Khama III
Encyclopedia
Khama III also known as Khama the Good, was the kgosi (meaning chief or king) of the Bamangwato
people of Bechuanaland (now Botswana
), who made his country a protectorate of the United Kingdom
to ensure its survival against Boer
and Ndebele
encroachments.
into the southeast territory of Botswana
. Malope had three sons – Kwena, Ngwato, and Ngwaketse – each of whom would eventually break away from their father (as well as from each other) and form new tribes in neighboring territories. This type of familial break between father and sons (and then between sons) was historically how tribes proliferated throughout the southern African region. Splitting off and then reforming was not an uncommon occurrence among tribes.
In this particular instance, the break between Malope and sons was precipitated by a series of events – the death of Malope, Kwena’s subsequent assumption of the Bakwena chieftanship
, and ultimately a dispute between Kwena and Ngwato over a lost cow. Shortly after the lost-cow incident, Ngwato and his followers secretly left Kwena’s village under the cover of darkness and established a new village to the north. Ngwaketse similarly moved south.
Unfortunately for Ngwato, out of Kwena’s sight was not necessarily out of his mind. Kwena warriors attacked Ngwato’s village three times, each time pushing Ngwato and his tribe of followers (now known as the Bamangwato) further northward. Somehow (this episode is not explained by Bessie), they held on, and by the time of Chief Khama III’s reign (between the years 1875–1923), the Bamangwato
had grown (both through natural population increase and the influx of refugee tribes from the South Africa and Rhodesia
) to become the region’s largest tribe.
Khama III (or Khama the Great as he was more affectionately known) is perhaps Botswana’s most memorable chief. At a young age he made bold decisions governing how he would live his personal life; decisions that would later transform tribal custom in quite substantial ways.
(LMS) along with five of his younger brothers. The brothers were some of the first members of the tribe to take this step; a step that would soon be joined by a fairly large percentage of Khama’s followers. It was no small step for Khama. By this time in his life he had already gone through bogwera (the tribe’s traditional initiation ceremony into manhood) with members of his mephato (age regiment). Historically, bogwera entailed rigorous endurance tests, which included circumcision
. The ceremony culminated in the ritual slaying
of one of the mephato’s members as a kind of purification rite
.
Initially, Khama’s father, Chief Sekgoma I, grudgingly accepted his son’s affiliation with the church, although he did not embrace church doctrine himself. Eventually their divergent beliefs and values brought Sekgoma and Khama into open conflict. At the time, the tribe was based in the village of Shoshong
, which is located near present-day Mahalapye
.
The conflict included its share of intrigue – an attempted assassination (of Khama by Sekgoma), Khama’s marriage to a Christian woman named Mma Bessie and his subsequent refusal to take a second wife according to the custom of polygamy
, Khama’s withstanding of Sekgoma’s sorcery
, Khama’s forced exile with the tribe’s Christian followers into the hills surrounding the village of Shoshong, and finally Khama’s return to Shoshong after Sekgoma’s second botched assassination attempt and the concomitant installing of Sekgoma’s brother, Macheng, as the new chief of the beleaguered tribe (Sekgoma headed into exile).
It was not long before Macheng and Khama clashed as well, leading Macheng to attempt his own assassination of Khama, which likewise failed miserably. Khama then ousted Macheng and, in what was either a selfless gesture of goodwill or simply a dogged adherence to tribal custom, re-installed his father, Sekgoma, as Chief of the Bamangwato. Unfortunately, the truce between father and son would again falter after a few short months.
This time Khama and his followers, who now represented the majority of the tribe in Shoshong, relocated northward to the tiny village of Serowe
and prepared for war with Sekgoma. The war lasted one month, culminating in Sekgoma’s defeat and Khama’s ascension of the chieftainship. Khama was now free to leave his mark on the history of the tribe.
In today’s world the mephato might be considered an exploitative form of community self-help. The young men of Serowe were required to participate in assigned work projects when their regiments were called to service. And called they were, in the literal sense of the word. An appointed person from the village would climb to the top of Serowe Hill and literally yell out the name of the mephato that was scheduled to begin work. All members of the mephato would drop whatever they were doing and begin their six-month tour of duty, without any material support from the village (in particular without any organized contribution of food). The mephato was generally expected to fend for itself during its work assignment.
