Despite a court challenge by her brother Prince Lekukela, preparations are underway for Balobedu Queen Masalanabo Modjadji VII’s coronation in August, her office said.

Africa’s first officially recognised Queen is on the verge of building a new royal palace away from the existing one at Khetlhakone Village outside Modjadjiskloof in Limpopo. 

According to Queen Masalanabo’s royal council spokesperson Motlatso Moloi, the coronation will not take place in the Balobedu Royal Nation’s headquarters at Khetlhakone, but in an area which will be disclosed to the public later.

The move exposed tensions between Queen Masalanabo and Prince Lekukela and royal family members loyal to each one. 

The Balobedu monarch is an ethnic tribe in South Africa’s northern Province of Limpopo, known for its rich cultures and a historic lineage of the queenship dating back over 400 years. 

The queenship seat is high in the lush, misty mountain range of the Transvaal Drakensberg at the historic village of Khetlhakone, about 100 km east of Polokwane.

Queen Masalanabo is the daughter of the late Queen Makobo Modjadji VI, who reigned from 2003 until her untimely death in 2005. She died when Queen Masalanabo was six (6) months old. 

Rain Queen Makobo inherited the throne at age 25 after her mother’s death, Queen Mokope Modjadji V, who is Queen Masalanabo’s grandmother. 

“The Queen will return to her royal palace, which will be built in due course, but at the moment, we are not at liberty to provide information of where that will be,” Moloi said.

Moloi further said that a chief or senior traditional leader will use the Royal Palace in Khetlhakone, currently occupied by Queen Masalanabo’s brother, Prince Lekukela. 

Queen Masalanabo’s decision to move the royal palace away from Khetlhakone has shocked many, as it has been the Queendom’s headquarters since the reign of her great-grandmother, Queen Modjadji 1, more than 200 years ago. 

According to an African Times source intimately familiar with developments within the Modjadji Royal Household, the nearby Maolwe Village is the only alternative to Khetlhakone for cultural and sacred reasons. 

“If the Rain Queen Masalanabo wants to set up her own new royal palace, she can only build it at Maulwe village, (not far from Khetlhakone) which is an area where her descendents of Balobedu first landed and is also used as the royal family’s burial site,” said the source. 

However, it won’t be smooth sailing for Queen Masalanabo. Prince Lekukela is challenging President Cyril Ramaphosa’s decision to officially recognise Queen Masalanabo as the heir to the throne after she recently turned 18.

In December 2024, Ramaphosa announced that his government “legally recognised Princess Masalanabo Modjadji as the Queen of the Balobedu Queenship” in accordance with Section 12(8)(a) of the Traditional and Khoi-San Leadership Act of 2019.

“The Balobedu Queenship was recognised by Government on 31 March 2016 in terms of the Traditional Leadership and Governance Framework Act, 2003 (Act No. 41 of 2003), and it is the only legally recognised Queenship in the country.”

“At the time, Queen Masalanabo Modjadji was a minor at 10 years old and could not legally ascend the throne. As a result, since the time of the recognition of the Queenship, His Royal Highness, Prince Mpapatla Modjadji, Queen Masalanabo Modjadji’s maternal uncle, held the fort for her as  a Regent until she turned 18.

“The Queen has now turned 18 and ascends the throne as Queen Modjadji VII of Balobedu nation,” the Presidency said.

Ramaphosa’s decision drew sharp criticism and anger from some Balobedu people, including Prince Lekukela and the current Modjadji Royal Council, which had resolved that Prince Lekukela should take over as the Queendom’s next leader.

In a media briefing in January this year, Prince Lekukela announced that they would approach the court to challenge Ramaphosa’s decision. 

“The government has overlooked our customs and traditions in identifying an heir to my mother’s throne, even though the royal family made his office aware of the decision to select him ahead of her and we intend to approach the courts against the President’s decision to recognise my sister as the next heir to the throne ” Prince Lekukela said. 

For more than 200 years, the Balobedu monarch was ruled by women feared for their supernatural powers of bringing rainfall during dry seasons until the death of Queen Makobo in 2005. 

After Queen Makobo’s death, Queen Masalanabo was only six (6) months old. The then Balobedu royal council resolved to appoint Prince Mpapatla Modjadji as king regent until Masalanabo turned 18. 

However, the plan was complicated by removing Queen Masalanabo from the family royal household in Khetlhakoni to Johannesburg where she lived with ANC bigwig and former Gauteng Premier Mathole Motshekga’s family. 

The royal council and other family members felt that Queen Masalanabo’s relocation denied her the opportunity to blend with the family and learn the Balobedu language, culture, and traditions important for her future role as Queen.

They said they demanded that Motshekga return her home to learn their culture and traditions, but he refused. 

This culminated in a public fallout in 2020 between Motshekga and the royal council, led by Prince Mpapatla, which accused Motshekga of trying to hijack the Queenship through the back door. 

They also accused him of influencing and turning Queen Masalanabo against her brother, Prince Lekukela, and her uncle, Prince Mpapatla, accusations Motshekga rejected as absurd and baseless. 

In response, the royal council led by Prince Mpapatla resolved to appoint Prince Lekukela as the Balodebu tribe’s next ruler, saying they could not afford to proceed with a candidate who had been turned against them and prevented from learning her culture, traditions and from being exposed to sacred places. 

The Balobedu tribe has not had it easy. 

In 1972, the apartheid regime stripped the then Rain Queen Makoma Modjadji of her powers, reducing her title to that of chieftainess.