The Bakgatlha-Ba-Mocha-Ba Maubane local traditional office in Moretele in the North West was completely destroyed in a fire last night. The royal family believes that the fire was intentionally set, with the extent of damages estimated at over a million rand.
The Bakgatlha-Ba-Mocha-Ba Maubane Royal family says they are deeply disturbed by the fact that they have become the target of criminals. Family spokesperson, Makanye Maubane, has called on police to speed up the investigation and ensure that those responsible are brought to book.
“Someone came and burned the traditional office. Everything is totally burned, and we are all devastated. Kgosi and the traditional council and everyone, we are terrified. We don’t know what is happening. We have lost everything in the traditional office. Actually, we don’t know what caused this fire. Well, there might be some reasons, but we don’t know those reasons. There is no friction. There are no fights in the traditional council. The royal family is peaceful, is at peace,” says Makanye Maubane.
Administrator for the The Bakgatlha-Ba-Mocha-Ba Maubane, Stephen Matsunyane, says they believe the fire was intentionally set, adding that it could not have been an electrical fault as their electricity was disconnected a few months ago.
“Our traditional council is damaged, all the equipment, valuable equipment which were in the office down to ashes. The expenses that the traditional (council is) going to incur is very high, including the building. All the equipment, all furniture are burned to ashes. We ask for pardon from the community of Maubane for not getting their services as expected from us. I’m appealing to the people to come forward with information. This is not electrical fault. We don’t have electric in our offices. Eskom came here almost three months back, and they cut our electric, which means there is no electric fault. It is human made thing,” says Matsunyane.
Mayor for the Moretele Local Municipality, Masango Manyike says they will try their best to assist the royal family and ensure that the community can still access services provided by the traditional authority.
“As the municipality, we were there. We witnessed the whole damages. We promise the tribal that we are going back to the municipality to just check how can we assist because we are not sure exactly about the damages. We are still doing an assessment. We are still going to check whether we have budget or not, but definitely will assist with whatever we have. The mandate is the same, we are serving the community, so the community of Maubane cannot be suffering, because the office has burned down,” says Masango Manyike.
A case of arson is being investigated and no arrests were made thus far.
