Johannes Dinkwanyane (died 1876) was a member of the
Pedi royal family, who was a leading early convert to Christianity. He was the half-brother of the Pedi king
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 ...
.
Initially opposed by his brother as ruler, Dinkwanyane converted to
Lutheran Christianity
Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...
in 1864 under the guidance of the
Berlin Missionary Society The Berlin Missionary Society (BMS) (German: ''Berliner Missionsgesellschaft'' (BMG)) was a Berlin-based German Protestant (Lutheran) Christianity, Christian missionary society, active from 1824 to 1972 in South Africa, East Africa and China. In 197 ...
and its missionaries
Alexander Merensky
Alexander Merensky (8 June 1837 in Panten near Liegnitz – 22 May 1918 in Berlin) was a German missionary, working in South Africa (Transvaal) from 1859 to 1892.
Early life
Alexander's mother, Pauline von Kessel, died during his birth, a ...
and
Albert Nachtigal. He resided for some time at the
Botshabelo
Botshabelo, meaning "a place of refuge", is a large Township (South Africa), township set up in 1979. It is located east of Bloemfontein in the present-day Free State (South African province), Free State province of South Africa. Botshabelo is no ...
mission station, but later left due to cultural disputes with the mission staff, principally because of frustrations over the lack of authority given to Africans in the mission and the manner in which Christian converts were expected to abandon their indigenous culture and religious practices.
Johannes Dinkwanyane died of wounds after battle with
Swazi Swazi may refer to:
* Swazi people, a people of southeastern Africa
* Swazi language
* Eswatini
Eswatini, formally the Kingdom of Eswatini, also known by its former official names Swaziland and the Kingdom of Swaziland, is a landlocked count ...
and
Afrikaners
Afrikaners () are a Southern African ethnic group descended from predominantly Dutch people, Dutch Settler colonialism, settlers who first arrived at the Cape of Good Hope in Free Burghers in the Dutch Cape Colony, 1652.Entry: Cape Colony. '' ...
at
Mafolofolo in July 1876.
References
1876 deaths
Converts to Protestantism from pagan religions
Northern Sotho people
Year of birth missing
{{Africa-royal-stub