Mosoge in the sources
Mosoge is the genealogically senior lineage of the Langa clan. Jackson says it descends from Mosoge, the son born to a daughter-in-law married to raise an heir for the house of Seritarita’s principal wife. Mosoge should have become chief, but he is praised as “Mosoge who liked cultivating”.
What the sources say
Jackson gives two reasons the line did not rule: Mosoge was always in the fields and not at court, and he probably could not dislodge Mapela, who was well entrenched by the time Mosoge came of age. Mosoge left Moumong-wa-Matswake during the wars of Mzilikazi, about 1823 to 1837, and settled at a small hill, Mabjanamaswana, near Thutlwane, still subject to the Langa chief (about p. 8).
The seniority of the lineage is still recognised. After circumcision the Mosoge are the first to burn their initiation lodge, and the head of the Mosoge names the new age-set; its head is a sub-headman (borametsana). In 1888 women of the Mosoge lineage took part in a girls’ initiation under Masebe’s sister Mpyanyane near Malokong. After the 1890 partition most Mosoge families stayed with Bakenberg, and only a few came to Mapela. The rulers of Lelaka used to marry Mosoge daughters until that became hard to keep up (about pp. 40, 72 and 74).
Cautions
We found no Mosoge praise text beyond the nickname above. Jackson was a government ethnologist, and his fieldwork at Mapela took about 100 days between 1962 and 1967; he says the opinions are his own. His present tense describes 1968. We read the book through machine OCR of a typed transcription, so names and numbers may contain errors, and page numbers are approximate.
Izithakazelo and totem
The book records the totem and praise poem of this ward where given above, but we are not printing them in full. If you belong to the Mosoge and recite your own izithakazelo or direto, we would like to record them, with your permission and credited to you.
Sources and further reading
See also Langa, Kekana and Ndzundza.
Do you belong to the Mosoge? Tell us your praises and what elders say about the history, and we will add it, credited to you. Share what you know or WhatsApp 065 138 8213.