Tshekedi khama biography sample paper

In Khama's time no Witch Doctors were allowed in the place but today not only are they allowed among us but they are allowed to practice. I have been brought up by Khama and know that he hated Native Doctors. As a boy when I fell ill he placed me in the hands of European Doctors'. What is more, I am firmly convinced that I am able to cure the Chief himself.

I have treated similar cases before and have been successful. They were later referred to in the Cape Argus as 'the fearless and enlightened eight who strongly opposed the replacing of the European doctor's services by those of the native medical men'. But Native Doctor Boiditswe had won the day. For their part the Ratshosas had merely increased their unpopularity within the Tribe while Phethu conversely increased his influence.

Resident Commissioner Ellenberger attributed the sudden improvement to the fact that the 'use of a native doctor to remove any spell which Sekgoma might think had been cast over him through witchcraft would naturally relieve his mind and this would produce a change for the better in his condition but it is very doubtful that such a change will be of a permanent character'.

Lewis, with whom he had mended relations for some time now. They 'unanimously declared that, by virtue of his birth and rank, Gorewan was the proper person to lead them until Khama's son, Tshekedi, could take over from him and until Sekgoma's son Tshekedi had meantime written to Ellenberger to announce that he would be visiting him at Mafeking, the Protectorate tshekedi khama biography sample paper, on Monday 14th December.

The young man who set off by train from Alice to see the Resident Commissioner was not yet sure whether he would take on the regency. Semane, contrary to those who believed she was ambitious for the power the regency would bring her house, wanted her son to continue his studies, obtain his B. As soon as he had heard the news of Sekgoma's death, Tshekedi's Principal at Fort Hare, Alexander Kerr, had written to the Resident Commissioner that it would appear to him 'to be a mistake if he were prematurely recalled to any position of responsibility in the life of the tribe'.

He had, even so, impressed Kerr as a student who was 'sincere and I believe absolutely single-minded in the performance of his duty At the age of twenty Tshekedi was a slenderly built young man, unlike the more familiar thickset figure he was to become a few years later. His eyes had a somewhat wistful look and there was little indication of the powerful personality that would impose itself on opponents, British and Bangwato alike, over the next thirty years.

Although he had not travelled outside his continent, his education in South Africa had broadened his horizons and given him insights into the politics of the powerful neighbour with which as both a Motswana and Mongwato he would have to deal throughout his regency. As a student in the Cape, the only Province in the Union where blacks, albeit only the few with the appropriate educational and financial qualifications, still had the franchise, he was acutely aware of the attempts to deprive them of the vote.

Hertzog had come to power with the openly declared intention of consolidating the segregationist policies of his predecessor and removing the Cape Franchise for Africans. Fort Hare, where there was much discussion of 'segregation', was a nursery for the future black politicians and professional classes of South Africa. These groups had been particularly incensed by the Native Urban Areas Act which Smuts introduced in his last full year of office.

This complemented the Natives Lands Act of ??? Under the terms of the new Act Africans were herded into locations in the cities and again were forbidden to own property there. Anger at this further act of segregation had led to widespread protests by, among other political organisations, the South African Native National Congress which changed its name that year to the African National Congress.

Throughout his life, Tshekedi was to have close contacts with the leadership of the Congress, and his experiences at that early age informed him with a deep loathing of the segregationist system he encountered in South Africa while studying there. It helps to explain the uncompromising stand he took from the beginning of his regency against any proposal for the incorporation of his country into the Union, whatever the apparent economic benefits might be.

For Resident Commissioner Ellenberger and the other officials with whom Tshekedi had to deal, the contrast between this shy youth of twenty and his brother, the tall and strong-willed Sekgoma, or the equally tall and venerable Khama III, was dramatic. And their natural tendency was to treat him in patronising terms despite the fact that he was educated where his father had been illiterate and his half-brother nearly so.

He must have seemed to them little more than a schoolboy and their approach to him may be understood if not condoned. It was to take some officials many years before they appreciated, as Principal Kerr and his staff had quickly done, that they were dealing with a young man who was very much the son of his father. Nevertheless Ellenberger received him in Mafeking in the manner that befitted the potential Regent of the largest of the Tribes with which he had to deal.

