Balobedu royal family: Ramaphosa doesn’t bow to Rain Queen

The Balobedu royal family, renowned for their supernatural rain-making powers, wants President Cyril Ramaphosa to recognise Masalanabo Modjadji as the legitimate queen of the Balobedu clan in Limpopo.

Both the family and the royal council want the president to respond before the end of Women’s Month tomorrow.

Speaking to The Citizen yesterday, general secretary for the council Gabriel Rasebotsa accused Ramaphosa of acting at a snail’s pace to make Masalanabo queen.

“We have got nothing against the president. All we want is for him to [recognise] Masalanabo as queen of the Balobedu clan. Nothing more, nothing less,” said Rasebotsa.

The Modjadji royal family is divided on the rightful heir to the throne. The family lineage consists of five closely related families – Mokoto, Molokwane, Mampeule, Morwatshehla and Mathekga, who came to SA from Zimbabwe in the 1700s.

The families have a magical horn with powers to control the heavens, speaking to the ancestors and bringing rain to Limpopo in a ritual called thokola.

The families were first led by male rulers, but from the 1800s, the monarchy changed to matriarchal.

Yesterday, the Inclusive Truth and Reconciliation Movement echoed Rasebotsa’s words, which is said to be dedicated to communicating social injustices faced by children without parents, woman, indigenous people and the voiceless with intention to bring back the spirit of ubuntu and reconciliation to communities.

“In this Women’s Month, we have identified a young woman who is not protected by President Ramaphosa and that woman is Masalanabo,” said the organisation in a statement.

It said in 2018, Ramaphosa had promised to issue a certificate of queenship to Masalanabo when she turned 18.

“We have waited with bated breath for such a certificate to be issued but all to naught,” its spokesperson, Nonqhabelo Ncube, said in a statement.

“In light of this, women from this organisation joined ventures with the disgruntled women from Balobedu to say to the president that enough is enough; we want justice for Masalanabo.”

Ncube said Ramaphosa, accompanied by former president Jacob Zuma, former minister of cooperative governance and traditional affairs Zweli Mkhize and Limpopo premier Stan Mathabatha introduced Masalanabo at the Mokwakwaila Sport Ground as a queen-elect for the Balobedu clan in 2018.

The president further said Masalanabo would be crowned when she turned 18. She recently came of age.

“We find it strange that nothing has come from the president’s promises,” said Ncube.

Rasebotsa said the organisation had, in conjunction with women from the Balobedu royal council, planned a march to hand over a letter of grievance to the president at the Union Buildings yesterday.

He said the meeting had been cancelled because there was another meeting taking place there.

But a spokesperson for the Modjadji royal council, Ronnie Moroatshehla, said the family did not recognise a parallel royal council, naming itself the Balobedu royal council.

“We don’t know these people,” said Moroatshehla in an exclusive interview.

“They are literally becoming a mosquito in our ears because their claim to the queenship has no bearing. They are disgusting, to say the least.

“For sure the poor president does not even know them.”