After Khama became king in 1875, after overthrowing his father Sekgoma and elbowing away his brother Kgamane his ascension came at a time of great dangers and opportunities. Ndebele incursions from the north (from what is now Zimbabwe
), Boer and "mixed" trekkers from the south, and German
colonialists
from the West, all hoping to the seize his territory and its hinterlands. He answered these challenges by aligning his state with the administrative aims of the British, which provided him with cover and support, and, relatedly, by energetically expanding his own control over a much wider area than any "kgosi" before him. Khama converted to Christianity
, which moved him to criminalize sectarianism and to deprecate the institutions favored by traditionalists. At Khama's request stringent laws were passed against the importation of alcohol.
The British government itself was of two minds as to what to do with the territory. One faction, supported by a local missionary named John Mackenzie, advocated the establishment of a protectorate, while another faction, headed by Cecil Rhodes, adopted an imperialist stance and demanded that the country be opened up to white settlement and economic exploitation. The resolution came in 1885, when the territory south of the Molopo River
became the colony of British Bechuanaland, while the territory north of the river became the Bechuanaland Protectorate. The colony was eventually incorporated into Britain's Cape Colony
and is now part of South Africa
.
Rhodes continued his campaign to pressure the British government to annex what remained of Khama's territory. In 1895, with two other chiefs from neighboring tribes, Khama traveled to Britain to lobby Victoria of the United Kingdom
for protection from the dual pressures of Cecil Rhodes' British South African Company – located in what was later to become Rhodesia to the north – and the Afrikaner settlers creeping up from the south. His efforts were eventually successful and the Bechuanaland Protectorate, which was later to become the independent nation of Botswana in 1966 under the leadership of Khama’s grandson Seretse Khama
, was established. The colonial administration conceded after the ill-fated Jameson Raid
of 1896. Had Khama been unable to convince the British authorities of the need to protect the Bamangwato, it is very likely that much of what is today Botswana would have been absorbed into Rhodesia and South Africa.
Khama III was steadfast in imposing his Christianized will on the tribe. He banned alcohol from tribal lands (with varying success), put moratoriums on the sale of cattle outside the Bamangwato territory and tribal land as concessions to foreign mining and cattle interests, and abolished polygamy. The abolishment of polygamy was perhaps his most controversial move. Some argue that as Christianity later spread among the other tribes of the protectorate and polygamy was universally abolished, the societal ‘glue’ that kept families together (extended as they were through polygamy) dried up.
, who became chief of the Bamangwato upon Khama’s death in 1923. Sekgoma II’s eldest son was named Seretse. Throughout his life Khama took several wives (each after the death of the former one). One of his wives, Semane, birthed a son named Tshekedi Khama
.
Sekgoma II
reign lasted only a year or so, leaving his son Seretse, who at the time was an infant, as the rightful heir to the chieftainship (Tshekedi was not in line to be chief since he did not descend from Khama’s oldest son Sekgoma II). So in keeping with tradition, Tshekedi acted as regent of the tribe until Seretse was old enough to assume the chieftainship. The transfer of responsibility from Tshekedi Khama
to Seretse Khama
was planned to occur after Seretse had returned from his law studies overseas in Britain.
Tshekedi Khama is also best remembered for three things during his reign as acting chief of the Bamangwato – his expansion of the mephato regiments for the building of primary schools, grain silos, and water reticulation systems; his frequent confrontations with the British colonial authorities over the administration of justice in Ngwato country; and his efforts to deal with a major split in the tribe after Seretse married a white woman named Ruth while studying law in Britain.
Tshekedi opposed the marriage on the grounds that under Tswana custom a chief could not marry simply as he pleased. He was a servant of the people; the chieftaincy itself was at stake. Seretse would not budge in his desire to marry Ruth (which he did while exiled in Britain in 1948), and tribal opinion about the marriage basically split evenly along demographic lines - older people went with Tshekedi, the younger with Seretse. In the end, British authorities exiled both men (Tshekedi from the Bamangwato territory, Seretse from the Protectorate altogether). Rioting broke out and a number of people were killed.
