Chief Sekhukhune

After the death of Chief Sekwati in 1861, his sons Mampuru and Sekhukhune both became rivals for the succession to the chieftainship of the BaPedi.

Sekhukhune executed all Mampuru’s councillors, and declared himself ruler. Mampuru swore vengeance, although his life had been spared. Between 1876 and 1879, conflict broke out, first between the Boers and the Pedi and then between the British and the Pedi. The Pedi did not undergo extensive conversion to Christianity, as did the Tswana. This was a result of conflict between the Berlin Missionary Society and Bapedi kingdom. The Berlin missionaries believed that African kingdoms were obstacles to Christianisation. As a result, they systematically undermined chiefly authority among the Bapedi.

Chief Sekhukhune was also against conversion to Christianity and from 1864 he began to persecute Christian converts. As a result, Christian converts fled from the kingdom and established Botshabelo (place of refuge) mission place. It was during the Anglo-Pedi war that Sekhukhune was defeated and captured in 1879.

In 1881, the Boers, who had regained their independence, set him free. Soon afterwards, Mampuru murdered Sekhukhune and fled to Nyabela, an Ndebele chief, for asylum. This action brought the downfall and imprisonment of Nyabela, and Mampuru was executed in Pretoria in 1881.

Regents ruled the Pedi until Sekhukhune II came to power in the 1890s.