The history of Machipi family

THE HISTORY OF MACHIPI FAMILY

CONTENTS

1. Introduction

2. Departure from Makwa/Goodplaas

3. Ben retires as Police Officer

4. Machipi Headmenship - Northen and Southern parts

5. Wilson Mphela takes over and combines the two parts.
6. MODIKA family ascends to power
7. Attempts to restore the headmenship
8. Family Tree
9. Conclusion

SURNAME VARIATIONS (MACHIPI, MATSHIPI, MATJIBI)
The intended versions are Matshipi and Machipi, which are properly written. Matjibi came as a result of oral to writing mistakes. One of Mankala's wife, took her ID in Gauteng - probably from a Tswana attended. Her pronounciation of Machipi was wrongly written, a mistake which lived on to her second generation.

Introduction

MACHIPI family, besides being one of the largest families in Bolobedu has a very catchy history. We founded a village, led it as Headmen, and ultimately lost the rights to the headmenship together with those of our land in a series of unfortunate events.

It all began with MACHIPI MACHETHE. His children used his nickname - Machipi - as their family name. It was recorded in the ID Books and passed on from generation to generation to date.

It is said that this man's metal works landed him a name that would one day define a massive family in history.

Through his wife N'WAXISALELA NGOBENI, Machipi fathered MAITE, MOTHEPHE, MAVHULA, JAN and BEN respectively. Maite was the only daughter in the family and the ultimate catalyst in our royal legacy.

Though very little is provided of our place of origin - like many would claim to originate from North Africa etc - we happen to have arrived in MAKWA (GOODPLAAS) much earlier - in the early 1700s.

MAKWA or GoodPlaas is today made up of a string of farms  and open spaces extending from some parts of Mooketsi to Soekmekaar.  The exact demarcations are not easy to draw today. It would appear that some parts of Sekgosese formed part of this ancient settlement. 

Departure from Makwa (Goodplaas)

In the late 1800s MAITE MACHIPI married to the SELOTOLE family in LEBAKA village. LEBAKA, then consisted of part of JAMELA village extending to MOHLABANENG village in Bolobedu. This area was under the leadership of Kgosi Khosothopa before it was annexed by the Modjadji dynasty.

Immediately after her departure  BEN MACHIPI, her younger brother who worked as a Police Officer in SEKGOSESE followed her. He began his home in LEBAKA.

BEN worked as a police officer until the age of retirement.

BEN retires as Police Officer

On retirement from the Police Station at Sekgosese,  BEN MACHIPI was provided with the open land immediately South of Lebaka village as his pension by the then government - sometimes in the early 1940s. (The history is entirely oral. In some explainations, he was a soldier and not a police officer. What can be established to be true is that BEN worked for the government security - police or soldier - which ultimately landed him a pension in the form of land.)

The land had come to be known as MAPHALLE village, extending from TWO-LINE section. It is a vast land that is demarcated by MOSUKUDUTSE RIVER from ROTTERDAM, by NYAMA' YINDLULI from BLINKWATER and extending all the way to the border of SHAWELA and DITSHOSING villages. 

BEN occupied TWO-LINE. (This was due to its closeness to LEBAKA. It was convenient for him to stay here so he could be closest to people and other established facilities of the time). Informally, BEN began his headmanship. Informally because he had no headmanship roots, so he did not go into finer details of headmanship other than those that gave him control over the distribution of land to those people who wanted to join him in his newly acquired estate.

BEN was not given the headmanship by the Queen. The Queen had no power over him - he was not her subject, then.

The news of BEN's acquisition came at a time when his older brother MAVHULA needed it the most. MAVHULA MACHIPI was exiled from MAKWA for an alleged disruption of peace. Mavhula's daughter, who was to marry her nephew due to the family's arrangement, in defiance, chose to marry Kgosi Makwa's son. Mavhula showed his concern to the king, requesting him to call off the relationship/marriage. When Makwa failed to head to Mavhula's request, chaos insued. On one of the days the king and his council met, Mavhula showed up with a sjambok. The gathering scattered as he hit whatever he came across - including the king himself. His daughter, after hearibg the news, escaped to her nephew's place - the place Mavhula intended her to be married. Soon after the event he received a ltter (borefe) from the magistrate - apparently some cases were referred to magistrates. He was ordered to leave Makwa with immediate effect.

MAVHULA joined his younger brother BEN in his newly acquired land in LEBAKA.

BUT MAVHULA's many wives (he had 14 wives) and children, and his character which was difficult to wield, made life impossible in TWO-LINE. BEN pushed his brother farther into the forest - far SOUTH of TWO-LINE, to an area that is today NTSWELEMOTSE SECTION of Maphalle village. Mavhula stayed where the St. Engenas ZCC church is currently situated. The trees that were used as a shade still remains in the church, and used in the same manner.

MACHIPI Headmeship

With MAVHULA's arrival, the headmanship began to take shape. He was hard to lead and took matters into his own hands, refusing to take orders from his younger brother, clearly seeking the ultimate control. His attitude pushed formality in BEN's running of his own land.

