THE battle over the Bapedi kingship is far from over.
The dispute between the Mampuru and Sekhukhune royal families has been heard by the Commission of Traditional Leadership Disputes and the Constitutional Court will be back with the commission on 2 May.
According to the descendants of Kgosi Mampuru, they should have the crown but they are not recognised.
They said Sekhukhune and Mampuru, who fought for the throne in the 1800s, were both the sons of King Sekwati, but by different mums.
According to members of the Mampuru family, their forefather was the product of Sekwati’s marriage to the wife of his dead brother, King Malekutu.
Sekhukhune was from his first marriage.
They said Sekwati was king while Mampuru was too young to take over, and when Mampuru was crowned king, Sekhukhune insisted he should have the title as he was his father’s eldest son.
They said after Sekwati’s death in 1861 the nation elected Mampuru to rule over the kingdom, which stretched from the Limpopo River to the Vaal.
However, Sekhukhune made an alliance with whites to take the crown from his brother.
Mampuru eventually killed Sekhukhune but he was later hanged by the white government in Pretoria for murder.
According to the Mampuru family, the two men’s sons ended up fighting for the kingship and the Sekhukhunes were once again supported by the whites.
