The remaining Barolong responded with "Ba ka ya" ("They can depart"), and from this statement the traveling group became an established branch now referred as the Bakaa.
[10] In the early 1800s, European and American evangelicals organized missionary societies to travel and spread the word of the Bible, as well as to rid the Rolong of their customs that disagreed with their own religious beliefs, such as the paying of dowries, polygamy, rain-making rituals, and adolescent initiation schools.
Following extensive negotiations with the Land Commission, the forty-one plots of farmland were leased to the high-ranking members of the chiefdom (typically the family of the kgosi), who would then be responsible for allocating them.
[15] 22,000 Rolong were recorded in the 1936 census as being under the rule of Chief Lotlamoreng Montshiwa, whilst an additional 8,000 were noted to be living in the central village of Mafikeng.
These numbers, however, are not concrete as more than 7,000 Rolong natives were not present during the count, which has been attributed to attending school, tending to labour tasks, and visiting relatives.
The agricultural population follows the wealthy; in addition to having the privilege of living in the main village, they also participate directly in trade and the production of goods.
Whilst wealth and influence continued to play a role, whether one is educated, possesses European valuables, or follows traditional Rolong customs became the deciding factors of one’s social class.
Such hunts were mandatory, as they were typically held prior to an impending battle increase morale, and those who did not participate were threatened with punishment or death.
[24] By the 1860s, when major villages and towns had active schools, students were taught a variety of subjects such as arithmetic, Setswana, history, geography, and home economics (only girls were permitted to attend this class).
Although money was given by Tswana families for admission, the quality of education and teachers was poor due to the lack of funding on the part of the missionary societies.
[26] Not every Tswana family, however, supported the opening of these missionary schools, because children were expected to complete domestic and agricultural tasks during the day.
[27] When Sotho-Tswana adolescents reached the age of sixteen, they were required to attend initiation schools known as bogwera for boys and bojale for girls.
These regiments were expected to be ready at all times to carry out the tasks assigned to them, which included hunting, raiding cattle, clearing land, and entertaining.
Admission to these schools is at the discretion of the current chief, who judges boys and girls based on whether they would have qualified for membership in the regiment before initiations went out of practice.
[36] Clan chiefs in Botswana did not embrace the emergence of Christianity because the shift in values and beliefs started to cause conflict in political discussions.
Men and women who do not marry in their lifetime are referred to as lefetwa ("one who has been passed by") and are not considered "fully grown up" or to have a "physical, mental, or moral defect".
[40] Bogadi, also known as dowry, is a mandatory payment of cattle expected by the woman's family to be made at some point in a man's life, and is required for marriage validation.