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I understand that no man wants to lose power, but rejecting the children just to keep power is not acceptable. – Gladwin Koketso Mvianga (28).

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Sizwe sama Yende

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The man who claims to be the son of the late Royal Bafokeng’s chief, Kgosi Lebone Mollwane Boikanyo Molotlegi, claims he has been recognised and accepted to his family and now wants to help all abandoned siblings achieve the same.

Gladwin Koketso Mvianga (28) revealed in 2021 that he was taking legal action to claim the throne as traditional leader of the richest traditional councils in Africa.

Mvianga claimed he was the only son of the late Kgosi Lebone Mollwane Boikanyo Molotlegi who died in 2000. In the absence of an eligible heir to the throne, the chief’s brother, Leruo Molotlegi, stepped in to take over.

Mvianga told The People’s Eye that elders had a meeting with him last Sunday and accepted him as a member of the royal family. He goes by the Mvianga surname of a Mozambican stepfather who raised him.

“I’m very happy that my family has finally accepted me after so many years of fighting. I really felt at home and I’m looking forward to take the steps which the elders have advised I should,” he said.

“I’m also looking forward to a meeting with the royal family to settle everything but my only concern now I want my siblings who felt the pain of not being accepted by the royal family to be recognised,” Mvianga said.

Mvianga said he knew of the feeling of being sidelined. He said that the elders revealed that they knew about him all along, but could not do anything.

Mvianga said his mother, Stella Juliet Setshedi, was threatened with death when he decided to take up the fight. Setshedi died last year, and Mvianga claims her constant fear following the threats contributed to her health deteriorating and resulting in her death last year.

Setshedi is also of royal blood in Montsana near Lehurutshe in the North West. She raised Mvianga at Phokeng, near Rustenburg.

“I understand that no man wants to lose power, but rejecting the children just to keep power is not acceptable,” Mvianga said.

Mvianga claimed in court papers in 2021 that according to the customs and traditions of the Bafokeng nation, he should have succeeded his father. He said because he was only five years old when Kgosi Lebone II died, his uncle should have been appointed as a regent.

At that time, Mvianga was living at Cork village near Hazyview in Mpumalanga when he contacted a local lawyer for assistance.

The Bafokeng make their fortune from royalties in the platinum mines in operating on their land. It is estimated that the family have a net asset value exceeding R50 billlion.

There has been concerns, however, that the riches did not trickle down to the communities and they were never consulted.

The Bafokeng nation has a population of about 300 000.

Their most influential king, August Mokgatle, ruled from 1834 to 1891. He pooled the community’s resources and bought back the land the people had lost to colonialists.

In 1925, long after Kgosi Mokgatle’s death, one of the world’s richest platinum deposits – the Merensky Reef – was discovered on the Bafokeng land.