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DENDRON » No/Nr: 43 » November 2011
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TREE SURVEY IN SEKHUKHUNELAND
Tree Survey in Sekhukhuneland
Over the week-end of 4 to 6 February 2011 a
group of members from several branches of the
Dendrological Society were privileged to join experts
and delegates from various other Societies to conduct
a survey of the trees and vegetation in the area of
the Tšate Provincial Heritage site in the Sekhukhune
Centre of Plant Endemism. We visited here at the
invitation of Lizanne Nel, who is facilitating a project for
the Sekhukhune District Municipality, but more about
that a little later.
On preparing for the survey, I realised that I knew but
little about this area and started wondering as to what
its possible claim to fame could be. It turns out that the
area is very interesting and in many respects unique.
Where is Sekhukhuneland?
Sekhukhuneland is located within the area bordered
by the Olifants River in the west, the Strydpoort
Mountains in the north, and the Steelpoort River
in the east. It is the land occupied by the Pedi
people, the Bapedi, who belong to the Northern
Sotho linguistic group. In the past, the Pedi had a
much larger territory, occupying the area between
Rustenburg in the west, the Vaal River to the south,
and the lowveld in the east.
Hartwig von Dürckheim
Some Historical Background.
The evening of our arrival, and around a lively
campfire, Lizanne briefly sketched the interesting
history of the area and its people.
The earliest settlers in the region appear to have been
farming communities who established themselves
south of the Limpopo river around 200 AD. These
mark the beginning of the South African Iron Age
period. Some rich archaeological finds of Iron Age
sites in the area of the Tšate Valley are testimony to the
activities of these early people who, it is presumed,
may have been related to the Middle Iron Age culture
of Mapungubwe. These early people were displaced
by the migration of people from Central Africa.
The Sotho people appear to have migrated
southward in successive waves from the Great Lakes
region in Central Africa as from about 1500 AD, and
one of these groups settled in the Western Transvaal
around 1650. Parts of this tribe later moved to
the vicinity of what is today Pretoria. Strife and
competition led to a section of that group to move
east and settle in the Steelpoort area, where the Pedi
nation was then established. By 1800 Thulare was
the leader of the Pedi Empire in the north-eastern
Transvaal. The Pedi then consisted of several tribes,
who enjoyed great wealth under Thulare’s rule and
he is still honoured as a great chief and leader to
this day. Then followed the chaos of the Difaqane
wars (about 1815 to 1836) where the Zulus under
their king Skaka, and later Mzilikazi, laid to waste
and dispersed the tribes that had settled in the
Transvaal. Thulare’s son Sekwati was then the leader,
and he fled with the Pedi to the north where he took
refuge. Some years later he returned and settled in
the area known as Magali’s Location. Sekwati’s son
and successor, Sekhukhune, initially consolidated
the power of the Pedi, but years of drought and a
series of attacks from the South African Republic and
the Swazi chiefdom weakened the Pedi during the
1870s. Around 1845 the Voortrekkers under Hendrik
Pogieter settled at Ohrigstad and concluded
a treaty with the Pedi. In spite of the treaty, cattle
thefts and labour disputes occurred and this caused
friction between the Voortrekkers and the Pedi. This
situation deteriorated for many years until in 1876
the Voortrekkers waged war on the Pedi under
Sekhukhune, but were defeated and had to retire.
TREE SURVEY IN SEKHUKHUNELAND
Confrontation continued until the British annexed
the Transvaal in April 1877.
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In 1878 the Bapedi were at war once more, this
time with the British under Theophilus Shepstone
who viewed Sekhukhune as a hindrance to British
ambitions in the Transvaal. Several inconclusive
battles were fought until November 1879 when, in
an expedition led by Col Baker Russel, 3 500 British
regular troops and 3 000 Transvaal levies combined
forces with 8 000 Swazi warriors to defeat the Pedi. In
a battle lasting five hours the Pedi were vanquished
and Sekhukhune was subsequently captured. He
was sentenced to a long term of imprisonment, but
was released when the British withdrew from the
Transvaal after the first Anglo-Boer War. He was
murdered in 1882 by his half-brother, Mampuru
(who was later executed). Today, built on a boulder
at the foot of the hill where the 1879 action took
place and overlooking the expanse of the Tšate
valley, there is a monument of Sekhukhune as he
contemplates the role he has played in the history
of the Pedi.
After the defeat of the Pedi their homeland was
substantially reduced. Reserves—roughly coinciding
with the core area of the Pedi heartland—were created
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DENDRON » No/Nr: 43 » November 2011