Origins and the name
Wikipedia describes the Batlhaping as a Tswana clan living mostly in the Northern Cape and North West. It says they broke away from the Barolong after refusing to keep paying tribute to the Barolong king during the reign of Tau. The name is loosely translated as “those with an affinity for fish”, which the article says arose from the group staying behind to fight Ndebele raiders while others moved north.
The article says the fish is not the Batlhaping totem. It gives the kudu (tholo), the Barolong totem, as applying to the Batlhaping too, and says the fish symbol is used in some contexts to set the group apart from other Barolong.
Places and subgroups
The article names Dikgatlong, near the Vaal and Harts rivers, and Nakoneng, where the Batlhaping settled with the Korana. Today the groups are based at Kuruman, Danielskuil, Kimberley and Vryburg in the Northern Cape and at Taung in North West. It lists three subgroups: the Batlhaping ba ga Phuduhutswana, the Batlhaping ba ga Mothibi, and the Batlhaping Ba-Ga-Maidi. The Ba-Ga-Maidi began in 1835, when a dispute between Maidi and his father Tawana led Maidi to lead a group of Barolong away. They later joined the Batlhaping. The article also records Batlhaping trade with Khoekhoe communities on the Orange River by 1778 and their own iron production from 1812.
Dithakong
Dithakong, east of Kuruman, was a Batlhaping capital and a major destination for the earliest expeditions from the Cape into the interior. Colonial writers also spelled it Litakun or Lattakoo. When the Truter and Somerville expedition arrived in 1801 it was under Kgosi Molehebangwe. By the time William Burchell visited in 1811 his son Mothibi had succeeded him. The name is given as “place of ruins”, from the stone-walled ruins on adjacent hills that Somerville asked about in 1801.
The Battle of Dithakong, 1823
On 24 June 1823 Batlhaping and about 200 Griqua horsemen with guns, recruited by the missionary Robert Moffat and led by Andries Waterboer, Barend Barends and Adam Kok II, fought an alliance of Bafokeng, Maphuting and Bahlakoana led by Sebetoane, Tsooane and Nkarahanye. The town was burned and the invaders were routed, and Tsooane, Nkarahanye and several hundred others were killed. The article notes that how this period is interpreted is debated, following Julian Cobbing’s critique of the older Mfecane account. In 1878 colonial forces under Charles Warren bombarded Dithakong while suppressing a Tswana uprising.
Izithakazelo (direto)
We have not found a published text of the Batlhaping praises, so we are not printing one. If you belong to the Batlhaping and recite them, we would like to record them, with your permission and credited to you.
Sources and further reading
- Wikipedia: Batlhaping clan (cites Ngcongco, “Origins of the Tswana”, and Eldredge, A South African Kingdom, 2002)
- Wikipedia: Dithakong
The Wikipedia clan article does not mention Molehebangwe or Mothibi; those names come from the Dithakong article. Before relying on a date, check it against the cited academic works.
Do you belong to the Batlhaping? Tell us your praises, your totem and what elders say about the tribe’s history, and we will add it, credited to you. Share what you know or WhatsApp 065 138 8213.