Tshekedi khama biography sample paper: Biographical history and context: Tshekedi

At the time Tshekedi himself seems to have been anxious to return to College, and Ellenberger merely advised him that when he eventually did take over as Acting Chief, he would not object to the abolition of the Council he had established to help Gorewan. But his own advice was that he should retain its services. After his interview with the Resident Commissioner Tshekedi left for Serowe by train.

They had sent Headman Golekanye as an emissary, or as he later described himself, 'spy', to Mafeking to escort Tshekedi to Serowe and, as the Ratshosas were convinced, to poison his mind against them. Golekanye was subsequently more frank about the real reason: 'I was afraid of the troubles he might meet here from these people'. Undoubtedly Golekanye had made good use of the long house on the journey from Mafeking to Mahalapye to recount the recent turbulent developments in Serowe from the point of view of Phethu and his allies, though Tshekedi later stoutly denied that this had been so.

Although Ratshosa remained in office as Tribal Secretary he began to hedge his bets by offering support to Sekgoma's house, to which he was affiliated. Tshekedi effectively took up his duties as Regent almost immediately after his arrival in Serowe on 19 December, but while the people accepted his authority as Regent for Seretse he had to be formally recognised as such by the British Administration.

Accordingly that same day Gorewan, who was still Acting Chief as far as the British were concerned, requested that the Resident Commissioner should come to Serowe and instal Tshekedi as Regent. Meanwhile, Tshekedi had called a kgotla over which he, rather than Gorewan had presided. His purpose was to find out what the Tribe as a whole thought about the Council which had been formed to help Gorewan.

He was left in no doubt that they were vehemently opposed to it. Only three spoke in support of keeping it and these included Johnnie and Simon Ratshosa. Then at 10 a. Tshekedi, accompanied by all the members of the Council including the two Ratshosa brothers and their enemy Phethu Mphoeng, went to see Captain Neale, the Resident Magistrate.

Remember that your Chief is young and inexperienced and is therefore in need of such a Council from which he could obtain reliable advice'. The Magistrate then asked members of the Council their opinions about it. Only one member, Simon Ratshosa, spoke in favour of retaining. He declared:. The Council does not as some of you seem to think eliminate the Chief's power, but, in my opinion, it strengthens it'.

It soon became clear that others feared that the Council would in fact strengthen the power of the Ratshosas and reduce that of the young Regent. After objecting strongly to being interpreted to the Resident Magistrate by Johnny Ratshosa, Phethu spoke for the majority when he declared that the Council should have been formed tshekedi khama biography sample paper Tshekedi was present.

Gorewan as is well known is a weak Chief and was in dire need of such a Council'. Unabashed, Gorewan confirmed that this was so. Although Tshekedi had been careful not to reveal his intentions at the meeting, he had made up his mind that it should be abolished. In this course of action he had the support of Phethu and the majority of the Tribe who were persuaded that the Council would merely be a vehicle for the the Ratshosas to continue their domination of affairs in Gamangwato.

Indeed rumour in Serowe had it that they were responsible for its formation in the first place, seeing it as a means to acquire a formal rather than just an advisory role in relation to their Chief. Simon Ratshosa later flatly denied this, and was supported by his elder brother Johnnie who he confirmed that it was the Resident Commissioner not they who had first mooted the idea.

I did not like to be among untruthful people'. Neither, however, denied that once formed they supported the continued existence of the Council not only as a means of helping Gorewan but of assisting the young and inexperienced Tshekedi. Tshekedi was not as unaware of the political situation in the morafe as his absence at Fort Hare over the past two years might suggest.

He had after all been in Serowe from toand while at Fort Hare spent his holidays at home. He was on good terms with his half-brother, Sekgoma II, while his mother, Semane, was an astute woman who had lived at the centre of palace politics and intrigue for a quarter of a century. Tshekedi must also have been aware how Councils had been used by the British in collaboration with jealous royals to limit the powers of Sebele II, ruler of the neighbouring Bakwena state.

If he were to maintain the Council set up to help Gorewan it would become a barrier between himself and the people in kgotla, and be resented as much by them as Councils had been by the Bakwena, who perceived them not so much as a means of limiting the powers of the chief but as vehicles for ambitious anti-democratic elements. Though the Council could not be formally dissolved until the High Commissioner gave his consent, it ceased to exist after the meeting with Captain Neale since all its members except the Ratshosas resigned.

