Who the Basia are
Wikipedia’s article on Mmanthatisi, the Batlokwa regent, says her birth people are called the Basia (also Mosia) and are “the people of the Wild Cat”. It describes them as “unsociable at best and warlike at worst” and says their praise songs speak of constant fighting; we do not reproduce the songs, and we treat the description as that writer’s view, not a fact about a people. It does not give a totem under that name, so we have not confirmed one; our Batlokwa page records a different totem for the Batlokwa themselves.
Mothaha and Mmanthatisi
The Mmanthatisi article says she was the daughter of Mothaha, “a chief of the Basia tribe”, born Monyaduwe in what is now the Free State, in the area of present-day Harrismith, and that she grew up near Ntswanatsatsi. It says her husband’s relatives called her a foreigner because she was born a Mosia, and some Batlokwa wanted a “pure” Motlokwa ruler. It says that while regent she kept in touch with the Basia, consulted Basia advisers, and sent her son Sekonyela to her brother’s Basia home to be raised and, at circumcision, to her Basia people, escorted by her brother Letlala; and that in 1822, after an attack by the amaHlubi and amaNgwane, she fled to Letlala’s home with some followers, who invited her to stay, though she refused. The article gives her birth as 1784 and describes her life as roughly 1784 to 1847. Its external links give different dates (1781 to 1836) for one blog, which it does not explain.
What we have not read
We found no history of the Basia themselves: no list of chiefs, no account of where they lived beyond the article’s few lines, and no source for the name Mothaha other than this one. We have not read the works Wikipedia cites (Setumu 2014, Etherington 2013, Eldredge 2015 and others), Kriel’s 1983 study of the Batlokwa near Harrismith (which appeared in a search but was not opened), or any account by Basia descendants. We do not know whether the Basia of the Free State are the same as other groups with similar names.
Izithakazelo (direto) and totem
We are printing no Basia praises and no confirmed totem. If you belong to the Basia and recite your direto, we would like to record them, with your permission and credited to you.
Sources and further reading
- Wikipedia: Mmanthatisi (cites Setumu 2014, Etherington 2013, Eldredge 2015 and others)
See also Batlokwa and Batlokwa ba Mota.
Do you belong to the Basia? 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.