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Makgoba Clan — History & Meaning
Pedi clan · Sepedi
Totem Kgabo (vervet monkey / monkey)
History & origin
Makgoba is a well-documented Bapedi clan name historically tied to the area around the Wolkberg/Haenertsburg escarpment in Limpopo, the so-called Makgoba's Kloof. The clan is famous through Kgoshi Mamphoku Makgoba, a chief who resisted Boer (Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek) and colonial authority in the early 1890s. He was hunted in the dense forest of the kloof and killed in 1895 during a campaign involving ZAR commandos and Swazi auxiliaries; the area Makgoba's Kloof bears the clan's name. The clan is associated with the kgabo (monkey) totem common to several Northern Sotho lineages.
Associated surnames
Surnames that share this clan: Makgoba, Magoba.
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.