Botswana Notes and Records, Volume 50, 2018 278 Does Ruretse Belong to Batlokwa? What History Can Tell Us Fred Morton * First a disclaimer. My wife and I live on and own a plot in an area that has come to be known as Ruretse. The name for this plot and all the others surrounding and including the ‘Khama farm’ are actually registered as portions of ‘Kenmoir’. After Botswana’s frst president Sir Seretse Khama and his wife Ruth purchased Kenmoir, it became popularly known as Ruth and Seretse’s farm, ‘Ruretse’ for short. It has become a habit of late for some living in Tlokweng to claim that the Khama family took Batlokwa land and are now bound to return it to the Batlokwa. The question is, on what basis do the Batlokwa have a claim to this farm and the 107 freehold 4-hectare plots created in 1987 that form its perimeter? This is a question that interests me not only as a Ruretse resident (and permanent resident of Botswana. I am an American citizen), but because for many years I have carried out historical research on Batswana both in Botswana and South Africa. You may sample some of my writing on https://ub-bw. academia.edu/FredMorton. Here is what I have learned about Tlokwa history and how they came to be located in what is known in Botswana as Tlokweng or more properly Moshaweng. My information is taken from publications by other authors, from oral histories recorded many years ago in the then Bechuanaland Protectorate (colonial Botswana) and western Transvaal, from archival records including offcial and missionary correspondence, and from archaeological research. Among these, the richest source is Vivien Ellenberger’s ‘History of the Batlokwa of Gaberones’ (1939). The Batlokwa of Moshaweng originate in South Africa and are one of the most recent settlers in Botswana. Either of Sotho or Nguni origin the Tlokwa venerated Nkwe (tiger or leopard) originally, then adopted Thakadu (antbear) as their totem. Before coming this way the Batlokwa occupied a large stonewall settlement known as Marothodi, located just west of present Sun City in the North West Province of South Africa. Marothodi was a copper and iron smelting centre and the capital of Kgosi Bogatsu Taukobong (d. 1820) and his son Kgosi. The latter was killed in 1823 during skirmishes with the invading followers of Sebetwane (Bakololo). From this point, the Batlokwa broke up into several groups, some travelling as far as Serowe in Botswana. Matlapeng, son of Kgosi, was safeguarded by Bashe who returned with him to their original area and settled at Letlhakeng, where Matlapeng’s son Gaborone was born. Years later, when Matlapeng had become Kgosi (chief), the Boers came into the area and named the hills around Letlhakeng as Matlapengsberg, after the Tlokwa Kgosi. The Batlokwa naturally resented submitting to Boer rule, and it is said that Matlapeng shot a Boer man trying to ‘interfere’ with his wife. Rather than suffer his own execution as punishment, Matlapeng took his followers west to join Sechele’s Bakwena at Dithejwane. For a time they remained Sechele’s subjects and moved with them to Molepolole (Ntsweng). But in c.1868 after a falling out, Matlapeng and his people relocated across the Ngotwane into the Dwarsberg and settled at Tshwene-tshwene (inside the present Madikwe Game Reserve). Several years later, the Bakgatla-ba ga Kgafela under Kgamanyane left the Transvaal, stayed briefy with Matlapeng, his uncle (Kgamanyane was the son of Bogatsu’s daughter Mankube, Pilane’s wife), before settling in Kwena territory at Phuthadikobo hill. When fghting broke out between the Bakgatla and Bakwena, the Tlokwa assisted the Kgatla. During the war, Matlapeng died and Gaborone succeeded. The Bakwena-Bakgatla war ended in 1883, with the Kgatla having seized the eastern portion of Kweneng. The Batlokwa then moved to their fnal place of settlement after Gaborone paid tribute to Sechele, who in turn granted him Moshaweng. However, not long thereafter, the British proclaimed the Protectorate and * Fred Morton, Department of History, University of Botswana. Email: rodger.morton@mopipi.ub.bw