Moletsane, chief of the Taung who obtained refuge under the Griqua leader Adam Kok at Philippolis during the Mfecane.
Another leader of a plundering band of followers in the southern Sotho area was Moletsane, whose people were the Taung. He succeeded in rallying together his people and bringing about a degree of order and normality among them. Probably tired of the violence of the Difaqane, he obtained refuge with the Griqua leader Adam Kok at Philippolis. French missionaries convinced him to leave Philippolis in 1836 with a small following of only 150 people, and settle at Beerseba under the Rev. Samuel Rolland. Two years later, when the Taung and their missionary tried to return to their original homeland on the Sand River, they found it already occupied by the Voortrekkers.
Moshoeshoe came to their rescue when he permitted them to settle at Mekwatleng on the edge of what he considered to be his territory. Other wandering bands joined Moletsane at Mekwatleng, where he was allowed considerable autonomy over his own area, but under the overall suzerainty of Moshoeshoe. Moletsane later proved to be a very useful ally to Moshoeshoe in times of conflict over land between the Sotho and the Rolong-bo-Seleka at Thaba Nchu on the one hand, and the Boers on the other.
