Bafokeng (singular Mofokeng) means “people of the dew.” They are a Sotho-Tswana people whose main community, the Royal Bafokeng Nation, is centred on Phokeng near Rustenburg in North West province – land that sits on some of the world’s richest platinum reserves, which the nation holds communally.
Meaning and totem
The name is usually explained from phoka, “dew” – “the people of the dew” or “those found at dawn.” Sources differ on the totem: because the Bafokeng branched from the Bakwena, the crocodile (kwena) is often given, while other records list the hare (mmutla) or link the clan simply to phoka. This variation is itself part of the clan’s history and we note it rather than forcing a single answer.
The praise currently on this page – describing the Bafokeng as “mountain lions” – does not match documented Bafokeng tradition and appears to have been added from an unreliable source. We have flagged it for replacement.
Origins
Archaeology and oral tradition agree that farming communities ancestral to the Sotho-Tswana lived in the Rustenburg valley for well over a thousand years. The Bafokeng specifically are recorded as descending from the Bakwena and settling around Phokeng from about the fifteenth century. A severe drought around 1690 scattered many Bakwena groups, but a substantial Bafokeng population remained on the land north of present-day Rustenburg, which they have occupied continuously since.
History: land held, not lost
What makes the Bafokeng unusual is that they kept legal title to their land through the colonial and apartheid periods. In the 1860s the community paid for farms in cash – the money partly earned by Bafokeng men working on the Kimberley diamond fields – registering the land in the name of the Kgosi in trust for the nation because Africans could not hold title directly. When platinum was discovered on that land in the twentieth century, the Bafokeng were able, after long legal battles culminating in a 1999 settlement with the mining company Impala Platinum, to secure royalties on the mining.
Today the Royal Bafokeng Nation, led by Kgosi Leruo Molotlegi, administers roughly 300,000 people across about 29 villages, funding schools, clinics, infrastructure and the Royal Bafokeng Sports Palace through the Royal Bafokeng Holdings investment company.
Direto (praises)
Bafokeng praises name the descent from the Bakwena and the settlement at Phokeng. We do not currently hold a verified full text and would welcome one from the royal house or from Bafokeng elders.
Where the Bafokeng are today
The core community is at Phokeng and the surrounding villages in North West province. Bafokeng families and the surname Mofokeng are also widespread in the Free State, Gauteng and Lesotho, where “Mofokeng” is one of the most common surnames.
Related clans
Bakwena (parent group), Barolong, Bapo, Bakgatla, Bahurutshe.
Sources and further reading
- Wikipedia: “Royal Bafokeng Nation,” “Phokeng.”
- Susan Cook, The Business of Being Bafokeng (2011) – anthropological study of the nation and its platinum revenue.
- Bernard Mbenga & Andrew Manson, People of the Dew (2010) – a history of the Bafokeng.
- South African History Online: “Prehistory of the Rustenburg area.”
Help us improve this page. If you are Mofokeng and your family recites a praise text or carries oral history – especially on the totem question and the early Phokeng settlement – send us a WhatsApp on 065 138 8213 or use our contact page. We credit contributors who wish to be named.