The Mabelane is a Northern Sotho, Sepedi speaking, tribe that had settled in an area north-east of the town of Lydenburg (between the towns of Burgersfort on the north and Ohrigstad on the east) in South Africa.
The origin of the tribe is Cabo Mabelane, a coastal town in Southern Mozambique from where the founder of the tribe, Mokgadi, came from. Mokgadi's two sons, Mareologo (eldest) and Tshegwane are thought to have been the first to use the town of their father's origin as an official written surname.
The tribe was forcibly moved in the early 1960s as part of South African government's apartheid policy of settling blacks into what became known as homelands. In recent times (2005 to date) the tribe has lodged a successful land claim and have registered a Communal Property Association called Batau Baga Mabelane to administer their land. A process of compiling an official demographic of the tribe has begun.
Famous quotes containing the word tribe:
“Public speaking is done in the public tongue, the national or tribal language; and the language of our tribe is the men’s language. Of course women learn it. We’re not dumb. If you can tell Margaret Thatcher from Ronald Reagan, or Indira Gandhi from General Somoza, by anything they say, tell me how. This is a man’s world, so it talks a man’s language.”
—Ursula K. Le Guin (b. 1929)