Eventually, once emotions had had enough time to subside, Seretse and Ruth were allowed to return to the Protectorate and Seretse and Tshekedi were able to patch things up a bit between themselves. By now though, Seretse Khama
saw his destiny not as chief of the Bamangwato
tribe, but rather as leader of the Botswana Democratic Party
and as President of the soon-to-be independent nation of Botswana in 1966. He would remain Botswana's President until his death from pancreatic cancer in 1980.
, was the grandson and heir of Khama III and his first son from Ruth Khama, Seretse Khama Ian Khama, would succeed Seretse Khama as the paramount chief of the Bamangwato and go on to become the commander of the Botswana Defense Force, as a Lieutenant General. On April 1, 2008, Seretse Khama Ian Khama, son of Sir Seretse Khama, and former Vice-President of Botswana
, was sworn in as the fourth President of Botswana. Tshekedi Khama II
, the brother of Seretse Khama Ian Khama, had also entered the political fray by taking over the parliamentary seat of his brother in Serowe
. Ndelu Seretse a cousin of President Seretse Khama Ian Khama is the current Minister of Justice of Defense and Security in the Government of Botswana. Sheila Khama, a distant relative of Seretse Khama Ian Khama is the CEO of De Beers Botswana, the largest mining company in Botswana, and part of the largest mineral mining company in the world. President Seretse Khama Ian Khama was elected for a full term as President of Botswana on October 16, 2009. Hence, the "House of Khama" still is firmly entrenched in Botswana society for future generations to come.
Bamangwato
The Bamangwato can be said to be one of the eight 'principal' Tswana tribes of Botswana, and just like any other Tswana tribe in Botswana, constitutes a small percent in the central district even in their capital serowe. They ruled over majority Bakalangaand other tribes such as the san,bitwa and...
people of Bechuanaland (now Botswana
Botswana
Botswana, officially the Republic of Botswana , is a landlocked country located in Southern Africa. The citizens are referred to as "Batswana" . Formerly the British protectorate of Bechuanaland, Botswana adopted its new name after becoming independent within the Commonwealth on 30 September 1966...
), who made his country a protectorate of the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
to ensure its survival against Boer
Boer
Boer is the Dutch and Afrikaans word for farmer, which came to denote the descendants of the Dutch-speaking settlers of the eastern Cape frontier in Southern Africa during the 18th century, as well as those who left the Cape Colony during the 19th century to settle in the Orange Free State,...
and Ndebele
Ndebele people (Zimbabwe)
The Ndebele are a branch of the Zulus who split from King Shaka in the early 1820s under the leadership of Mzilikazi, a former general in Shaka's army....
encroachments.
Ancestry and Youth
During the 18th century, Malope, chief of the Bakwena tribe, led his people from the Transvaal region of South AfricaSouth Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
into the southeast territory of Botswana
Botswana
Botswana, officially the Republic of Botswana , is a landlocked country located in Southern Africa. The citizens are referred to as "Batswana" . Formerly the British protectorate of Bechuanaland, Botswana adopted its new name after becoming independent within the Commonwealth on 30 September 1966...
. Malope had three sons – Kwena, Ngwato, and Ngwaketse – each of whom would eventually break away from their father (as well as from each other) and form new tribes in neighboring territories. This type of familial break between father and sons (and then between sons) was historically how tribes proliferated throughout the southern African region. Splitting off and then reforming was not an uncommon occurrence among tribes.
In this particular instance, the break between Malope and sons was precipitated by a series of events – the death of Malope, Kwena’s subsequent assumption of the Bakwena chieftanship
Tribal chief
A tribal chief is the leader of a tribal society or chiefdom. Tribal societies with social stratification under a single leader emerged in the Neolithic period out of earlier tribal structures with little stratification, and they remained prevalent throughout the Iron Age.In the case of ...
, and ultimately a dispute between Kwena and Ngwato over a lost cow. Shortly after the lost-cow incident, Ngwato and his followers secretly left Kwena’s village under the cover of darkness and established a new village to the north. Ngwaketse similarly moved south.
