Local author pens down history of the Musina people of Musina
Fauna Park resident professor Mokoko Sebola was in 2018 tasked by representatives of the Musina clan to investigate the origin and earliest copper mining activities in the province.
POLOKWANE – The results culminated in a book, The Musina people of Musina: The Forgotten History of African Legends.
The clan made history as the only black clan to operate mines and trade copper until 1904, when they lost their land, he said.
“The aim of the book is to highlight the injustices by government as many people made land claims and have been given their land back. Those who didn’t get land were compensated and many people benefitted except the Musina clan.”
Sebola said the descendants of the copper miners have yet to be compensated for the land their forefathers lost.
“According to the Musina clan, when the white people arrived in Musina, they were dispossessed of their land on which they mined copper,” he said.
The research into the history of the Musina people was funded by the National Lotteries Commission (NLC) at a value of R180 000.
The book is not Sebola’s first piece of work with three others already published as well as an anthology, Tshetshema, that was published in 2000.
“The anthology is the poetry I wrote in my youth. I edited the poems years later, with a mature mind after starting my career as a junior lecturer at Thabamoopo College of Education,” he explained.
His second book, Re tlamo swara ka seeta and his first book were both recommended as prescribed works for certain grades in schools around the province.
Sebola has a passion for the history of South African tribes and his next projects include the Bahananwa ba gaKgoshi Kibi and the Babirwa ba gaTaueatsoala tribes should he receive further funding from the NLC, he concluded.
