“As soon as Tshekedi Khama, Khama’s son, became Ngwato regent in 1926 at the age of twenty-one, his relatives began trying to unseat him. Some shot at him shortly after his accession; others tried to turn British opinion against him in the 1930s, and still others, as it was said, broke up his year old marriage and poisoned his mother in 1937. Tshekedi himself traced these troubles to grievances inherited from his father’s brothers.” (A Little God, The Twilight of Patriarchy in a Southern African Chiefdom – Diana Wylie).
If you are from Serowe and you see this headline, please read to the very end and you will agree with me entirely. The fact is; there is no other place in Botswana which has generated trouble far more than Serowe has done in the last one hundred years.
As a student of history, I will take you back to the days of Tshekedi Khama when he acted as regent for the young Seretse Khama, rebellion started off in the village as there was a small group of people very close to royalty whom the regent considered to be seditious in character and conduct.
From the moment Tshekedi took over the reins, he felt very much unsettled with the conduct of the RaTshosa brothers. The RaTshosa brothers were an educated lot and some have ascribed Tshekedi’s apprehensions to have been based on some form of inferiority complex as he had not matriculated. The RaTshosa brothers were a powerful faction in the chiefdom and dealing with them was not easy even for a man as powerful as Tshekedi.
I am not attempting to write an academic paper here but there is a lot I could quote from the books of Diana Wylie and Michael Crowder (in his book, Black Prince) which actually will guide my article going forth. The two books come to reveal that indeed Serowe is a place of turmoil.
According to the two books, Serowe is the only place which has ever seen the deployment of British Navy sailors in Botswana. During the arrest of Tshekedi, the British evidently believed that the natives of Serowe were going to revolt at the arrival of the Resident Commissioner known as Colonel Charles Ray. This prompted the deployment of two hundred and fifty British sailors on the fringes of Serowe. These sailors came from the Naval Base of Simons Town in the Cape Colony. This was after the flogging of a white man known as Phineas McIntosh by Tshekedi himself.
Robert Molefhabangwe is actually better placed than I am regarding “Mekubukubu ya Gammangwato.” This is about the turmoil of the Ngwato chiefdom. But the truth is, Serowe has always been central to the troubles in the protectorate.
There has been another seditious group in Serowe during the reign of Tshekedi. This team that often met under the cover of darkness was discovered on its last lap of finding Tshekedi’s replacement via a coup. Michael Crowder delves deeply on this issue of Gakelona, the son of Sekgoma born out of wedlock.
In the Ngwato history there was the Rametsana group which was made up of the Tshekedi faithful. This group was defined after the riotous kgotla meeting in Serowe. The fact is, Serowe has always been faction-ridden when you read back into the course of history.
The factions in Serowe have always been defined at the kgotla, the place that embodies tribal authority; even on the past event of the kgotla when President Masisi visited Bangwato in Serowe. The tribe was clearly divided. But the cool heads far outweighed the seditious group.
It was a good thing that President Masisi braved the storm and entered the lion’s den. But we know this is not the first time. He did so not long after he took over as head of state and it seems Serowe will remain his favourite holiday destination.
I would like to make a small comparison between Botswana and South Africa. I am zeroing in on Serowe of Bangwato and Kwa-Zulu Natal of the Zulus. The comparison goes even further to note that these two selected places have past immediate presidents residing there and belonging to the tribe in a big way.
If Serowe was Kwa-Zulu Natal, the president would have most likely withdrawn his trip. The Zulus are numerically superior but Bangwato are a minority in their own chiefdom. This is according to the census of 1946 as conducted by the British and were taking into account tribal lines.
General Ian Khama who has clearly picked a fight with president Masisi must always bear in mind that he does not have the numerical advantage that Jacob Zuma had when he challenged the might of government a few months ago. On the other hand, the Zulus are not afraid of bloodshed and I am not sure where to place Bangwato in that area of bravery.
It has clearly come out that there are a few zealots in Serowe who are real Khama defenders. The few that carried the placards did not exhume confidence in their work. A lot of them looked dejected and disinterested in their role for the day by the time the president’s speech was half way.
If they managed to arrest Zuma in South Africa with so many zealots surrounding him, if need be, Khama will be easy meat. Khama should know that when it gets hot in the kitchen, there will be no one to save him.
In every situation there is always a voice of reason. Pelotelele Tlhaodi was such voice in Serowe. He cautioned those who were clearly displaying their seditious behaviour. I wondered if the people that they were treading on thin ice and not knowing that they were committing something close to treasonable crimes with their wayward behaviour
Of course it was necessary for the military and the police to deploy in the environs of the kgotla as they did. The propaganda machine had been working overtime trying to incite the people of Serowe into a riot. Remember that while president, Khama had deployed a considerable number of Special Forces during the Kanye BDP congress when he felt that Gomolemo Motswaledi was threatening his authority.
