Dinokana is a town in
Ngaka Modiri Molema District Municipality
Ngaka Modiri Molema District Municipality (formerly Central District Municipality) is one of the four districts of North West province in South Africa. Its capital is Mahikeng, which is also the capital of the province.
Geography Neighbours
Ngaka ...
in the
North West
The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sepa ...
province of
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...
.
Early settlement
The area became the main town of the
Bahurutshe in 1849, when Kgosi Moiloa I settled it with about 1,500 people, who had been displaced following the
Difaqane
The Mfecane ( isiZulu, Zulu pronunciation: ̩fɛˈkǀaːne, also known by the Sesotho names Difaqane or Lifaqane (all meaning "crushing, scattering, forced dispersal, forced migration") is a historical period of heightened military conflict ...
war. Moiloa was accompanied by the Reverend
Walter Inglis of the
London Missionary Society
The London Missionary Society was an interdenominational evangelical missionary society formed in England in 1795 at the instigation of Welsh Congregationalist minister Edward Williams. It was largely Reformed in outlook, with Congregational miss ...
.
In 1875, a succession dispute in the aftermath of Moiloa's death led to the displacement of many BaHurutshe, and nearly half of the population moved to
Gopane.
[
]
Anti-apartheid history
Dinokana was the centre of the Bahurutshe resistance of the 1950s. Kgosi Abram Ramotshere Moiloa was bannished by the Apartheid
Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...
Government in 1957 after he refused to enforce the carrying of passbooks by Hurutshe women as obliged by apartheid law. The women of Dinokana had largely refused to carry the passbooks, and Kgosi Moiloa had supported their decision. At the first meeting held by the native commissioner, 1000 women gathered but only 70 passbooks were taken out, Kgosi Moiloa was deposed a week later. Better known as the Zeerust uprising or the Hurutshe revolt, a popular uprising engulfed Lehurutshe in reaction to the punitive actions of the apartheid state, led particularly by the women of Lehurutse.
Bophuthatswana
In the 1980s, while the town was part of Bophuthatswana
Bophuthatswana (, meaning "gathering of the Tswana people"), officially the Republic of Bophuthatswana ( tn, Riphaboliki ya Bophuthatswana; af, Republiek van Bophuthatswana), was a Bantustan (also known as "Homeland"; an area set aside for mem ...
, a number of agricultural schemes were started close to Dinokana, and the town of Lehurutshe
Lehurutshe (formerly known as Welbedacht) is a town in Ngaka Modiri Molema District Municipality in the North West province of South Africa. The town has within its vicinity the Lehurutshe campus of Taletso TVET, a fire station and numerous school ...
was built about away to resettle some of the villagers. Dinokana haa primary schools and high schools.
References
Populated places in the Ramotshere Moiloa Local Municipality
Populated places established in 1849
1849 establishments in Africa
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