Picture: Former Bophuthatswana president, Kgosi Lucas Manyane Mangope
By BAKANG MOKOTO
Economic Freedom Fighters in the North West (EFF) said former Bophuthatswana president, Lucas Mangope was a stooge, but better than North West Premier, Supra Mahumapelo. The EFF provincial spokesperson, Thabo Sehloho said his party has sent its heartfelt condolences message to the Mangope family after his death.
Mangope (94) passed away at his homestead in Motswedi village, near Lehurutshe on Thursday after a long illness. Preparations for his funeral are underway.
“The reality is that history does not have blank page. The name Lucas Mangope features greatly in the history books of South Africa in the period of pre-1994 and post-1994. As any leader of then Bantustan, Mangope was regarded as the collaborator and a stooge of the apartheid. He was the leader of the apartheid surrogate called Bophuthatswana were black majority was divided into tribe and language.
“Mangope perpetuated ethnic division and other ethnic group had the idea that they are superior more than any other because apartheid wanted a divided black nation. However, we commend him for the infrastructural development of his time which today is destroyed by the ANC. Mangope understood the concept of rural development unlike North West Premier, Supra Mahumapelo who make noise about VTSD and yet cannot develop Taung Agricultural College which was built by Mangope,” he said.
Sehloho further said Mangope built shopping complex which resulted in more job opportunities for the rural areas of Lehurutshe, Thaba Nchu, Lichtenburg and etc. He added that Mangope further built a town surrounded by more than 120 villages and developed Mmabatho were SABC, North West Provincial Legislature, North West University and many other are situated.
“In his time, he built schools and colleges unlike the ANC which in 23 years cannot claim one University and Colleges. The ANC since in power has not built a road which last for more than 2 years yet Mangope built roads which the ANC failed to maintain. It is the failure of the ANC that many people of South Africa are nostalgic of the apartheid government and its collaborators.
“More than 23 years, it is only about looting state resources and nothing about dealing with unemployment, infrastructure development, rural development and opening doors of learning by building schools, colleges, universities and factories,” he said.
The ANC in North West said Kgosi Mangope was a former leader of Bophuthatswana homeland, a large part of which has now formed North West province. ANC provincial deputy secretary, Sussana Dantjie said: “Under the ANC
government, Kgosi Mangope’s United Christian Democratic Party (UCDP) played an important role as an opposition party in our province. As Chief of Bahurutshe Boo-Manyane in Motswedi in Lehurutshe where he comes from, he also contributed immensely to the relationship between traditional leaders and the North West Provincial Government.
“Mangope leaves this world when the current administration enjoys a good working
relationship with dikgosi and that includes his own royal house. As part of the Reconciliation, Healing and Renewal (RHR) programme of the province, ANC Provincial Chairperson, Supra Mahumapelo visited Kgosi Mangope at his home in 2015 and discussed a wide range of issues.”
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