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As the Lebone Letshubile Foundation, our vision is to bring change and freedom to the Bafokeng. We are honoured to invite the Bafokeng community to join us on July 27, 2024, to welcome our Chief, Gladwin Koketso Lebone III, who has spent five years in exile fighting for our rights as Royal Bafokeng.

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Sizwe sama Yende

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The claimant of the Royal Bafokeng chieftaincy has launched an offensive to make a statement that he is the heir to the throne of Africa’s richest tribal authority.

Gladwin Koketso Mvianga’s foundation, the Lebone Letshubile Foundation, has invited the Bafokeng community to a gathering on July 27 to welcome “our chief, Gladwin Koketso Lebone III.”

Mvianga (28) has been claiming publicly to be the biological son of the late Royal Bafokeng’s chief, Kgosi Lebone Mollwane Boikanyo Molotlegi known as Lebone II, over the past three years.

About three weeks back, Mvianga (his stepfather’s surname) told The People’s Eye that elders of the royal family had eventually welcomed him as a member of the family, thereby burying results of a controversial DNA testing procedure which Mvianga complained was rigged.

He then said that he was lobbying the royal family to welcome all his siblings who were not recognised in the royal family.

In a statement, the Lebone Letshubile Foundation said that it was established by children of Lebone II.

“As the Lebone Letshubile Foundation, our vision is to bring change and freedom to the Bafokeng. We are honoured to invite the Bafokeng community to join us on July 27, 2024, to welcome our Chief, Gladwin Koketso Lebone III, who has spent five years in exile fighting for our rights as Royal Bafokeng. Kgosi Gladwin Koketso Lebone III is the son of the late Kgosi Mollwane Molotlegi Lebone II, who reigned from 1995 to 2000.”

The foundation said that its mandate was to bring change, protect the legacy of the Royal Bafokeng, and drive development for the population of 300 000 people. “We stand united as a family to combat corruption and injustices within the Royal Bafokeng community, and we firmly believe that Gladwin Koketso Lebone III is the anointed Chief of the Royal Bafokeng.”

The ceremony will be held at 111 Phokeng Lenatong, Rustenburg, where our Mvianga was born and raised by his mother and Mozambican-born stepfather. 

“We are pleased to inform you that Kgosi Gladwin Koketso Lebone III was recognised by the royal family elders on June 9, 2024. They have been informed about the upcoming ceremony and have approved it. They will also be present to welcome our Chief,” the foundation said in a statement.

Bashi Makgale, the manager in current Royal Bafokeng chief Leruo Molotlegi’s office, did not respond to written questions.

Mvianga first revealed in 2021 that he was taking legal action to claim the throne.

Mvianga claims he is the only son of the late chief. When Lebone II died, Molotlegi, his brother, took over.

Mvianga claimed in court papers 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.

The Bafokeng land has abundant platinum deposits through which the tribal authority has been making a fortune from royalties. It is estimated that the authority has a net asset value exceeding R50 billlion.

Mvianga and community members have, however, expressed concern that the wealth of their land did not trickle down to the communities and they had no say.

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.