Unfortunately for Ngwato, out of Kwena’s sight was not necessarily out of his mind. Kwena warriors attacked Ngwato’s village three times, each time pushing Ngwato and his tribe of followers (now known as the Bamangwato) further northward. Somehow (this episode is not explained by Bessie), they held on, and by the time of Chief Khama III’s reign (between the years 1875–1923), the Bamangwato
Bamangwato
The Bamangwato can be said to be one of the eight 'principal' Tswana tribes of Botswana, and just like any other Tswana tribe in Botswana, constitutes a small percent in the central district even in their capital serowe. They ruled over majority Bakalangaand other tribes such as the san,bitwa and...
had grown (both through natural population increase and the influx of refugee tribes from the South Africa and Rhodesia
Rhodesia
Rhodesia , officially the Republic of Rhodesia from 1970, was an unrecognised state located in southern Africa that existed between 1965 and 1979 following its Unilateral Declaration of Independence from the United Kingdom on 11 November 1965...
) to become the region’s largest tribe.
Khama III (or Khama the Great as he was more affectionately known) is perhaps Botswana’s most memorable chief. At a young age he made bold decisions governing how he would live his personal life; decisions that would later transform tribal custom in quite substantial ways.
Baptism and Conflict with Sekgoma
In his early twenties, Khama was baptized into the Lutheran church via the London Missionary SocietyLondon Missionary Society
The London Missionary Society was a non-denominational missionary society formed in England in 1795 by evangelical Anglicans and Nonconformists, largely Congregationalist in outlook, with missions in the islands of the South Pacific and Africa...
(LMS) along with five of his younger brothers. The brothers were some of the first members of the tribe to take this step; a step that would soon be joined by a fairly large percentage of Khama’s followers. It was no small step for Khama. By this time in his life he had already gone through bogwera (the tribe’s traditional initiation ceremony into manhood) with members of his mephato (age regiment). Historically, bogwera entailed rigorous endurance tests, which included circumcision
Circumcision
Male circumcision is the surgical removal of some or all of the foreskin from the penis. The word "circumcision" comes from Latin and ....
. The ceremony culminated in the ritual slaying
Human sacrifice
Human sacrifice is the act of killing one or more human beings as part of a religious ritual . Its typology closely parallels the various practices of ritual slaughter of animals and of religious sacrifice in general. Human sacrifice has been practised in various cultures throughout history...
of one of the mephato’s members as a kind of purification rite
Ritual purification
Ritual purification is a feature of many religions. The aim of these rituals is to remove specifically defined uncleanliness prior to a particular type of activity, and especially prior to the worship of a deity...
.
Initially, Khama’s father, Chief Sekgoma I, grudgingly accepted his son’s affiliation with the church, although he did not embrace church doctrine himself. Eventually their divergent beliefs and values brought Sekgoma and Khama into open conflict. At the time, the tribe was based in the village of Shoshong
Shoshong
Shoshong is a town in Botswana, formerly the chief settlement of the eastern Bamangwato.-Physical location:Shoshong is located at latitude -22.95, longitude +26.48, in the Central District, about N.N.E. of Mafeking and N. of Shoshong Road Station on the Cape Town-Bulawayo railway. It is 40 km...
, which is located near present-day Mahalapye
Mahalapye
Mahalapye is a town located in the Central District of Botswana.The town has about 39,000 inhabitants and is situated along the main road between the capital Gaborone and the second largest city Francistown....
.
The conflict included its share of intrigue – an attempted assassination (of Khama by Sekgoma), Khama’s marriage to a Christian woman named Mma Bessie and his subsequent refusal to take a second wife according to the custom of polygamy
Polygamy
Polygamy is a marriage which includes more than two partners...
, Khama’s withstanding of Sekgoma’s sorcery
Witchcraft
Witchcraft, in historical, anthropological, religious, and mythological contexts, is the alleged use of supernatural or magical powers. A witch is a practitioner of witchcraft...
, Khama’s forced exile with the tribe’s Christian followers into the hills surrounding the village of Shoshong, and finally Khama’s return to Shoshong after Sekgoma’s second botched assassination attempt and the concomitant installing of Sekgoma’s brother, Macheng, as the new chief of the beleaguered tribe (Sekgoma headed into exile).
