Mampuru II (1824 – 22 November 1883) was a king of the

Pedi people The Pedi or - also known as the Northern Sotho, Basotho ba Lebowa, bakgatla ba dithebe, Transvaal Sotho, Marota, or Dikgoshi - are a Sotho-Tswana ethnic group native to South Africa, Botswana, and Lesotho that speak Pedi or ''Sepedi,'' whi ...

in southern Africa. Sekwati died in 1861 and his son,

Sekhukhune Sekhukhune I (Matsebe; circa 1814 – 13 August 1882) was the paramount King of the Marota, more commonly known as the Bapedi (Pedi people), from 21 September 1861 until his assassination on 13 August 1882 by his rival and half-brother, Mampuru ...

claimed the throne. Sekhukhune ruled until 1879 when a British-Swazi invasion deposed him and installed Mampuru as king. Mampuru ordered the assassination of Sekhukhune in 1882 for which he was arrested and hanged by the

Boer Boers ( ; ; ) are the descendants of the proto Afrikaans-speaking Free Burghers of the eastern Cape frontier in Southern Africa during the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. From 1652 to 1795, the Dutch East India Company controlled the Dutch ...

South African Republic The South African Republic (, abbreviated ZAR; ), also known as the Transvaal Republic, was an independent Boer republics, Boer republic in Southern Africa which existed from 1852 to 1902, when it was annexed into the British Empire as a result ...

the following year. Mampuru is regarded as an early liberation movement icon in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

and the prison where he was executed has been renamed in his honour.

Early life

Sekwati Sekwati (c. 1824–20 September 1861) was a 19th-century paramount King of the Maroteng, more commonly known as the Bapedi people. His reign focused on rebuilding the Marota Kingdom at the conclusion of the Mfecane and maintaining peaceful relat ...

died in 1861, but this resulted in a

succession crisis A succession crisis is a crisis that arises when an order of succession fails, for example when a monarch dies without an indisputable heir. It may result in a war of succession. Examples include (see List of wars of succession): * The Wars of Th ...

. It was traditional for Pedi rulers to take a ''timamollo'' ("candle wife" or "great wife") in addition to their usual wife. The children of the candlewife would be those who succeeded to the throne, ahead of the other descendants. Mampuru was the child of the candlewife of Sekwati's elder brother (Maripane Thobejane), Malekutu, and Sekwati had afterwards married his mother. Mampuru claimed to have been designated heir by Sekwati, over

, the elder son of Sekwati, and was in possession of the royal insignia. Sekhukhune claimed that Mampuru's mother was not impregnated by Sekwati and that Sekwati had ordered a commoner to get her pregnant. It was also claimed that Sekwati's marriage to Mampuru's mother was not legitimate as he had not provided the customary present of a black bull. Sekhukhune seized power and killed Mampuru's advisers, causing him to flee the realm. Sekhukhune's reign was generally beneficial for the Pedi, he expanded the realm through conquest and marriage, invested in the mining and agricultural industries and purchased firearms for his army. However he came into conflict with the neighbouring Boer

(also known as the Transvaal) and the

Swazi people The Swati or Swazi ( Swati: ''Emaswati'', singular ''Liswati'') are a Bantu ethnic group native to Southern Africa, inhabiting Eswatini, a sovereign kingdom in Southern Africa, and South Africa's Mpumalanga province. EmaSwati are part of the ...

in what became known as the Sekhukune War.

Accession and execution

The British Empire annexed the Transvaal in 1877, and in the aftermath, a combined British-Swazi force invaded the Pedi realm in 1879. Sekhukune was deposed, and the British High Commissioner of Southern Africa, Sir Garnet Wolseley, installed Mampuru in his place. The Transvaal regained some independence following the

First Boer War The First Boer War (, ), was fought from 16 December 1880 until 23 March 1881 between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom and Boers of the Transvaal (as the South African Republic was known while under British ad ...

of 1880–81, though Britain retained control of foreign affairs and relations with tribal societies. Mampuru claimed that Sekhukhune was plotting against him to regain the throne and ordered his murder. Sekhukhune was stabbed to death at the Great Place, Manoge, on 13 August 1882. Mampuru was afterwards arrested and charged with public violence, revolt, and the murder of Sekhukhune. He was arrested because of his opposition to the

hut tax The hut tax was a form of taxation introduced by European colonial powers in their African colonies on a "per hut" (or other forms of household) basis. Colonised peoples paid the tax variously in money, labour, grain or stock. This benefited the ...

imposed upon black people by the South African Republic. Mampuru was stripped naked and hanged in public at the

Pretoria Central Prison Pretoria Central Prison, renamed Kgosi Mampuru II Management Area by former President Jacob Zuma on 13 April 2013 and sometimes referred to as Kgosi Mampuru II Correctional Services is a large prison in central Pretoria, within the City of Tshwane ...

on 22 November 1883. The rope broke the first time, and he was dragged back onto the gallows to be hanged again.

Legacy

Sekhukhune's descendants became king after Mampuru's death, though the rival families maintained their claims through the colonial,

apartheid Apartheid ( , especially South African English: , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...

and rainbow (post-1991) eras. The South African government's Commission on Traditional Leadership Disputes and Claims ruled on the Pedi succession in 2008. The commission ruled that the Sekhukhune lineage was the legitimate one and confirmed Kgagudi Kenneth Sekhukhune as king. The location of Mampuru's remains is not known, though the South African government committed to look for them in January 2019. Mampuru has been described as one of South Africa's first liberation icons. Potgieter Street in Pretoria was renamed in his honour in 2007 and an annual Mampuru II day is held in January. On 10 April 2013 the prison where he was killed was renamed "Kgosi Mampuru II" in his honour. In February 2018 a statue of Mampuru was proposed to be erected in Church Square, Pretoria where it will stand opposite one of

Paul Kruger Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger (; 10 October 1825 – 14 July 1904), better known as Paul Kruger, was a South African politician. He was one of the dominant political and military figures in 19th-century South Africa, and State Preside ...

who was President of the South African Republic at the time of Mampuru's execution.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mampuru 02 1824 births 1883 deaths Bapedi monarchy Executed assassins People convicted of murder by South Africa People executed by South Africa by hanging South African assassins South African people executed for murder

Early life

Accession and execution

Legacy

See also

References