Introduction
Sekhukhune (Mastebe; 1814 – 13 August 1882) was the Paramount King of the Maroteng or Pedi people (Bapedi) in Sekhukhuneland, in the present-day Limpopo province, South Africa.
He became king upon the death of his father, King Sekwati, in September 1861. Sekhukhune married Legoadi IV in 1862, and lived at a mountain, now known as Thaba Ya Leolo, which he fortified. As the Pedi paramount leader he was faced with political challenges from the Boers, the independent South African Republic and the British Empire, with considerable social change caused by Christian missionaries.
He fought two wars. The first war was successfully fought in 1876, against the ZAR and their Swazi allies. The second war, against the British and Swazi in 1879 in what became known as the Sekukuni Wars, was less successful.
Sekukuni was detained in Pretoria until 1881. After a return to his kingdom, he was fatally stabbed by an assassin in 1882. The assassins are presumed to have been sent by his brother and competitor, Mampuru II.
Footnotes
- ^ Du Plessis, E. J. (1973). 'n Ondersoek na die oorsprong en betekenis van Suid-Afrikaanse berg- en riviername: 'n histories-taalkundige studie [An Investigation into the origin and meaning of South African mountain and river names: a historico-linguistic study] (in Afrikaans). Cape Town: Tafelberg. p. 187. ISBN 978-0-624-00273-4.
- ^ "King Sekhukhune". South African History Online. 13 February 2018. Retrieved 4 March 2019.
- ^ Kinsey, H.W. (June 1973). "The Sekukuni Wars". Military History Journal. The South African Military History Society. 2 (5).
- ^ Delius, Peter (1984). The land belongs to us: the Pedi polity, the Boers and the British in the nineteenth-century Transvaal. Heinemann. pp. 251–252. ISBN 978-0-435-94050-8.
- ^ Delius, Peter; Rüther, Kirsten (2013). "The King, the Missionary and the Missionary's Daughter". Journal of Southern African Studies. 39: 597–614. doi:10.1080/03057070.2013.824769.