SiteRecordings

After the Sekhukhune War the Berlin Mission was allowed to re-enter Bopedi. They built a new mission station on the site of the ruins at Tjate called Thaba Mossegu Mission Station. A.J. Winter was sent as missionary. He was of the opinion that Christianity in Africa had to make provision for African cultural practices if it wanted to succeed. Winter adopted the Pedi way of life. His superiors expelled him. In 1889 he founded the Ba-Pedi Lutheran Church, one of the first of the separatist church movements in South Africa. Winter later played an important role in the history of the Pedi. Both the Berlin Mission Stations have disappeared. Today only foundations can be seen. The Tjate Primary School that developed out of the first mission school is built on the second mission station’s site and was the first school under the Pedi people. The Berlin Missions would later play an important part in the development of education, but especially in developing Sepedi into a written language by translating the Bible into Sepedi and developing the first grammar books in Sepedi. Alexander Merensky’s son Hans later became the most famous geologist of South Africa. He discovered the major mineral deposits of our country; including the world’s richest ore body the Bushveld Igneous Complex, with its rich platinum and chrome deposits. These are now being mind just north of Tjate.