Home › Clan names › Sotho › Bafokeng ba Patsa
Bafokeng ba Patsa Clan — History & Meaning
Sotho clan · Sesotho
Totem Phoka (dew) is the founding emblem of the Bafokeng; many Bafokeng venerate the mmutla (rabbit/hare), and some branches the morara (wild vine). The 'Masaleng' Bafokeng near Rustenburg venerate a tamed (closed-mouth) koena/crocodile.
History & origin
The Bafokeng are one of the oldest Sotho-Tswana clans. Their name derives from phoka ('dew') - 'Ba-Phokeng', those who live in a place of dew - and they still use 'phoka' as a term of address among themselves. They are anciently established (their best-known branch, the Royal Bafokeng, has occupied the Phokeng area near Rustenburg in North West since at least the 1600s, on what later became the platinum-rich Merensky Reef). In the Lesotho/Southern Sotho context the Bafokeng were among the senior clans who pre-dated and were later incorporated into Moshoeshoe I's Basotho nation, including Bafokeng groups such as the Makara and Ratsiu lines whom Moshoeshoe brought under his father Mokhachane's control. 'ba Patsa' designates a particular Bafokeng sub-lineage/house (Patsa appears in Mofokeng praise lines, e.g. 'Mofokeng, Lemphane, ke mor'a Patsa'), within the larger dew/rabbit-totem Bafokeng.
Associated surnames
Surnames that share this clan: Mofokeng, Fokeng, Patsa, Lemphane, Makara, Ratsiu.
We publish the full diboko (clan praises) only once we can verify them against documented tradition — for this clan they are still being confirmed. If you can share an authoritative version, corrections are warmly welcomed.