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Botshabelo, Mpumalanga
Botshabelo ("place of refuge" in the Northern Sotho language) in the district of Middelburg, in Mpumalanga Province, South Africa, originated as a mission station established by Alexander Merensky of the Berlin Missionary Society (BMS), in February 1865 in what was then the Transvaal Republic (ZAR). Merensky had fled with a small number of parishioners following the attacks on his previous mission station, Ga-Ratau, by the soldiers of Sekhukhune, the king of the baPedi. Within a year of having established the mission station, the population had grown to 420 persons. In 1873 Merensky was joined by BMS missionary Johannes Winter, who went on to found the mission station at Thaba Mosego and also played an instrumental role in the establishment of the Lutheran Bapedi Church, when they seceded from the BMS in 1889. The BMS focused on providing schooling and bringing the gospel to people in their own language. Hence the Society's missionaries were often at the forefront of publi ...
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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 Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Ocean; to the north by the neighbouring countries of Namibia, Botswana, and Zimbabwe; to the east and northeast by Mozambique and Eswatini; and it encloses Lesotho. Covering an area of , the country has Demographics of South Africa, a population of over 64 million people. Pretoria is the administrative capital, while Cape Town, as the seat of Parliament of South Africa, Parliament, is the legislative capital, and Bloemfontein is regarded as the judicial capital. The largest, most populous city is Johannesburg, followed by Cape Town and Durban. Cradle of Humankind, Archaeological findings suggest that various hominid species existed in South Africa about 2.5 million years ago, and modern humans inhabited the ...
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Mission Station
A Christian mission is an organized effort to carry on evangelism, in the name of the Christian faith. Missions involve sending individuals and groups across boundaries, most commonly geographical boundaries. Sometimes individuals are sent and are called missionaries, and historically may have been based in mission stations. When groups are sent, they are often called mission teams and they undertake mission trips. There are a few different kinds of mission trips: short-term, long-term, relational and those that simply help people in need. Some people choose to dedicate their whole lives to mission. Missionaries preach the Christian faith and sometimes administer the sacraments, and provide humanitarian aid or services. Christian doctrines (such as the "Doctrine of Love" professed by many missions) permit the provision of aid without requiring religious conversion. Nonetheless, the provision of help has always been closely tied to evangelization efforts. History of Christian m ...
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Ken Gampu
Ken Gampu (Germiston, August 28, 1929 – Vosloorus, November 4, 2003) was a South African actor. Before he began his career, Gampu was a physical training instructor, salesman, interpreter and police officer. His first acting job was in Athol Fugard's play, ''No Good Friday'' (1958). His big break came in the 1965 film '' Dingaka'' by Jamie Uys. The same year, he had a significant role in Cornel Wilde's African adventure film, '' The Naked Prey''. Background Gampu was the son of Morrison Gampu, a former Bantu government interpreter who later became an actor himself. Career 1950s to 1970s In the 1973 action film, '' Joe Bullet'', Gampu was featured in the lead role playing the part of a strong action man, Joe Bullet. The character was described by ''The Guardian'' as being modelled on something between Shaft and James Bond. Bullet drank alcohol, drove sports cars, did karate, threw knives and climbed up mineshafts. It was independently released in 1973, and it played at the E ...
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Mongane Wally Serote
Mongane Wally Serote (born 8 May 1944) is a South African poet and writer. He became involved in political resistance to the apartheid government by joining the African National Congress (ANC) and in 1969 was arrested and detained for several months without trial. He subsequently spent years in exile, working in Botswana, and later London, England, for the ANC in their Arts and Culture Department, before eventually returning to South Africa in 1990. He was inaugurated as South Africa's National Poet Laureate in 2018. Early years Mongane Wally Serote was born in Sophiatown, Johannesburg, 1944, just four years before the National Party (South Africa) came to power in South Africa. His early education took place in the poverty-stricken township of Alexandra and later at Morris Isaacson High School – the school in Jabavu, Soweto, and Sacred Heart Commercial High School, Lesotho. He first became involved in the Black Consciousness Movement when he was finishing high school ...
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Esther Mahlangu
Esther Mahlangu (born 11 November 1935) is a South African artist. She is known for her bold, large-scale contemporary paintings inspired by her Southern Ndebele people, Ndebele heritage. She is one of South Africa's best known artists. Early life Esther Nikwambi Mahlangu was born on 11 November 1935 on a farm outside Middelburg, Mpumalanga, South Africa. She is a member of the Southern Ndebele people. Mahlangu is the eldest of nine children, with six brothers and two sisters. She began painting at the age of 10, having been taught by her mother and grandmother in accordance with Ndebele tradition, in which adolescent girls learn to paint in preparation for decorating the exterior of their homes after marriage. Career Mahlangu is known for adapting Ndebele house painting, Ndebele mural art, which is traditionally painted on adobe walls, to alternative surfaces such as canvas and metal alloys. Her signature designs often feature white-bounded lines arranged diagonally or in chevr ...
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Hans Merensky
Hans Merensky (16 March 1871 – 21 October 1952) was a South African geologist, prospector, scientist, conservationist and philanthropist. Early life and education Johannes "Hans" Merensky was born on 16 March 1871 at the Berlin Missionary Society's mission station Botshabelo, which was established by his father, the noted German missionary, ethnographer and author, Alexander Merensky. In 1882 the family returned to Germany, where Hans commenced his education. Keenly interested in minerals and enjoying outdoor living, he studied mining geology after finishing his schooling in Germany. He completed his practical training in coal mines in the Saarland and in Silesia and began work for the Department of Mines in East Prussia, but the constraints of civil service did not sit well with him. Return to South Africa In 1904 he came to South Africa on study leave, but soon resigned from the German civil service to start his own geology and mining engineering consulting practic ...
