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Bahurutshe-ba-Moiloa Clan — History & Meaning
Tswana clan · Setswana
Totem Baboon (tshwene in Setswana)
History & origin
The Bahurutshe are regarded in Tswana tradition as one of the most senior Sotho-Tswana groups (a parent stock from which Kwena, Kgatla and others are said to branch). Their totem is the baboon (tshwene). The Moiloa royal house (Bahurutshe ba ga Moiloa) is centred on Dinokana / Lehurutshe near Zeerust, North West Province. Kgosi Moiloa I settled Dinokana around 1849 with people displaced during the Difaqane, accompanied by Rev. Walter Inglis of the London Missionary Society. The clan is especially noted for the 1957 Zeerust / Hurutshe revolt, when Kgosi Abram Ramotshere Moiloa was banished by the apartheid government after refusing to enforce the issuing of pass books to Hurutshe women, sparking a major women-led uprising.
Associated surnames
Surnames that share this clan: Moiloa, Ramotshere, Hurutshe surnames, Menwe.
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.