Royal Bafokeng Nation

The Royal Bafokeng Nation is the ethnic homeland of the Bafokeng people, a Setswana-speaking traditional community. The monarchy covers 1,000 square kilometers (390 sq mi) in the North West Province of South Africa. The capital is Phokeng, near Rustenburg. "Bafokeng" is used to refer to both the tribal grouping as well as the land its members inhabit. The kingdom's current ruler is Kgosi (King) Leruo Molotlegi, who has reigned since 2000.

The nation gained greater international attention in 2010, owing to its Royal Bafokeng Stadium, where six of the FIFA 2010 World Cup games were played, and the Bafokeng Sports Campus, where they hosted the England football team during the World Cup.

The Bafokeng tribe (Bafokeng meaning 'People of the dew', or 'People of the grass') own a piece of land in South Africa's bushveld on which 150,000 people, not all ethnic Bafokeng, live. Oral tradition suggests that when they settled in the Rustenburg valley, it captured heavy overnight dew, holding the promise that the land would be fertile and hence that the community would prosper. The Bafokeng struggled to buy the land, repelling invaders and imperialists as they did so.

About 100-150,000 ethnic Bafokeng live in an area some 150 km north-west of Johannesburg, South Africa, with the balance scattered primarily throughout South Africa. The Royal Bafokeng Nation (RBN) has retained its unique cultural identity and traditional leadership structures and is led by a hereditary Kgosi (king), currently Kgosi Leruo Molotlegi.

In 1925 the world's largest deposits of platinum group metals, such as platinum, rhodium and palladium were discovered on Bafokeng lands. Mining companies now pay royalties to the RBN in exchange for the right to mine these metals. Also, a court settlement in 1999 with Impala Platinum Mining (Implats), the second-largest platinum company in South Africa, gave the RBN a 22 percent royalty on all platinum taken from their territory and an ownership stake in Implats. The value of the Bafokeng's stake in Impala had tripled to more than $50 million by 2001. The Bafokeng receive annual royalties of approximately $63 million from platinum mining.

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