It was not long before Macheng and Khama clashed as well, leading Macheng to attempt his own assassination of Khama, which likewise failed miserably. Khama then ousted Macheng and, in what was either a selfless gesture of goodwill or simply a dogged adherence to tribal custom, re-installed his father, Sekgoma, as Chief of the Bamangwato. Unfortunately, the truce between father and son would again falter after a few short months.
This time Khama and his followers, who now represented the majority of the tribe in Shoshong, relocated northward to the tiny village of Serowe
Serowe
Serowe was famed as Botswana's largest village after Molepolole. Serowe has a rich history in Botswana'; it being the capital for the Bamangwato people in the early part of the 20th century and for being the birth place of many of Botswana's Presidents...
and prepared for war with Sekgoma. The war lasted one month, culminating in Sekgoma’s defeat and Khama’s ascension of the chieftainship. Khama was now free to leave his mark on the history of the tribe.
Chieftainship
Khama was a charismatic leader, to say the least. He is probably best remembered for having made three crucial decisions during his tenure as chief. First, although he abolished the bogwera ceremony itself, Khama retained the mephato regiments as a source of free labor to build missionary schools and churches. The scope of a mephato’s work responsibilities would later expand considerably under the rule of Khama’s son Tshekedi into the building of primary schools, grain silos, water reticulation systems, and even a college named Moeng located on the outskirts of Serowe, which under Khama’s reign had become the Bamangwato capital. In concert with the mephato, Khama introduced a host of European technological improvements in Bamangwato territory, including the mogoma, or oxen-drawn moldboard plow (in place of the hand hoe) and wagons for transport (in place of sledges).In today’s world the mephato might be considered an exploitative form of community self-help. The young men of Serowe were required to participate in assigned work projects when their regiments were called to service. And called they were, in the literal sense of the word. An appointed person from the village would climb to the top of Serowe Hill and literally yell out the name of the mephato that was scheduled to begin work. All members of the mephato would drop whatever they were doing and begin their six-month tour of duty, without any material support from the village (in particular without any organized contribution of food). The mephato was generally expected to fend for itself during its work assignment.
After Khama became king in 1875, after overthrowing his father Sekgoma and elbowing away his brother Kgamane his ascension came at a time of great dangers and opportunities. Ndebele incursions from the north (from what is now Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe is a landlocked country located in the southern part of the African continent, between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the southwest, Zambia and a tip of Namibia to the northwest and Mozambique to the east. Zimbabwe has three...
), Boer and "mixed" trekkers from the south, and German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
colonialists
Colonialism
Colonialism is the establishment, maintenance, acquisition and expansion of colonies in one territory by people from another territory. It is a process whereby the metropole claims sovereignty over the colony and the social structure, government, and economics of the colony are changed by...
from the West, all hoping to the seize his territory and its hinterlands. He answered these challenges by aligning his state with the administrative aims of the British, which provided him with cover and support, and, relatedly, by energetically expanding his own control over a much wider area than any "kgosi" before him. Khama converted to Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
, which moved him to criminalize sectarianism and to deprecate the institutions favored by traditionalists. At Khama's request stringent laws were passed against the importation of alcohol.
The British government itself was of two minds as to what to do with the territory. One faction, supported by a local missionary named John Mackenzie, advocated the establishment of a protectorate, while another faction, headed by Cecil Rhodes, adopted an imperialist stance and demanded that the country be opened up to white settlement and economic exploitation. The resolution came in 1885, when the territory south of the Molopo River
Molopo River
The Molopo River is located in southern Africa. The river generally flows to the southwest from its source, and has a length of approximately 960 kilometres. River flow is intermittent. When in flood, the flow discharges into the Orange River, which it meets downstream of Augrabies Falls National...
became the colony of British Bechuanaland, while the territory north of the river became the Bechuanaland Protectorate. The colony was eventually incorporated into Britain's Cape Colony
Cape Colony
The Cape Colony, part of modern South Africa, was established by the Dutch East India Company in 1652, with the founding of Cape Town. It was subsequently occupied by the British in 1795 when the Netherlands were occupied by revolutionary France, so that the French revolutionaries could not take...
and is now part of South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
.
