In light of the many episodes that Mogopa village has had, and backdating moments in history from 1911 – The Bakwena baMogopa bought their first piece of land, Zwartrand in the Ventersdorp region during the apartheid era. Bakwena baMogopa acquired another farm, later on, Hartebeeslaagte.
Victor Mogomotsi, Mogopa resident explained ‘Before we were removed the land was used for various things such as agricultural purposes such as mielies, white maize (…for mielie meal), and yellow maize (the purpose for this was to feed the animals) and beans – and the purpose for those were to make an income. There was also sorghum. They would sell it … and vegetables were planted in the individual yards.‘
Mogopa as a village has never had an overall chief, but there was a senior headman. The paramount chief of the Bankwena people was in Bethanie, Brits in North West Province.
Mogopa at the time had two schools, a clinic, shops, and a reservoir in the 1980s as well as a thriving agricultural sector.
Philip More, also explained that: ‘in each clan, there was one. One would ask to come into the clan and when you enter the clan you would be given rules and they would say that they are giving you a place to stay and regarding the farming, you would not be privileged to have any farming land. You did not have any say, but you got a place… you could do what you wanted to do in your land and we could give you cows as well but you would not have separate farming land. These clans had very big rules or administration as you cannot just come and do what you wanted here…’.
Mogopa village started having a problem with their senior headman, Jacob More in the early 1980s accused of corruption and attempted to remove him from the position, however, the Magistrate stated he will rule until he died.
The full history of Mogopa can be on the SAHA website,
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