The Royal Bafokeng nation is delighted to see one of its companies, Royal Bafokeng Platinum Company, listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. It is a South African mining company which is owned by an ethnic group that lives in north of the country. The Platinum mining company saw its stock shoot up on the first day of trading raising nearly $440 million.
The Royal Bafokeng Platinum Company has operations in the North West province of South Africa. The Bafokeng homeland is known to be a reserve of the world’s largest known deposit of the platinum metals group.
This was the biggest mining listing post apartheid for an ethnic group. The Royal Bafokeng nation has retained their unique cultural identity and traditional leadership structure. They are led by a hereditary kgosi or king, currently Kgosi Leruo Molotlegi.
It was his foresight and planning that allowed the Bafokeng community to achieve this feat. The chief executive of the Royal Bafokeng Platinum Company, Steve Phiri said yesterday that the listing was a proud moment for the Bafokeng community.
The Royal Bafokeng Nation is the ethnic homeland of the Bafokeng people, a Setswana-speaking traditional community. The monarchy covers 1400 square kilometers (540 square miles) in the North West Province of South Africa. The administrative capital is Phokeng, near Rustenburg. "Bafokeng" is used to refer to both the tribal grouping as well as the land its members inhabit.