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The Semenya people originally of Masai lineage from Kenya, migrated from Kenya to Malawi in the 1800s, where they were known as the Bakalanga people.
The Southern African ethnic group known as the Bakalanga populates sections of Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Botswana, and northern South Africa. After a brief stay in Malawi, they moved farther south and eventually landed in Zimbabwe, where were given the name "Siminyas."
The Semenya Brothers' final destination led them to South Africa.
Four Semenya brothers: Ramashibana, Lekgalwa, Montsho and Modikana, continued to travel south where they settled at the split of the Moeketsi River. Shortly after continuing their trek, they arrived at 'Ga-Ngwetsana le Moriti', now known as Moletjie.
Upon arrival on the outskirts of Ga-Ngwetsana le Moriti, the four brothers went to a junior Ga- Ngwetsana clan in the region nearest to where they’d settled and asked that their arrival in the region be reported to the Chief.
However, their settling in Moletjie was not a simple one.
Along with their request they handed over some cattle to the headsman to present to the Chief as a token of their request. The Ga-Ngwetsana headsman agreed to present their request to the Chief. Months followed with the Semenya brothers living on the outskirts of the region having heard nothing from the junior chieftaincy.
Adamant on their decision to stay in the region, they again approached the Ga-Ngwetsana clan and asked how their request had been received by the Chief, to which no answer was given.
As incentive to deliver the message, the brothers offered more cattle to the Ga-Ngwetsana clan in the hopes that this time their request would be relayed timeously. It was not.
Having realised that the Ga-Ngwetsana clan had no real intent to relay their request to the Chief, it became clear to the brothers that they would have to find another way of gaining an audience with the Chief to have their request for land heard.
The brothers decided that the only way they would gain the Chief’s attention would be to steal cattle from the Ga-Ngwetsana chieftaincy. The brothers knew that the chieftaincy would have to report the theft to the Chief, thus alerting him of the brothers’ arrival to the region.
The Chief asked of the Ga-Ngwetsana clan how long the brothers had been residing in the region to which he was told three years. Angered, the Chief demanded to know why their arrival hadn’t been reported to him for three years and accused the Ga-Ngwetsana clan of being co-conspirators to the cattle theft
As punishment, the Chief fined the Ga-Ngwetsana clan two cows (one heifer and one bull) and demoted them from their chieftaincy. The Semenya brothers were also fined one black heifer and one black bull and instructed to throw a molato (known as a ceremony) to symbolize their new chieftaincy in the region they had been occupying, now known as Ga-Semenya.