78 AFRICAN POLITICAL SYSTEMS
ultimate claim not only to these cattle (known as kgamelo, 'milk-pail' , cattle), but to everything else acquired by the motlhanka. The entire property of a motlhanka was regarded as kgamSlo; and since the chief could withdraw his kgamelo whenever he wished, he could at any time ruin the holder.
This system obviously bound the common headmen very closely to the chief. They were dependent upon him for their entire subsistence, and therefore of necessity were among his most loyal adherents. They were looked upon as and proved themselves his strong supporters against the intrigues of his uncles and brothers, and, since they could never be potential rivals for the chieftainship, he came to rely more and more upon them, until in time they became the most influential group assisting him to govern the tribe. The chiefs own relatives, it may be added, were never entrusted with kgamelo cattle, although he was expected to provide them also with cattle and servants of their own.
To-day the chief no longer receives most of the tribute formerly paid to him, Kgama having abandoned its collection. Cattle-raiding, at one time an important source of wealth, disappeared with the abolition of inter-tribal warfare. A still more drastic change occurred about 1900, when, as a result of disputes with his son Sekgoma regarding the ownership of kgamelo cattle, Kgama declared that henceforth all such cattle would be regarded as the private property of their holders, and that he as chief renounced all rights over them. On the other hand, the coming of Western civilization provided him with new sources of income, such as the annual subsidy until very recently paid for mining concessions in the Reserve, the annual commission paid by the Administration on the amount of hut-tax collected from his people, and the cash levies he imposed at various times to finance public undertakings and to pay his debts. All this money was formerly controlled and used by him as he pleased. The present tendency, quite recently initiated by the Administration, is to divert the money and other revenue raised from tax, court fines, levies, and similar sources into a tribal fund kept apart from the chief's personal income. He and his assistants are paid annual salaries out of the fund, the rest of the money being used for specifically tribal purposes. As a result of these limitations of his income, coupled with the relatively expensive standard of living he must nowadays maintain, the chief has been deprived to a great extent of his traditional role