Rhodes continued his campaign to pressure the British government to annex what remained of Khama's territory. In 1895, with two other chiefs from neighboring tribes, Khama traveled to Britain to lobby Victoria of the United Kingdom
Victoria of the United Kingdom
Victoria was the monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death. From 1 May 1876, she used the additional title of Empress of India....
for protection from the dual pressures of Cecil Rhodes' British South African Company – located in what was later to become Rhodesia to the north – and the Afrikaner settlers creeping up from the south. His efforts were eventually successful and the Bechuanaland Protectorate, which was later to become the independent nation of Botswana in 1966 under the leadership of Khama’s grandson Seretse Khama
Seretse Khama
Sir Seretse Khama, KBE was a statesman from Botswana. Born into one of the more powerful of the royal families of what was then the British Protectorate of Bechuanaland, and educated abroad in neighbouring South Africa and in the United Kingdom, he returned home—with a popular but controversial...
, was established. The colonial administration conceded after the ill-fated Jameson Raid
Jameson Raid
The Jameson Raid was a botched raid on Paul Kruger's Transvaal Republic carried out by a British colonial statesman Leander Starr Jameson and his Rhodesian and Bechuanaland policemen over the New Year weekend of 1895–96...
of 1896. Had Khama been unable to convince the British authorities of the need to protect the Bamangwato, it is very likely that much of what is today Botswana would have been absorbed into Rhodesia and South Africa.
Khama III was steadfast in imposing his Christianized will on the tribe. He banned alcohol from tribal lands (with varying success), put moratoriums on the sale of cattle outside the Bamangwato territory and tribal land as concessions to foreign mining and cattle interests, and abolished polygamy. The abolishment of polygamy was perhaps his most controversial move. Some argue that as Christianity later spread among the other tribes of the protectorate and polygamy was universally abolished, the societal ‘glue’ that kept families together (extended as they were through polygamy) dried up.
Legacy
Khama’s eldest son from his marriage with Mma Bessie was named Sekgoma IISekgoma II
Sekgoma II Sekgoma II Sekgoma II (1869-November 17, 1925 was the king of the Bamangwato people of Bechuanaland in modern-day Botswana.He was the son of King Khama III by his first wife, Elizabeth MmaBessie. In 1923, Sekgoma II ascended the throne at the age of 54 upon the death of his father....
, who became chief of the Bamangwato upon Khama’s death in 1923. Sekgoma II’s eldest son was named Seretse. Throughout his life Khama took several wives (each after the death of the former one). One of his wives, Semane, birthed a son named Tshekedi Khama
Tshekedi Khama
Tshekedi Khama was the regent of the Bamangwato tribe in 1923 after the death of Sekgoma II.-Background:...
.
Sekgoma II
Sekgoma II
Sekgoma II Sekgoma II Sekgoma II (1869-November 17, 1925 was the king of the Bamangwato people of Bechuanaland in modern-day Botswana.He was the son of King Khama III by his first wife, Elizabeth MmaBessie. In 1923, Sekgoma II ascended the throne at the age of 54 upon the death of his father....
reign lasted only a year or so, leaving his son Seretse, who at the time was an infant, as the rightful heir to the chieftainship (Tshekedi was not in line to be chief since he did not descend from Khama’s oldest son Sekgoma II). So in keeping with tradition, Tshekedi acted as regent of the tribe until Seretse was old enough to assume the chieftainship. The transfer of responsibility from Tshekedi Khama
Tshekedi Khama
Tshekedi Khama was the regent of the Bamangwato tribe in 1923 after the death of Sekgoma II.-Background:...
to Seretse Khama
Seretse Khama
Sir Seretse Khama, KBE was a statesman from Botswana. Born into one of the more powerful of the royal families of what was then the British Protectorate of Bechuanaland, and educated abroad in neighbouring South Africa and in the United Kingdom, he returned home—with a popular but controversial...
was planned to occur after Seretse had returned from his law studies overseas in Britain.
Tshekedi Khama is also best remembered for three things during his reign as acting chief of the Bamangwato – his expansion of the mephato regiments for the building of primary schools, grain silos, and water reticulation systems; his frequent confrontations with the British colonial authorities over the administration of justice in Ngwato country; and his efforts to deal with a major split in the tribe after Seretse married a white woman named Ruth while studying law in Britain.
