Batau People: The Great Migration in History is a grounded and carefully researched account of how the Batau people emerged, moved, settled, and endured over centuries. It tells the story not through myth or romantic legend, but through land, ecology, society, leadership, and lived continuity.
Beginning at Seokodibeng (present-day Lake Chrissie), the book traces how the Batau formed a society long before they became a kingdom—how food systems, hunting practices, family life, and shared rules created identity. It follows their migration along the Crocodile River, into Gauteng, and northward to Sekhukhune, showing how movement was guided by water, survival, and opportunity rather than conquest.
Central to the narrative is a clear historical argument: the Batau people are Sotho by identity, history, blood, and continuity, and Seokodibeng stands as the true ground of their formation. The book questions misplaced origin claims, explains linguistic and cultural similarities across southern Africa, and clarifies the difference between migration routes and identity roots.
The work also examines the turning point of King Matlebjane’s murder and the strategic fragmentation into sub-communities, revealing how decentralisation became a survival strategy rather than a collapse.
More than a historical record, this book offers insight into how societies endure—through restraint, adaptability, shared meaning, and character. It is written for Batau descendants seeking grounding, for readers interested in African history beyond colonial labels, and for anyone wanting to understand how identity is formed, carried, and preserved across time.
This is not a story of disappearance.
It is a story of continuity.