The Joyride Blog
Town of the Week - Mahikeng─── 15:44 Thu, 14 Apr 2022
This week, Aaron makes a stop in the North-West province in its capital city of Mahikeng.
Mahikeng, the capital city of the North-West province, lies close to the Botswana border, about 240km West of Johannesburg. The area was settled by Chief Molema and his followers in 1852 and was called “Molema’s town". In 1881 the name was changed to Mahikeng which means “place of rocks” in the seTswana language. The British founded a military outpost nearby in 1885 under the name of Mafeking, which would later be used for the name of the colonial town that developed. Until 1965, the city was the extraterritorial headquarters of the British protectorate of Bechuanaland (now Botswana). The name was changed from Mafeking to Mafikeng after it was incorporated into the not internationally recognised republic Bophuthatswana in 1980. The city’s name was changed from Mafikeng back to Mahikeng in 2010.
The city was also home to the late South African legendary musician Jabulani Tsambo, also known as HHP, Hip Hop Pantsula or Jabba.