Though Tshekedi insisted that he personally had nothing against the Council, and that in recommending its abolition he was merely following the wishes of the Tribe, there can be little doubt that he was only too glad to be rid of it. If he were to be effective ruler of the Bangwato rather than a puppet of the Ratshosas, they had to be broken.

Tshekedi khama biography sample paper: Khama was a devout Christian,

A first step towards achieving this was to abolish the Council in which they would be a dominant force. There seemed to be an excellent change for a more progressive system to be tried upon the young Regent's accession'. While he was irritated that his advice about maintaining the Council had been ignored by Tshekedi, Resident Commissioner Ellenberger nevertheless agreed to come to Serowe and instal him as Chief Regent with all the powers of a hereditary Tswana ruler until the day Seretse was judged by the morafe to be old enough to take office.

Shortly before for the installation, Sekgoma II's second son, Botswaletse, died from whooping cough. Tshekedi was now only a heartbeat from the throne. On Tuesday 19th Januarythe day chosen for Tshekedi's installation, the inhabitants of Serowe awoke to a steady downpour of rain. But the skies were beginning to clear when Colonel Ellenberger arrived in Serowe by motor-car.

He was met on the outskirts of the capital by Tshekedi and an tshekedi khama biography sample paper of mounted tshekedi khama biographies sample paper. The Chief was dressed in a peaked cap, a dark tunic with scarlet facings and gilt epaulettes and what the correspondent of the Johannesburg Star assured readers were well-fitting breeches.

A few hundred yards on Ellenberger was greeted by the main body of the Bangawto regiments, each dressed in a different uniform freely modelled on those of British regiments, including some consisting of yellow tunics with blue facings, and scarlet riding breeches, topped by white busbies. Many of those who waited for the Resident Commissioner had been soaked by the rain, but this in no way worried them for rain on such a day was the best of omens in this drought stricken country where the very word for rain, pula, was the royal greeting.

The installation of Tshekedi took place in the kgotla at the foot of the hill in which Khama's grave had been dug. A canopy of white canvas had been erected above a table covered with a magnificent kaross of animal skins. Behind this sat the new ruler with the Resident Commissioner and the Resident Magistrate. The signal for the beginning of the hour-long ceremony was a call on the flute.

Most of the inhabitants of Serowe and many from the outlying districts had assembled to see their young chief installed. Women, who usually had no place in the kgotla except as plaintiffs, defendants and witnesses, sat on the fringes of the crowd. The European community had also turned out in full force and were given special seating. An elaborate programme had been drawn up for the installation.

Tshekedi was first introduced to the Resident Commissioner by his uncle and future father-in-law, Moloi, a strikingly tall figure. No formal place was found for a Ratshosa in the programme, but Simon took advantage of the custom that at the installation of a new ruler older people could stand up and give him free advice. He delivered an attack on the reactionary factions in the Tribe and urged the new Chief to put a spoke in their wheel by sternly repressing witchcraft and beer drinking.

The European community played an important role in the morning's ceremony : an address was delivered by Mr. Kirkham on behalf of the local Chamber of Commerce while the Reverend A. Haile brought a message of good will from the directors of the London Missionary Society. By your own ancient custom you must instal your own chief'. Ellenberger then called on Moloi to come forward.

Ellenberger then turned to Tshekedi and just as the headmen had done urged him to follow in his father's footsteps. The final speech of the day was given by Tshekedi, himself, who made no extravagant promises, but hoped that he would indeed be able to follow in his father's footsteps as all the preceding speakers had urged. Great honour had been done him by placing the skin on his shoulders, but it must be remembered that this really belonged to his young nephew'.

Tshekedi had been installed with panoply of a full chief and it was a full chief that he intended to reign until the time came to hand over to Seretse. Tshekedi was simultaneously made leader of the new Regiment formed for his age group, the MaLetamotse. Slender and still a little nervous on public occasions, he had made a favourable impression on all those who recorded their impressions of the ceremony.

