Lucas Mangope leaves a complex legacy of power, politics and postcolonial leadership

Like all of us, Lucas Mangope’s life trajectory had many exciting twists and turns. His illustrates a journey from the outskirts of a traditional village — Motsweding, in North West — to political stardom as the president of the Bophuthatswana homeland from 1977 to 1994.

In Lucas Mangope: A Life, Oupa Segalwe demonstrates elusive qualities as an author by providing a pleasurable read, with granular and vivid details of settings, characterisation, dialogue and outcomes. He provides masterful biographical sketches of Mangope’s political and personal life.

These descriptions range from Mangope’s meteoric rise when, at the age of 35, he was given the responsibility of managing the royal duties of the Bahurutshe boo Manyane Traditional Community in Motswedi by his ailing father. 

He proved a cunning politician, with a ruthless and shrewd personality, operating in what Segale describes as the “cut-throat world of politics”. 

With his wife Leah, a pillar of strength, by his side, Mangope managed, in his almost two decades at the helm of Bophuthatswana, to outfox one rival after another. 

His presidency, though, was characterised by allegations of corruption and human rights abuses. These would later be investigated by a commission of inquiry chaired by advocate Thembile Skweyiya.

As the plot thickens around Mangope’s political career, Segalwe suggests that his first hurdle on the path to power came from Kgosi Tidimane Pilane of the Bakgatla-ba-ga-Kgafela. He chaired the Tswana Territorial Authority (TTA), established in 1961, while Mangope became the vice chairperson.

When the matter of self-government reared its head again after five years of cordial relations between the two, Mangope, who had by then had developed a penchant for power, publicly differed with Pilane on the approach to be followed. 

This “innocent difference of opinion”, writes Segalwe, would snowball “into a bitter, decades-long grudge between the TTA’s top two”, spawning the formation of rival political parties.

The Mangope-led Bophuthatswana National Party (BNP), which had earlier outwitted Pilane’s Seoposengwe Party (SP) to seize the levers of power, would later experience numerous internal struggles.  

Segalwe’s writing prowess is demonstrated in the subsequent sections depicting Mangope’s wiliness, including surviving a coup which was led by Rocky Malebane-Metsing, the leader of the People’s Progressive Party, in 1988. 

Using vivid imagery, the author helps us to understand the two sides of Mangope’s legacy. 

On one hand, he was a staunch advocate for education, constructed a world-class recording facility and several other development projects to build a socialist state which served the long-neglected needs of the Batswana. 

However, his legacy is marred by accounts of brutality — as illustrated in the book by the killing of Kebue Lebeloane’s son — and oppressive measures, with human rights abuses and authoritarian rule. 

As the opposition to Mangope’s rule grew, so did his rigid control, with torture, harassment and arbitrary dismissals of dissidents in the public service. 

While Mangope was adept at manoeuvring in the power struggles in Bophuthatswana, his failure to read the broader “wind of change” towards the reintegration and democratisation of South Africa led to his political downfall. 

Segalwe describes him as being the “deaf man in Mmabatho” on a “highway to political suicide”.

Despite surveys indicating that the Batswana favoured the reintegration of Bophuthatswana into South Africa, Mangope seemed astonishingly reckless in holding onto power. 

In a classical case of individual selfish ambitions superseding collective interests, he attended the Convention for a Democratic South Africa in 1991. 

However, he refused to sign agreements that could result in the abolition of Bophuthatswana as a sovereign state. 

One cannot help but wonder what course Mangope’s political career would have taken if he had been a true democrat who advanced the interests of the Batswana. 

But what Segalwe does by placing Mangope within the broader context of South African politics is offer a more nuanced understanding of his historical significance. 

He also illuminates the challenges of leadership in a tumultuous period of racial segregation and white supremacy.

Whether you view Mangope as a steadfast leader or a contentious politician, this book — based on extensive personal accounts, truth commission records and Promotion of Access to Information Act requests — challenges preconceived notions. It encourages a deeper reflection on postcolonial leadership in Africa.

Readers wanting an overview of the many configurations of the debates about South Africa’s apartheid policies, homeland system and the reincorporation of these “bantustans” will find this work valuable. 

• Sethulego Matebesi is an associate professor and academic head of the department of sociology at the University of the Free State.

• Lucas Mangope: A Life is published by Tafelberg.