'Rain Queen' custody battle heading to court in drought-stricken Limpopo

A custody battle involving MP Mathole Motshekga and a 10-year-old girl believed to be a princess and the next rain queen, is expected to be heard in court on Tuesday.

The outcome of Tuesday's closed case in a children's court could be a move closer to finally allowing the Modjadji Royal Kingdom of drought-stricken Limpopo to start planning a long awaited ceremony to confirm the tween as their new rain queen - Modjadji VII.

The Balobedu people, who only have female monarchs, who are also their "rainmakers", will then have one more hurdle to overcome as they wait anxiously for news of their application to a government commission tasked with settling succession matters and the confirmation of the girl as the princess who will go on to become queen.

John Malatji, the spokesperson for the Modjadji Traditional Council, told News24 that the Balobedu royal house goes back more than 400 years to the arrival of a princess from the Motopa hills of old Zimbabwe.

“The ancestor of our tween princess had settled among the Balobedu who lived between the Greater Letaba and Klein Letaba rivers of what is now Limpopo in South Africa.”

Queens famous for rainmaking rituals

Separate research from a Limpopo tourism website states that the princess fled Zimbabwe to protect her own child in a family dispute, bringing with her knowledge of rainmaking ceremonies.

According to Malatji, the Balobedu were presided over by kings for the first 200 years, following the "period of the queens" which lasted for 205 years all the way up to the girl's mother, Modjadji VI.

With rain central to the lives of their livestock and crop farmers, the Balobedu carried out five rainmaking rituals from September to October every year at special shrines, led by their rain queens.

The Modjadji queens were famous for these rituals in southern Africa, and when Lutheran

Missionaries arrived in the 19th Century they became even more widely known, continued Malatji.
White settlers arrived and took over their land and the Balobedu's available territory shrank. Other black settlers from Mozambique arrived and asked for land, which they were given, reducing even further the amount of territory they had.

In spite of this, the Balobedu pressed on with their way of life and ceremonies through colonialism, Boer wars, apartheid, urbanisation and a change to a constitutional democracy.

Regent

Then suddenly, in 2005, the mother of the girl at the centre of Tuesday's court case, Queen Modjadji VI, died. Queen Modjadji VI's mother died two days later but she had already passed the title to Modjadji VI.

Malatji said that Modjadji VI left behind a daughter who was not even 1-years-old - obviously too young to take over from her late mother.

So, her uterine brother - a brother born of the same mother but a different father - was appointed by the council to be the regent. This is an acting position and is a system used by royalty to cover for a king or queen until they are old enough to take on their duties.

This is also a legal requirement in terms of South Africa's Traditional Leadership and Governance Framework Act which states that a regent must be appointed to act on behalf of the queen if she is a minor until she is 18 or over.

Malatji said it is the regent's job to lead the tribe until the girl turns 18 and as she gets older she is groomed for her future role.

The regent is also in charge of organising the rainmaking rituals and has done so since 2006, according to Malatji.

But, already shocked by the death of two queens in a row, the Balobedu learnt that the girl's father had allegedly "abducted" her and taken her with him to Gauteng.

They had settled in Midrand, according to a report by eNCA earlier this year, becoming the central figure in a convoluted custody dispute for much of her young life.

ANC MP and lawyer Mathole Motshekga, once an advisor to Modjadji V and Modjadji VI, stepped in and the MP applied for temporary custody of the girl until the dispute is settled. Malatji said she is presently under the custody of Mathole Motshekga and his wife Angie Motshekga, the Minister for Basic Education, and a former president of the ANC Women's League.

She is at boarding school at the moment so that she can concentrate on her schoolwork.

Malatji denied that there was any connection between the Modjadji controversy and the catastrophic drought in five provinces, including Limpopo. Other provinces affected are KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga, Northern Cape and North West.

People at fault

Economic Freedom Fighters MP Makoti Khawula recently suggested to Parliament's committee on water and sanitation that they consider sending a delegation to the Modjadjis to talk about what else can be done to break the drought.

Speaking after the committee meeting to News24, Khawule said she was angry that the country found itself in a drought when "the hills where the water comes from are still there".

Pointing to photographs on her office wall of abandoned water pipes never laid by contractors, and crumbling walls in a health facility, caused by neglected plumbing problems, she blames people not the rain queen - for the infrastructure problems that have contributed to water shortages.

Khawula believes that ancient rainmaking rituals were not just about the ritual, but about reminding people to look after their soil and water supplies.

Malatji welcomed any approaches to the rain maker household for advice on the drought.

“The Balobedus have a long tradition of 'making rain'," said Malatji.
“They value good rains. All interests and relevant constituencies can consult and co-operate on drought issues and praying for rain. We are not presumptuous.

“We, the Balobedus, and probably most communities throughout the world, do not reject hard science and government plans and infrastructures.

“But the religious and traditional beliefs and practices do not contradict the above approaches and strategy. We are religious and divine. Our rain beliefs and practices will prevail until we find sufficient grounds to discard them. We aren't there as yet,” said Malatji.

Source: News24