Bataung

The Bataung were Sotho-Tswana communities of the highveld; the name recalls the lion. They included several groups with their own chiefs. Among the best-known was Moletsane, whose people were caught in the wars that swept across the interior in the early nineteenth century.

In 1828 Moletsane's warriors joined a Griqua force under Jan Bloem in a raid on Mzilikazi's Ndebele. They seized cattle, but Ndebele warriors pursued them and recovered much of the herd. The following year an Ndebele army destroyed Moletsane's abandoned town on the Vaal and overtook the fleeing Bataung near the Modder River, killing many and seizing cattle. Moletsane escaped and sought refuge first with the Griqua and then with Moshoeshoe. In 1836 his people came to Beersheba, and in 1837 he formed an alliance with the Basotho ruler.