons were Thuloane and Tsukulu (Tshukudu) who┬á left the Transvaal and ended up in Lesotho and the two sons have created a significant population of Basotho known as Bataung, with their main base in Teyateyaneng and Baramokhele.
 
MOTEBEJANE
Motebejane’s roots have grown tremendously in Southern Africa. They are in South Africa where their origin is, in Botswana and Namibia. The diaspora was caused by a number of factors like internal tensions which led to splits, incursions by other tribes┬á chiefly the Zulus and the Ndebeles e.g The Difaqane wars, Sebetwane’s crusade of plunder across Bechauland ending up in Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) to from Balozi (Barotse) tribe to mention a few.
Motebejane’s sons were Moshwaane and Melore III living at Tshwenyane(Enzelberg) in the Madikwe district. Later on, Moshwaane formed a separate tribe BA GA MOSHWAANE (Ga Mosoane) at Tigane at the Mokwatsi (Maquassi) River. Here is another area ripe for research.
Melore II the son of Motebejane was the father of Malope II┬á and Malope’s son was┬á Mohurutshe II. Mohurutshe II’s sons were amongst others Motlhware and Pule whose roots grew outstandingly from South Africa to Botswana and Namibia and are here with us today.
 
*Mosielele is Kgosikgolo of Bahurutse ba Manyana. He was guest speaker of centenary celebrations of Bakhurutse ba Tonota (06, September, 2014)
