- Elias Lekgotla Setuke has been given a 30-day prison sentence, which is fully suspended for two years, after being found in contempt of court.
- The court found that Setuke kept claiming traditional leadership roles even though he knew about the order that limited his actions.
- Additional court orders now prevent Setuke and two other respondents from taking part in certain activities that affect traditional leadership in Royal Bafokeng villages.
Elias Lekgotla Setuke has been sentenced to 30 days in prison, fully suspended for two years, for defying a court order that barred him from making certain traditional leadership claims within the Royal Bafokeng Nation.
In a judgment delivered on 28 October 2026, the High Court in Mahikeng found Setuke in contempt of an order that was first granted on 6 May 2021.
The original order stopped Setuke and others from spreading claims that he was the senior traditional leader of the Royal Bafokeng Nation or the Kgosana of Lefaragatlhe village. It also stopped them from intimidating Kgosana Bontsho Setuke or interfering with the running of the nation’s affairs.
Kgosi Leruo Tshekedi Molotlegi, acting in his official role, and the Royal Bafokeng Nation brought the case. They wanted the court to find Setuke in contempt and to grant further orders against him, Thomas Edgar Brown, and Mabusela Mabjaja.
The applicants brought forward evidence of invitations and publications from 2021 to 2023 where Setuke was shown as a senior traditional leader. This included Heritage Day celebrations, inauguration events, and publications describing him as “Kgosikgolo” and “Majesty King Elias Legkotla Setuke”.
They also mentioned gatherings at Rustenburg Olympia Stadium and a meeting in May 2023 where an executive committee was reportedly chosen to run the affairs of the so-called Bashiga Ba Raphafana community.
Setuke opposed the application, saying the applicants had stretched the original order beyond what was intended. He insisted that the Bashiga Ba Raphafana and Bafokeng traditional communities are different, with the former seeking official recognition. He also brought up issues about ancestral land, the right of communities to decide for themselves, and separate legal proceedings about his removal as Kgosana of Lefaragatlhe.
Court finds order was wilfully breached
The court stressed that a dispute over traditional leadership does not give anyone the right to ignore a court order. “A party who considers a court order to be incorrect, unjust or inconsistent with the rights which that party asserts, is not thereby entitled to disregard it,” the judgment states.
The judge explained that a court order remains binding unless it is set aside, changed, or lawfully suspended. Anyone who disagrees with an order must take the proper legal steps instead of deciding on their own that it no longer counts.
Setuke admitted that he knew about the 2021 order. The court found that the applicants had shown there was non-compliance, and the evidence proved conduct that the order forbade. When deciding on contempt, Acting Judge Matlhape looked at whether the order existed, whether Setuke knew about it, whether he had failed to comply, and whether his actions were deliberate and in bad faith.
Because the applicants wanted imprisonment, they had to prove contempt beyond reasonable doubt. The judge found they had done so, and that Setuke’s explanation did not create any real doubt about whether his actions were deliberate and in bad faith.
Further restrictions on traditional leadership activities
The court sentenced Setuke to 30 days in prison, fully suspended for two years, as long as he is not convicted again during that time for wilfully and in bad faith breaking the same order.
Setuke is not allowed to present himself as the Kgosikgolo of Bashiga Ba Raphafana, call meetings under that traditional leadership in Royal Bafokeng Nation villages such as Robega and Tlapa, or interfere with how Lefaragatlhe and other villages under the nation are run.
Brown is barred from interfering with the running of those villages and from handing out recognition certificates for traditional headmen or other leadership positions to people linked to him and Setuke in those areas.
Mabjaja is not allowed to claim that he is the traditional headman of Robega or to call meetings under the Robega Traditional Council in the Royal Bafokeng Nation’s villages, including Tlapa. The court found that the applicants had met the requirements for a final interdict, including showing a clear right, an injury that had happened or was likely, and that there was no suitable other remedy.
Setuke was ordered to pay the legal costs of the application, including the cost of counsel on Scale B.
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