By the end of the 19th century, most of the land in South Africa had come under the possession of whites, through conquest or other forms of alienation. The acquisition of land in the Transvaal area occurred earlier, after the defeat and expulsion of the amaNdebele from the area in 1837.  Leading to the Voortrekkers proclamation of the Transvaal territory by right of conquest.

By the early 1840s the Voortrekkers were already settling in the Phokeng – Rustenburg and Pilanesburg areas. Land, during that time was given to Voortrekkers at generous portions which affected the our people (Bafokeng) who now found themselves living as tenants on Boer farms. At this time, Africans could not acquire land that they could legally claim as their own. Africans could only occupy land “as a reward” on condition that “they behave in accordance with the law”, this was on a loan basis. An example of this practice was when the late Kgosi Mokgatle was rewarded with the land that the Batswana people occupied prior to the invasion and dispersal on a loan basis – with conditions.

Having no fixed place for inhabitancy, Kgosi Mokgatle called a Pitso (public meeting) with his people where it was decided that land should be bought under the name of a white German missionary, Mr Penzhorn who Kgosi had developed a close relationship with. At this time, Kgosi Mokgatle through his relationship with Paul Kruger, learnt of the mining boom that was happening in Kimberly.  He went on to call a Pitso ya Kgotha Kgothe (public meeting) where it was decided that a regimen of Bafokeng men would trek to Kimberley’s newfound diamond mines to raise money that would later be used to buy back land which was forcefully taken from the Bafokeng and to secure a better life.

With the income from the diamond mine wages, cattle and voluntary taxes/levies paid by members of the community, the Bafokeng under the leadership of Kgosi Mokgatle started the process of purchasing land through Mr Penzhorn, which would be placed in a trust for the Bafokeng. Upon the death of Mr Penzhorn in 1895, the Bafokeng had acquired 8,471 hectares of land, having started with the purchase of a Turffontein farm that was approximately 1,400 hectares. To this day, we (Bafokeng) continue to pay tribute to the regimen, as a significant amount of money used for the purchasing of land came from their sacrifices.

The land that was purchased happened to be situated on large platinum deposits. We went on to receive royalties from the mines which we transformed into a diversified investment portfolio through our community based investment company (Royal Bafokeng Holdings).

The income received from the investment portfolio has since birthed a variety of social development programmes and projects which have been implemented for the betterment of our nation through its Governance structures and extensive consultation with community members (Morafe).