The similarity was remarkable'. For the Bangwato, a new era was indeed dawning. Despite his youth and inexperience Tshekedi was soon to demonstrate that he intended to be sole ruler of his people. He now began to plan the downfall of those whom he perceived to be the main threat to his position as Regent : the Ratshosa brothers. His first step was to inform the Resident Magistrate that the people wanted Johnny Ratshosa replaced as Secretary to the Tribe.

Neale cautioned Tshekedi against making a hurried decision and advised him to wait until the Resident Commissioner had been informed before dismissing him. I anticipate, however, that a dangerous faction will arise and I would rather have seen Tshekedi well established and in a position to judge before rushing his fences'. But already Johnny's position had been made untenable by his brother Simon whose attitude towards Tshekedi was one of open defiance.

He had walked out of a kgotla meeting without observing the customary courtesies. This gave Phethu the opportunity for which he had been patiently waiting : he had come back to Serowe with the fixed intention of taking revenge on the Ratshosas. Further complications with the Ratshosa family had developed. Oratile, Tshekedi's domineering niece and wife of Simon, had seized a young Mosarwa girl from her father's widow, Queen Tebogo.

This girl had originally been a gift to Oratile from her father, but he had taken back the child at a time when his relations with the Ratshosas were becoming increasingly tense. As Chief, he had the right to dispose of any Basarwa, who were treated by their rich Bangwato owners as property to work for them on their cattle posts without pay. It was customary to bring in Basarwa children to Serowe to work as domestic servants.

Oratile had been further enraged when Tshekedi opened up her father's house preparatory to settling his estate. When Oratile raised the matter with the Resident Magistrate, Tshekedi told him it was not her affair. When Ellenberger learnt that Tshekedi had brought the question of appointing a new Tribal Secretary in kgotla without first discussing it personally with Johnny he was very upset.

When Tshekedi had raised the matter with him after the installation, he had not objected to Tshekedi's planned repalacement of Johnny. But he had supposed that Tshekedi tshekedi khama biography sample paper inform Johnny of his dismissal privately and not make it a matter for public discussion. When Captain Neale conveyed the Resident Commissioner's advice to Tshekedi, he promised to follow it.

But to Neale's surprise Johnny came to him on the 8 February to tell him that he had been summarily dismissed from his post in the kgotla that very morning. Johnny was convinced that Phethu and his supporters were behind Tshekedi's decision. An hour later Tshekedi arrived at Captain Neale's office, and told him that he had indeed seen Johnny privately and thanked him for his services.

He had then called a kgotla meeting at which he reminded the people that he had promised to give them a decision about replacing Johnny. I reminded the people that in the previous Meeting they asked me [to] take the Ratshosas out of their work but I said that I did not think that would be fair on my part and I beseeched them to let Obeditse continue his work at the kgotla issuing permits.

In the meantime I told them to elect their own [Secretary] and tell me whom they have chosen'. Captain Neale was very irritated that Tshekedi had not taken the Resident Commissioner's advice and told him as much. Neale informed the Resident Commissioner that Tshekedi had then changed his tune - a tactic he was to use many times therafter - by saying that he had not understood the Resident Commissioner's advice.

He apparently takes no responsibility as Chief and is swayed and led by any faction as was to be expected when the Council was dissolved. Please give my greetings to Tshekedi and tell him that when he seeks my advice and I give it to him, I expect him to act on it, and that I am somewhat disappointed at his not having done so in this instance as it would have saved a good deal of ill feeling in the tribe What neither the Resident Magistrate or Resident Commissioner realised was that far from being swayed to and fro by the Tribe or needing their advice Tshekedi had set off on a very clearly marked path of consolidating his own power which meant the elimination of the Ratshosas and the neutralisation of all other close relatives of his half-brother Sekgoma.

He intended taking sole charge of the upbringing of the young Chief Seretse and running the affairs of the morafe as he, not the Ratshosas or the British, saw fit. And to get his own way he was prepared to dissemble and prevaricate. Although the Council had been abolished and Johnny removed as Secretary of the Tribe, the Ratshosa brothers were still influential in Serowe.

They had the support of a powerful group of women in the royal family who bitterly resented Tshekedi and in particular his mother Semane. Simon dis not bother to disguise his contempt for Tshekedi and went around Serowe saying there was no Chief who could control him. Johnny, understandably embittered by his treatment, began to emulate his brother.