In the SOUTHERN part, on approval by his younger brother BEN - probably to avoid more conflicts - Mavhula established his own Kgoro and led the people of PIPA.

This move created two parts of the same headmanship - the formal one in the North by BEN and the Southern part, the informal one by Mavhula.

The two headmanships proceeded concurrently for years.

 BEN passed on in the late 1950s - believably in 1959.

His elder brother JAN took over the reigns of the Northern Kgoro until his passing in the early 1960s.

At the time of JAN's passing WILSON MPHELA MACHIPI came from Gauteng and took control of the North - in parallel with Mavhula in the South. MPHELA's takeover was riddled with disagreements concerning the rightful heir according to custom. Apparently, MPHELA was not the rightful candidate. He was the son of the seventh wife. And custom favours sons of the elder house - the house of the first wife in a polygamous arrangement.

WHEN JAMES "MAVHULA" MACHIPI passed on during the early 1960s - immediately following JAN' s passing, his elder son, Mankala Machipi turned down the headmanship. He chose to go to Johannesburg to look for work - despicing the payless load of dealing with people's issues. (Headmen were not getting salaries then). Ratsaka Machipi, who had the rights to succeed his father also decided not to stand. The same was true with all of Mavhula's sons who decided not to stand.

Mphela was the only willing candidate. 

Ill Fate favoured him when the HOMELANDS or BANTUSTANDS were established in 1966-7.  Black people were removed by force from lands deemed worthy for farming by the whites and grouped together in designated areas. Mphela moved from Two Line to stay in Nyakelane's BYABYAMELA section of Maphalle village.

Wilson MPHELA takes over and combines the two Kgoros into one.

The establishment of stands landed MPHELA in a central position to bring the North and the South under one banner and one leader. His choice of place to stay meant that those who came from PIPA section and from LEBAKA area as they were called - Lebaka refering to te Northern part and PIPA he Southern part - would all be accomodated in the new arrangement.

Mphela ruled until the late 1960s - that is, 1969 when he was suspended.

His affair to MALEMA's wife, one of his subjects, was the beginning of a long standing mistakes in the history of the family's legacy that would live for years. This affair became a wrong turn - leading to his immediate suspension and the installation of a regent family.

MODIKA family ascends to power

MPHELA's suspension came at a time when the Modjadji Headquarters were annexing the adjecent villages, enlarging their basket of control. It appears they had intentions to install their relatives add only those closest to them.

The vacant leadership position of PIPA village was temporarily given to a woman married to the Modika family - a daughter to MATHEKGA family who are related to Modjadji. The Modika bride gave her husband the right to rule.

In the early 1970s the MODIKAs took over the headmeship of the village. 

The regents manipulated the power to the throne, changing control to their advantage, a move which caused divisions in the infant royal house. They moved control to the son of the elder woman - in the Modika family - which according to many was wrong since the position belonged to the woman married to the family not the family itself. Accordingly, the position was meant to go to the woman's first son, and continue in that line.

The family remains divided over who is the rightful candidate to date.

Attempts to restore the Headmenship

Mphela and a delegation of MACHIPI council decided to appeal the suspension. The matter, not recorded as was customery, appears that the Machipi family's query was considered and they were due to be reinstated. This happend sometimes in 1972-3.

But the success was short lived when Mphela passed on.

His passing was riddled with superstitions and the fear to succeed him loomed. His children would not stand. Members of Machipi family who had the right to lead showed no interest.

The gap widend for 44 years.

It wasn't until the year 2017 when the Machipi family came together to revive the long wait - the appeal of the suspension. In contrast to finding the willing candidate, the family found a common ground which was the restoration of the family's legacy to its glory.

At the second attempt much of the history which would give flesh to the query was buried with the dead. Those who attended the suspension meeting, who heard first-hand the contents of the proceeding, and also the outcome of the 1973, were dead. But history itself was not dead. Details of the events were perfectly known.

Another delegation set off to Bolobedu to appeal in January, 2017.

They were requested to submit the background of their appeal - their family tree, how they ascended to power and how they came to lose it. A comprehensive report was written based on enquiries made from members of the community who witnessed the headmenship and family members who were there at the time.

On the 26th of January 2017, the report was submitted to Bolobedu. It was filed, a signed copy acknowledging receipt given to the delegation. The process is still underway.

FAMILY Tree

MACHIPI MACHETHE & N'WAXISALELA NGOBENI

 》MAITE 

 》MOTHEPHE

 》JAMES MAVHULA

 》JAN

 》BEN

MAITE married to Selotole Family

Very little is known about Mothephe. He married one wife, had a daughter and passed away at a tender age. Mothephe's wife then got married to MAVHULA as his first.

MAVHULA married 13 more wives and fathered many children.

JAN married 3 wives.

BEN married 7 wives.

Conclusion

The headmenship remains with the Modika family. The family of Machipi, which is uniting speedily, is not looking back.

(This article is work in progress, an attempt to document the story of our family in digital format. Any information that would add to the value of this article is highly appreciated)

Send your contributions to ditau.machipi@gmail.com.  

NB: Not all contributions will be added.