The Bakgatla-ba-Kgafela people of the North West province have
been through centuries of trials and tribulations, conflict and
scattering, finally establishing themselves in both South Africa
and Botswana. Because their lands proved to be part of the
platinum-rich Bushveld Igneous Complex, they now have access to
mineral wealth.  Did you know?  Bakgatla is a derivative of the
word kgabo which means monkey, the totem animal of the Bakgatla.
The Bakgatla-ba-Kgafela people are a sub-group of the Tswana,
people who live in the North West province of South Africa and
in Botswana.  The timeline of the history of this clan is
punctuated with alliances and conflict, as it was forged during
the era of the Difaqane (the scattering) in the early 1800s,
when southern Africa was in social turmoil.  By the mid-1800s,
the Bakgatla-ba-Kgafela were living in the Pilanesberg area near
the site of the present-day Sun City resort in villages on a
large number of farms they had leased from the Boer Republic.
Part of the lease de