Draft:Barolong royal family

The Barolong are a principal tribe of the Batswana nation.

The Barolong were well-known throughout Southern Africa for their iron-smelting mastery and revered the iron until King Tau's reign, when they adopted the totem Tholo.

Barolong ke ba bina tshipi mme ga gole tlala ba bina tholo.

The Letsapa dynasty is the sole senior royal Barolong branch descended from King Ratlou and Queen Kgamane.

As a result the Letsapa family is the eldest surviving royal Barolong dynasty with a legitimate claim to the Barolong throne because they are descended from King Moshoeu's first house with his principal wife.

During King Tau's reign, the succession system was governed by some type of primogeniture that favoured royal male heirs (heirs born from non-morganatic marriages), the same system that established the young prince Ratlou's royal seniority status among his older siblings.

The succession identification is done by only living blood born into the various royal houses of the royal family, regardless of generation or gender, and the apparent or presumed claimants would first ensure that, upon the death of the previous monarch, all royal houses are invited to the Lekgotla(parliament), led by the first born or the first born's surviving descendant, because the privilege to claim the throne belongs equally to all surviving royal households.

If a house has a mother of royal descent, the descedants of the mother who is still married to the royal line or who was even at death and is from a royal line closely tied to the throne are given higher precedence on the succession line.

Following King Ratlou's death, there was a schism between the heir apparent prince Seitshiro(i) and prince Moriba.

Prince Moriba's eligibility in the line of succession was displaced because he was regarded as King Tau's youngest son and Ratlou's younger brother by the strict application of traditional succession law due to his mother's marriage to King Tau shortly before king Tau's death.

When king Ratlou died and was laid to rest in Mosita. Prince Modirwagale was appointed as prince Seitshiro’s regent while prince Moriba and Mokalaka broke away from the majority.

King Seitshiro(i) had a son named prince Kgosithebe (i) who died without an issue leaving prince Moshoeu as the next apparent heir in line to the throne reigning in his own right, prince Mokoto was king Seitshiro(i)'s third son.

The eligibility of King Moshoeu's child named Segoro in the line of succession was displaced because the marriage to Segoro's mother was mogarnatic,Segoro's mother had already been betrothed and even had a Letlaleanya.

Following the death of crown prince Kgosithebe I who died without issue, prince Moshoeu assumed the throne in his own right as the next in line to the throne.

Rivalry arose among king Moshoeu's children after his death. Seitshiro (ii), the heir apparent born by the princess wife of King Moshoeu and the other children led by King Moshoeu's step son Matlhaku.

Seitshiro(ii) relocated to Dithakong to avoid conflict then Matlhaku was appointed regent. Matlhaku was appointed regent once more for Segoro's son Kgosi (ii).

The Barolong's regency era began as a result of the inability of Segoro to ascend to the throne because the throne was occupied through the primogeniture system.

Matlhaku was murdered along with his brother Nketsang and cousin Motlhabane, leaving Mongale as regent, who was later murdered in Thaba Nchu.

Prince Mokoto,the grand uncle of kgosi, became a regent and appointed himself as Prime Minister.

Prince Gontse (Mokoto's son) was appointed regent for the pretender ship following the death of Kgosi after an attack by the Batlokwa of Manthatisi in Khunwana.

Crown prince Letsapa succeeded his exiled father Seitshiro(ii) as the legitimate heir to the Barolong throne in Dithakong before moving to Shudintlhe and eventually returning to Taung to settle for some time near Modimong.

Following an attack by Paul Kruger and Andried Pretorius, the Letsapa relocated to the south of the area now known as Vryburg before returning to Shudintlhe, where they were joined by Gontse.

Masisi (son of Matlhaku) inherited the regency pretendership at Mocwi oa Petlwana at this point.

Masisi died in Modimong shortly after sending Gontse's son (Phoi) to a conference in Buurmansdrift between the Batswana chiefs and a commission of the Transvaal Republic to reach an agreement on the issue of land boundaries.

Moffat(Moshoette) served in a farm under some European family in the Potchefstroom area, which is now known as Potchefstroom.

Even when there was a historical succession dispute between the Seitshiro(ii) and the Segoro descendants, Moshoette was installed as the Barolong king by the colonial powers, and through this installation and colonial recognition, the colonial powers were able to legitimize Batswana tribal lands annexation.

Today the Barolong have inherited numerous traditional leadership appointed by colonial and apartheid regimes, All Barolong royals who can not trace their lineage to King Moshoeu are by strict usage of Barolong traditional laws not heirs to the throne of the Barolong Kingdom.

Today the original Barolong territories cover significant parts of Southern Africa.