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Fort Merensky
Fort Merensky, also called Fort Wilhelm, stands on a prominent hill in a commanding position near Botshabelo, a former Berlin Mission Station (BMS), 13 kilometers from Middelburg on the road to Groblersdal. It was built in order to protect the mission's convert from attacks by the local Bantu tribes using dry wall construction. History In February 1865 in what was then the Transvaal Republic (ZAR).Van der Merwe, WerneThe Berlin Missionary Society/ref> Merensky had fled with a small number of parishioners, following the attacks on his previous mission station, Ga-Ratau, by the soldiers of Sekhukhune, the king of the baPedi. Within a year of having established the mission station, the population had grown to 420 persons. In order to protect their new settlement Merensky had Fort Wilhelm built above the church and village and two further forts that protected the Moutse area were built. Botshabelo was the major spiritual, cultural and educational centre of the Berliner Mission Societ ...
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Anglo Boer War
The Second Boer War (, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, Transvaal War, Anglo–Boer War, or South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer republics (the South African Republic and Orange Free State) over Britain's influence in Southern Africa. The Witwatersrand Gold Rush caused a large influx of "Uitlander, foreigners" (''Uitlanders'') to the South African Republic (SAR), mostly British from the Cape Colony. As they, for fear of a hostile takeover of the SAR, were permitted to vote only after 14 years of residence, they protested to the British authorities in the Cape. Negotiations failed at the botched Bloemfontein Conference in June 1899. The conflict broke out in October after the British government decided to send 10,000 troops to South Africa. With a delay, this provoked a Boer and British ultimatum, and subsequent Boer Irregular military, irregulars and militia attacks on British colonial settlements in Natal ...
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South Ndebele People
Southern Ndebele people, also known in English by their endonym AmaNdebele, are a Bantu peoples in South Africa, Bantu ethnic group native to Southern Africa who speak Southern Ndebele language, Southern Ndebele language (isiNdebele]). The group is separate from the Northern Ndebele people, Northern Ndebele who broke away from the Zulu people, Zulu during Tshaka's time. They mainly inhabit the provinces of Mpumalanga, Gauteng and Limpopo, all of which are in the northeast of the country. In academia this ethnic group is referred to as the Southern Ndebele to differentiate it from their relatives the Northern Ndebele people of Limpopo and Northwest. History Prehistory The history of the Ndebele people begin with the Bantu expansion, Bantu Migrations southwards from the Great Lakes region of East Africa. Bantu peoples, Bantu speaking peoples moved across the Limpopo river into modern day South Africa and over time assimilated and conquered the indigenous San people in the North ...
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Gerard Sekoto
Gerard Sekoto OIG (9 December 1913 – 20 March 1993), was a South African artist and musician. He is recognised as a pioneer of urban black art and social realism. His work was exhibited in Paris, Stockholm, Venice, Washington, and Senegal, as well as in South Africa. Early life Sekoto was born on 9 December 1913 at the Lutheran Mission Station in Botshabelo, near Middelburg, Eastern Transvaal (now known as Mpumalanga). He was the son of Andreas Sekoto, a leading member of new Christian converts. Sekoto learned at Wonderhoek, which was established by his father,  a priest and teacher. As the son of a missionary, he experienced music as a part of his life and was introduced to the family harmonium at an early age. As a child, Sekoto would draw with chalk, paper, and colored pencils. His art skills emerged in his teenage years, when he attended the Diocesan Teachers Training College in Pietersburg. This school, unlike most, featured drawing classes and other craftwork. Grace ...
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Johannes August Winter
Johannes August Winter (17 December 1847 – 7 April 1921) was a German Lutheran missionary for the Berlin Missionary Society (BMS) who played an important role in the formation of the Lutheran Bapedi Church in South Africa at the turn of the 19th century, against a backdrop of competing political and economic power struggles between British, Afrikaner and native tribal interests. Early life Johannes's father, the Reverend August Wilhelm Winter, and mother, Anna Schüttge (also from a missionary family in Lusatia), came from Berlin to Bethany, Free State in 1839 to assist fellow missionary Carl Wuras. In 1847, August established a new BMS mission at Pniel in the Orange Free State, where Johannes and his siblings were born. The family went back to Germany in 1851 due to August's ill health, but the children all returned to South Africa after receiving their education in Germany. Education After successfully completing his schooling in Germany, Winter was admitted to the ...
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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 II. As the Pedi paramount leader he was faced with political challenges from Voortrekkers (Boer settlers), the independent South African Republic (Dutch: ''Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek''), the British Empire, and considerable social change caused by Christian missionaries. Following the death of his father, King Sekwati, on 20 September 1861, Sekhukhune successfully defended his right to the throne against his half-brother Mampuru II and heir apparent with the support of his Matuba regiment. Despite his victory, Sekhukhune adhered to the serota tradition and allowed Mampuru to peacefully leave the Bapedi territory. His other known siblings were Legolwana, Kgalema Johannes Dinkwanyane, and Kgoloko. Sekhukhune married Legoadi IV in 1862, ...
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