Only Obeditse, who was probably circumscribed in his behaviour by his official position in the Magistrate's office, seems to have controlled his resentment of Tshekedi publicly. For his part, Tshekedi, who had strong vengeful streak in his character, deliberately set about provoking the Ratshosas. On Saturday 3 April he sent some men to remove two Basarwa girls from Oratile.

One of these was the girl Oratile had seized from Queen Tebogo. When Oratile refused to give them up, Tshekedi ordered that they be taken by force. The following Monday, he asked Mr. Cuzen, who had recently taken over from Captain Neale as Resident Magistrate, to attend a kgotla at which he would explain to the Ratshosas why he had taken away Oratile's Basarwa girls.

Cuzen duly attended the kgotla with the Reverend Haydon Lewis as his interpreter. But the Ratshosas were busy getting dressed for a wedding of one of Tshekedi's nephews, which was being jointly organised by Baboni, Tshekedi's half-sister and one of Semane's bitter enemies. When Tshekedi sent a second summons to the Ratshosas, they still refused to come.

So he closed the kgotla, no doubt delighted that they had now openly disobeyed him and could be called to account. I am finished with them'. Then, clearly abusing his authority, he provoked the Ratshosas into a further act of disobedience by having Simon summoned in the middle of the wedding to undertake some work with his Regiment.

Simon refused to come, for the cake was just being cut. But the Regiment made such a commotion outside and so threatened the guests that the wedding was disrupted. That afternoon, at about 4 o'clock Tshekedi again summoned the Ratshosas to his kgotla to explain why they had disobeyed his earlier orders. When he was given assurance that the Magistrate would be present, Johnny advised his brothers that they should present themselves.

When they arrived, the Chief instructed them to sit in the centre of the kgotla where a crowd of men had assembled. Simon whispered to his elder brother that the people were going to do the same to them as the Zulus did to Piet Retief. When they protested that as royal princes they could not be flogged, the people in the kgotla set about them with any weapon they could lay hands on.

At last their time for revenge on the once powerful, still arrogant and wealthy Ratshosas had come. We are going to kill you'. Johnnie himself was struck on the head with a chair and on the back with a stick, and fell half conscious to the ground. It was Tshekedi who ordered his assailants to let him go. Meanwhile Simon and Obeditse had managed to escape from the crowd which had rained blows on them too.

The two brothers raced back home where Simon took his revolver and Obeditse his Mauser rifle. They returned to the kgotla to see what had happened to Johnny, even though some neighbours tried to stop them telling them they would surely be killed. They missed with both their first and second shots. Before he could reach it a bullet found its target.

He was hit in the side. The Ratshosas then ran back home. The kgotla now filled with excited men who had heard the rifle shots. An eager party set off to the Ratshosas' kraal some bearing firearms. When they got there, Headman Oitsile fired at Simon and Obeditse but missed. So too did Moanaphuti, who was later to become as bitter an enemy of Tshekedi as the Ratshosas he now sought to kill.

Before anybody was hurt, Mr Cuzen arrived in his car and stopped the shooting. He took Johnny, who had made his way back home, and Obeditse, who had waved a Union Jack from his window to show Cuzen he was not firing, to the Residency for their own safety. In the meantime Simon had escaped and taken refuge in the house of Cuzen's European clerk.

McIntosh insisted that Simon hand over his pistol. That night a fire broke out in the Ratshosas' compound. Tshekedi knew nothing about this but learnt the next day that Simon's house had been set alight. The incendiarists were led by Phethu Mphoeng and they performed their task with a vengeance. Verandah posts and doors were hacked down, windows smashed, paraffin was poured on the contents and straw added to ensure a good fire.

Tshekedi khama biography sample paper: For one thing, it's 16 yeats

Cuzen could do little to stop these acts of vengeance having no police force of consequence at his disposal. He went to the kgotla to try and quieten things down, for the Bangwato were still very excited and many of them were armed with rifles. It was Tshekedi who eventually managed to get them to disperse peacefully to their homes.

It began on the Wednesday and finished on the Friday and took place in the kgotla at Serowe with some two thousand Bangwato present. Since it was not a judicial enquiry, there were no lawyers present. Neither of the Ratshosa brothers denied that they had gone armed to the kgotla. But they argued that they had carried weapons to protect themselves.