Tshekedi opposed the marriage on the grounds that under Tswana custom a chief could not marry simply as he pleased. He was a servant of the people; the chieftaincy itself was at stake. Seretse would not budge in his desire to marry Ruth (which he did while exiled in Britain in 1948), and tribal opinion about the marriage basically split evenly along demographic lines - older people went with Tshekedi, the younger with Seretse. In the end, British authorities exiled both men (Tshekedi from the Bamangwato territory, Seretse from the Protectorate altogether). Rioting broke out and a number of people were killed.
Eventually, once emotions had had enough time to subside, Seretse and Ruth were allowed to return to the Protectorate and Seretse and Tshekedi were able to patch things up a bit between themselves. By now though, Seretse Khama
Seretse Khama
Sir Seretse Khama, KBE was a statesman from Botswana. Born into one of the more powerful of the royal families of what was then the British Protectorate of Bechuanaland, and educated abroad in neighbouring South Africa and in the United Kingdom, he returned home—with a popular but controversial...
saw his destiny not as chief of the Bamangwato
Bamangwato
The Bamangwato can be said to be one of the eight 'principal' Tswana tribes of Botswana, and just like any other Tswana tribe in Botswana, constitutes a small percent in the central district even in their capital serowe. They ruled over majority Bakalangaand other tribes such as the san,bitwa and...
tribe, but rather as leader of the Botswana Democratic Party
Botswana Democratic Party
The Botswana Democratic Party is the governing conservative party in Botswana. Its chairman is Daniel Kwelagobe.BDP was shaped by Sir Seretse Khama, who is celebrated for nurturing the economic and political success of Botswana. The party's base is in the traditional Setswana communities, and it...
and as President of the soon-to-be independent nation of Botswana in 1966. He would remain Botswana's President until his death from pancreatic cancer in 1980.
Current descendants
The Bechuanaland Protectorate maintained its semi-independent status until 1966, when it gained full independence as the Republic of Botswana. The first president, Sir Seretse KhamaSeretse Khama
Sir Seretse Khama, KBE was a statesman from Botswana. Born into one of the more powerful of the royal families of what was then the British Protectorate of Bechuanaland, and educated abroad in neighbouring South Africa and in the United Kingdom, he returned home—with a popular but controversial...
, was the grandson and heir of Khama III and his first son from Ruth Khama, Seretse Khama Ian Khama, would succeed Seretse Khama as the paramount chief of the Bamangwato and go on to become the commander of the Botswana Defense Force, as a Lieutenant General. On April 1, 2008, Seretse Khama Ian Khama, son of Sir Seretse Khama, and former Vice-President of Botswana
Vice-President of Botswana
The Vice-President of Botswana is the second-highest executive official in the Government of Botswana.-List of Vice-Presidents of Botswana:-See also:*Botswana**Heads of state of Botswana**Heads of government of Botswana...
, was sworn in as the fourth President of Botswana. Tshekedi Khama II
Tshekedi Khama II
Tshekedi Khama II is a Botswana Member of Parliament from Serowe North-West. He is member of the Botswana Democratic Party or BDP. He is also the brother of the current President of Botswana, Seretse Khama Ian Khama, and one of the three sons of the first President of Botswana, Seretse Khama and...
, the brother of Seretse Khama Ian Khama, had also entered the political fray by taking over the parliamentary seat of his brother in Serowe
Serowe
Serowe was famed as Botswana's largest village after Molepolole. Serowe has a rich history in Botswana'; it being the capital for the Bamangwato people in the early part of the 20th century and for being the birth place of many of Botswana's Presidents...
. Ndelu Seretse a cousin of President Seretse Khama Ian Khama is the current Minister of Justice of Defense and Security in the Government of Botswana. Sheila Khama, a distant relative of Seretse Khama Ian Khama is the CEO of De Beers Botswana, the largest mining company in Botswana, and part of the largest mineral mining company in the world. President Seretse Khama Ian Khama was elected for a full term as President of Botswana on October 16, 2009. Hence, the "House of Khama" still is firmly entrenched in Botswana society for future generations to come.
Publications
- Mrs. Wyndham Knight-Bruce, The Story of an African Chief (London, 1894)
- Edwin Lloyd, Three Great African Chiefs - Khame, Sebele, and Bathoeng (London, 1895)