Pretoria - A group calling itself the Bakgoma Ba Mothapo Council is asking that the acting monarch Kgoshigadi Refilwe Madipona Mothapo’s two children be subjected to DNA tests to establish their bloodline.
In this round of the royal battle in the Polokwane High Court, the Bakgoma Ba Mothapo Council (the applicant), which describes itself as the inner circle of the Mothapo royal family, has brought an application for the bloodlines of Thato Paledi Mothapo and Mashoto Motheo Mareketle Mahlangu to be determined, in case they are appointed as chiefs.
They want the two to avail themselves for DNA testing with a member of the applicant’s royal family.
In papers before the court, Legodi Johannes Mothapo describes himself as the secretary of the applicant. He said the council has instituted another (pending) application in which they are seeking orders that the acting Kgoshigadi Mothapo be relieved of her duties as both Kgoshigadi and Mmakgoshi of the Mothapo Traditional Council.
They will also ask in that application that the premier of Limpopo be interdicted from inaugurating or inducting any other person from being the next Kgoshi(gadi) of the Mothapo Royal Council.
In the present application, it is stated that the acting Kgoshigadi Mothapo was married into the Mothapo royal family as a Mmakgoshi. The purpose for that marriage, he said, was for her to bear the Mothapo family a child who would one day become the future Kgoshi of Mothapo tribe.
He further stated that she was to bear a child with a senior Mokgoma who is now deceased. It is the applicant’s contention that she had “refused to engage in intimacy with the deceased, but engaged in intimacy with men unknown to Mothapo royal family, which resulted in her bearing children by these men who are not from Mothapo royal family”.
The applicant said there is a reasonable apprehension that she, as well as the ordinary members of the community, want to inaugurate Thato Mothapo as the next acting Kgoshi.
According to the applicant, the acting Kgoshigadi Mothapo had already issued letters to, among others, the premier of Limpopo, that Thato Mothapo should be next heir of the people of Mothapo. The applicant has submitted that they doubt whether Thato was born from the royal blood, and therefore they are seeking DNA test to be conducted.
They are also of the view that if it is found that he is not of royal blood, his mother might seek to inaugurate his sister as the next kgoshi(gadi), thus they want DNA tests to be also done on her as they do not know her paternity.
The respondents (the mother and her children) in their answering affidavit have raised technical objections only, and did not deal with the merits of the applicant’s application.
Judge Maake Kganyago, in dismissing the application, said the applicant has instituted these proceedings by way of motion, well knowing that a serious dispute of fact was bound to ensue in relation to its existence within the royal family of Mothapo.
Pretoria News