Show Summary Details

Page of

Printed from Oxford Research Encyclopedias, African History. Under the terms of the licence agreement, an individual user may print out a single article for personal use (for details see Privacy Policy and Legal Notice).

date: 08 February 2025

BaHananwalocked

BaHananwalocked

  • Lize KrielLize KrielSchool of the Arts, University of Pretoria

Summary

The people identifying as BaHananwa are descendants of Setswana-speaking BaHurutshe who migrated to the area south of the Limpopo River (21st century Limpopo Province of South Africa) sometime between 1750 and 1830. The Hananwa language is a variety of Sesotho sa Leboa, or “Northern Sesotho.” Blouberg (the Blue Mountains) is the historical site of the capital (mošate) of the Leboho rulers. The Boers of the Transvaal, whose independence was recognized by Britain in 1852, considered the African polities between the Vaal and the Limpopo Rivers as their subjects. Until the 1890s, ruler Kgaluši Leboho continued to act independently in the area around Blouberg and resisted Boer demands for taxes. In 1894, the State Artillery and Boer commandoes embarked on a campaign to subjugate the BaHananwa. After a three-month siege, Kgaluši and his royal entourage were taken prisoner. Many BaHananwa were indentured as farm laborers for Boers, but many more managed to escape capture, some 500 finding refuge on the Berlin Mission Station at the foot of the mountains. Kgaluši’s mother Mmaseketa acted as regent for six years. In 1900, with the British invasion of Pretoria, Kgaluši was released from prison and allowed to return to Blouberg. In the 20th century, the BaHananwa rulers resisted colonization. The adoption of a Bantu Tribal Authority was delayed until the 1970s. The apartheid government then acknowledged the original reserve demarcated in 1888 along with additional tribal, privately owned, and trust farms as BaHananwa land. The territory was governed as part of the Lebowa “homeland,” which was incorporated into the new Northern (later renamed Limpopo) Province in 1994. Traditional leadership continues to be acknowledged under the postapartheid democratic constitution and a supreme court ruling of 2010 affirmed the chiefship of Ngako Isaac Leboho.

Subjects

  • Southern Africa

You do not currently have access to this article

Login

Please login to access the full content.

Subscribe

Access to the full content requires a subscription