In their evidence both Simon and Johnny described at length the wrongs they had suffered at the hands of Tshekedi and what they considered his ventriloquist, Phethu Mphoeng. I have come to avenge myself'. I have done nothing wrong to the Chief'. The loquacious Simon spoke for three times as long as either of his brothers. Much of his evidence was concerned with damning Phethu, whom he accused of being the source of all their trouble.

Do you reward a kind action with a bad one? I have no blankets. I am destitute, we sleep like cattle. None of our papers are saved, all our belongings are gone, by the traitors Phethu and others on Easter Monday and Tuesday. Phethu led the Regiment, he said he was pleased that he had come here so that Ratshosa's sons might become poor Phethu followed Simon and declared that he would not go into any matter which had touched his name.

Instead he outlined the tshekedi khama biographies sample paper that had brought the Ratshosas into conflict with Tshekedi, carefully laying the blame for the rift at their door. He concluded his evidence with an impassioned appeal: 'We are kneeling down before His Honour and his assistants to beg of them to sympathise with us as our Chief has been wounded.

We are kneeling down praying that these men should be killed lest they should teach the other Bamangwato to kill their Chief. A Chief must sometimes punish a man severely but the Chief is not to be killed for that. Our prayer is only one prayer, they must be killed, they have killed our Chief. In the days before British rule that might well have been the fate of Simon and Obeditse.

On Saturday morning, therefore, the Resident Commissioner who had just come up from Mafeking, informed the assembled Tribe that as Simon and Obeditse had not acted in self defence they would be indicted for attempted murder. He informed them that the two had already been arrested and sent under armed escort by motor to Francistown where they would await trial.

No criminal charge was laid against Johnny, who formally requested the Tribe to forgive him. They agreed to do so but only on condition that he was removed from Serowe the same day. Tshekedi undertook to look after his cattle until he was settled in a new home. He also agreed to look after the wives and families of Obeditse and Simon. Colonel Ellenberger pronounced these terms acceptable with the one stipulation that the place of banishment for Johnny should have a good supply of water.

Tshekedi was not physically rid of the Ratshosa tshekedi khama biographies sample paper but he had not reckoned with the resourcefulness of Simon and his female relatives to bring a plague upon his house from afar - from prison and from exile. One of Tshekedi's first concerns when he became Regent was to locate the will his father had drawn up in He discovered that the Resident Commissioner possessed a copy.

When he sent it to him, he found that his father had named him as his principal heir. There was no mention of Sekgoma. But in the letter enclosing the will, Ellenberger advised Tshekedi that Sekgoma had claimed that as a result of their reconciliation, Khama had altered his will verbally and allotted the bulk of his property to his elder son in conformace with Tswana custom.

Indeed Sekgoma said that Khama had ordered the will to be burnt. But here was a signed copy, and it was unclear whether verbal declarations made in kgotla overrode an English-style will drawn up by a lawyer. In tradition, such a will had no place. But then Khama in his fifty year reign had overridden many other customary laws and introduced the concept of the King's own personal property.

If the will of was held valid, then Tshekedi was a very rich man, while the young Chief Seretse would be heir only to his late father Sekgoma's not insubstantial herd. For the time being this did not become an issue, since by Tswana law Tshekedi as Regent was responsible for administering the property of his ward. But it was to be the subject of great bitterness between uncle and nephew twenty-five years later.

For Tshekedi the immediate problem arose not from Khama's estate but that of his half-brother, Sekgoma. Sekgoma's daughter, Oratile, and his half-sisters, Mmakhama and Baboni, resented the fact that Tshekedi was managing it without consulting them. Help, Sir, there is danger. Khama and Sekgoma daughters are living in the veld like animals.

Phethu came, he spoil our tribe, see to it Sir. We are sorry for our Chief's daughters. God will kill us. Help, the town is spild. Sons of Rachosa have no falt. Tshekedi immediately suspected the Ratshosas of being behind the letter. Ever since I came to Serowe after Chief Sekgoma's death not one of them cared to come and see me : as for me, while in their sickbeds I have visited them even supporting them with food, killing oxen for them and sending bags of flour and sugar to them'.

