The term Batlôkwa (also Batlokoa, or Badogwa) refers to several Kgatla communities that reside in Lesotho and South Africa.
Most of the Batlôkwa clans trace their royal lineages to Kgwadi son of King Tabane, who was the father and founder of the Batlokwa nation.
This is because, from an early stage of their history, they shared a number of linguistic and cultural characteristics that distinguished them from other Bantu-speakers of southern Africa.
Other commonalities included a style skin cloaks called mekgatlha, dense and close village settlements larger than those of 'Nguni' peoples, and a tradition of building in stone in less grassy or wooded regions.
Usually, the theory asserts that the Sotho-Tswana separated from other Bantu-speaking peoples in the vicinity of the Great Lakes of East Africa, and that they proceeded downwards along the western part of present-day Zimbabwe.
The Batlôkwa claim lineage from the Hurutshe clan and traced their early ancestry to Mokgatla, the founder of the BaKgatla and Tabane.
At the time of his death, his successor Mohlahlwe was still a minor, and Batlokwa made a consensus that Queen Mamohlahlwe becomes regent for his son Lebaka.
In the years of wars, migrations, and state-formation often referred to as the Mfecane or Difaqane, the Tlôkwa people were first known in English as the Mantatees, after Manthatisi's name, in the literature of exploration, missions and empire.
[3] Kgosihadi Manthatisi, the daughter of Chief Mothaba of the Basia people who were a sibling nation of Batlôkwa, in what later became the Harrismith (Thaba Ntshu) district of the Free State province of South Africa, was reportedly a tall, attractive woman.
After Mokotjo's death the Batlôkwa ba Mokotleng faced military encroachments by the amaHlubi people who were fleeing their homes in neighboring Natal.
Made refugees themselves, Manthatisi who was then a Regent for her son Sekonyela commanded the Tlôkwa into the Caledon valley, driving out other Sotho communities living there.
Peter Becker describes the developments during this period when he stated that: "Meanwhile Mmanthatisi was approaching with forty thousand men, women and children.
But the Wild Cat People were compelled to live frugally, for so great had been the chaos brought about by difaqane/difetlwane in general and the plundering of Mmanthatisi, Mpangazita and Matiwane in particular that entire tribes had vanished from their settlements even before they had tilled their fields in preparation for planting.
"[4] Nonetheless, the most prosperous of the Botswana chiefs, Makaba of the Bangwaketsi, made a firm decision not to surrender to Mmanthatisi without a struggle.
The vanguard of Mmanthatisi's army strode into ambuscades; large groups of men topped headlong into concealed pitfalls and met their death beneath volleys of barbed javelins.
Thus Makaba became the first "Sotho" chief to repulse the formidable BaTlokwa (Wild Cat) Army, and to this day he is spoken of as the 'Man of Conquest.'"
Amidst the social and political chaos which gripped the present Free State and Lesotho regions, Sekonyela continued to build the Tlôkwa into a major military power.
In November, 1853 Moshoeshoe attacked and defeated Batlôkwa ba Mokotleng which Sekonyela fled to Winburg for asylum.
[7] After this defeat the people under Sekonyela disintegrated, some fled to Lesotho where they were absorbed into Moshoeshoe's state, others to Eastern Cape with a substation portion fleeing north to present Tshwane region in Gauteng.
In South Africa, the Batlôkwa are found in significant numbers in six of the provinces, namely North West, Gauteng, Limpopo and the Free State, KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape.
Batlokwa ba Mokgalong are recognised by the Free State House of Traditional Leaders, and are still struggling to acquire back their land which was stolen by the colonialists under the then Black Administration Act, to be returned in 1991, with the recognition of Paramount Chief Lebaka David Tsotetsi.
Leteka in response sent through his junior brother, Prince Lesesa, with his warriors, who joined the Batlokwa ba Mota who had already settled in the Nqutu area with the Hlubi, and together they succeeded in winning the battle and subsequently capturing King Cetshwayo of the Zulus.
Lesesa also played a pivotal role in the struggle to acquire land back from the colonialists, and in 1905 he was joined by Josiah Tshangana Gumede (ca.
In the Eastern Cape, Batlôkwa are found in the Herschel and Mount Fletcher area under Chief Kakudi and Lehana respectively.
During this time in the wilderness, Mmakgosi was expecting a child and after drinking water from one of the dugout holes, she gave birth to a son who was named Marakadu.
Molefe did not return to Itlholanoga but continued with the journey until they arrived in Botswana where they asked for land to settle on from Kgosi Sechele of the Bakwena.