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The
Ba
Roka
(Baroka - Baroca - Ba Roca)
Who
are the Ba Roka?
The Ba Roka are one of the many Sotho-Tswana clans
who reside in Botswana, Lesotho and South Africa. They are also referred to
as Ba Roca, Baroca, Baroka and North Sotho. Baroka live in the flat
lands around the mountains near Tzaneen in Limpopo province. Their
immediate neighbors are the Lobedu (North Sotho) and Tsonga-Shangaan
(Nguni).
Limpopo Provincial Crest
Other North Sotho tribes living in the highveld are the Pedi, Tau, Kone, Ntwane, Mphahlele, Th wene, Mathabathe, Kone (Matlala), Dikgale, Batlokwa, Gananwa (Mmalebogo), Mmamabolo and Molete.
Like all north and south Sotho clans, a portion of Roka's recorded
history is centered around the Mfecane, Lifaqane or Difaqane, which
occurred during the early 19th century.
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Mfecane - Lifaqane - Difaqane
During the Mfecane, the Ba Roka and other North Sotho-Tswana
clans were overwhelmed by the Matabele, an Nguni tribe closely
related to the Zulu. Many Ba Roka were enslaved or absorbed by
Matabele, while others fled. Those who remained, retained
traditional loose political formation, but were cut off from their
South Sotho relatives by distance. This resulted in Sotho related
material culture of the Roka developing somewhat differently to that
of the South Sotho.
Unfortunately we have failed
to locate further detailed information of Ba Roka history. However, regional tribal
authorities of the area, E. Jensen Krige and J. D. Krige, did mention
them twice in their book "The Realm of a Rain-Queen", first published in
1943. On page 14 they identify the Roka as; residents
of the flats, looked upon as as somewhat inferior though of diverse
Sotho ancestry.
(by their
Sotho Lobedu neighbors). Again on page 36 it is written;
Sesamum used to
be popular in the valleys and is to an old crop of the Roka.
The lack of
information is somewhat explained on page 15 where it is written;
They (North
Sotho)
have been entering from the first quarter of the eighteenth century
until to-day, and are all segments of other tribes, themselves composed
of very diverse elements. To-day the task of unravelling the confusion
and complexity is beyond the wit of man. It is a complexity which
everywhere antedates the nineteenth-century disturbances, probably even
the movements and unrest recorded by the Portuguese during the sixteenth
century.
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