I would have been surprised if no word of support to the Ratshosas did not appear in a letter of such nature. From what I have heard and seen there is hardly an incident in the near history of the tribe when there was trouble and the Ratshosas, or my sisters or sometimes both, were the sources of the disturbance. As long as they are here there will never be any peace in the nation'.

I only ask that they should be transferred to some other reserve until such times as they will be able to think and realise that they have been totally misled by the Ratshosas in stirring up strife for reasons which they will find hard to explain. This was not an expression of paranoid fears on the part of a young and insecure ruler. As daughters of Khama's first wife, Mma Bessie, and sisters of Sekgoma, MmaKhama and Baboni were contemptuous of their younger half-brother from a junior house who now, simply because he was a male, had ascendancy over them.

They quickly convinced the Resident Magistrate that they presented a real threat to Tshekedi. On one of Ellenberger's visits to Serowe, they had created a scene in the Resident Magistrate's office in front of Tshekedi saying that he was their servant and they would never recognise him as Regent. On a second occasion they had even insulted Ellenberger himself.

Far from living in the veld, they were wandering about districts in which there was dissatisfaction stirring up further strife. Tshekedi was so frightened of being poisoned by them that he would only eat food prepared by his special cook. His house was guarded day and night as were his drinking-water and his grain bins. Despite these troubles Tshekedi was getting on well with his headmen who were out with regiments making up the roads.

The Tribe will never settle down until these women are removed It began on 22 June and did not finish until 30 June, with judgement being delivered the following day. The transcript of evidence covered pages of typed foolscap paper, and yet it reveals little that was new about the attempted assassination. It did however provide both opponents and supporters of the Ratshosas with a fine opportunity once more to air their grievances.

Enter the email address you signed up with and we'll email you a reset link. Need an account? Click here to sign up. In the desperate days of —41, he was especially prominent in his support of the British war effort, while insisting that Batswana be enlisted as combatants in a Protectorate unit of the British army rather than in South African labour units.

His subsequent support for the formation of a permanent post-war military formation, the short-lived High Commission Territories Corps, was, however, undermined by British appeasement of the Apartheid regime. As I emphasised in Serowe last July our first President was well raised. This in turn paved the way for the formation of political parties, full nonracial democracy, and independence.

At the time, Tshekedi understood that the prospects of an independent future for Botswana and Namibia were intertwined. In his outreach to Namibians, he had an important ally in the Ovaherero Paramount Frederick Maharero, who having been expelled from South West Africa inlived with his followers in Mahalapye. The Ovaherero, along with Nama and Damara, leadership rejected the exercise.

The South African and British authorities, however, denied both Kutako and Tshekedi the necessary travelling documents. General Assembly on his behalf. On December 14,with the British abstaining, the U. Freed of his royal responsibilities, during the s Tshekedi continued to be a potent critic of aspects of British rule as well as the neighbouring white settler regimes through his writings and as a public speaker.

Throughout his career, Tshekedi's Global influence was enhanced by his relationships with senior figures in the London Missionary Society, the AntiSlavery and Aborigines Protection Society, the Fabian Colonial Bureau, the Africa Bureau of which he was an Honorary President fromMembers of Parliament, and influential academics. Bagaetsho, let me take this opportunity to compliment H.

It is a story worthy of bringing to the attention of our children as well as the world. But, let us further recognise that Botswana's post role as a place of refuge and transit for freedom fighters was part of a larger story of staunch resistance to white settlerdom. It is a story that is reflected in the diplomacy and advocacy of Tshekedi and others dating back to the visit by his father, Khama III, along with Bathoen I and Sebele I to Britain to oppose the machinations of Cecil Rhodes.

More deeply it is a story rooted in the 19th-century armed resistance of such heroes as Dikgosi Sechele, Montshiwa, and Linchwe against the Boers. Let us let the world know that Botswana is a nation that historically secured its own freedom, as well as the freedom of others. Article Talk. Read Edit View history. Tools Tools. Download as PDF Printable version.

In other projects. Wikidata item. This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Background [ edit ]. Regency [ edit ]. Opposition to Seretse's marriage [ edit ]. Post-regency [ edit ]. Family [ edit ].

In popular culture [ edit ]. Bibliography [ edit ]. References [ edit ]. The Journal of African History.