Mampuru II

Mampuru II (1824 – 22 November 1883) was a king of the Pedi people in southern Africa.

Sekwati died in 1861 and his son, Sekhukhune claimed the throne. Sekhukhune ruled until 1879 when a British-Swazi invasion deposed him and installed Mampuru as king. Mampuru ordered the assassination of Sekhukhune in 1882 for which he was arrested and hanged by the Boer South African Republic the following year. Mampuru is regarded as an early liberation movement icon in South Africa and the prison where he was executed has been renamed in his honour.

Early life

Sekwati died in 1861, but this resulted in a succession crisis. It was traditional for Pedi rulers to take a timamollo ("candle wife" or "great wife") in addition to their usual wife. The children of the candlewife would be those who succeeded to the throne, ahead of the other descendants. Sekhukhune's reign was generally beneficial for the Pedi, he expanded the realm through conquest and marriage, invested in the mining and agricultural industries and purchased firearms for his army. However he came into conflict with the neighbouring Boer South African Republic (also known as the Transvaal) and the Swazi people in what became known as the Sekhukune War.

Mampuru claimed that Sekhukhune was plotting against him to regain the throne and ordered his murder. He was arrested because of his opposition to the hut tax imposed upon black people by the South African Republic. Mampuru was stripped naked and hanged in public at the Pretoria Central Prison on 22 November 1883.

The location of Mampuru's remains is not known, though the South African government committed to look for them in January 2019. Mampuru has been described as one of South Africa's first liberation icons.