Sunday, February 16, 2025

Tshekedi Khama: The Misunderstood Regent (Part 5)

As though the famine was not enough, the foot and mouth epidemic fell upon the chiefdom during the four years of drought. In the same manner regimental labour was sprung to action in the construction of cordon fencing. In fact, this series of calamities forced the chiefdom to have a new approach to driving the economy. Droves of young men boarded the train heading to South Africa’s Witwatersrand to dig gold. Tshekedi’s tribal administration put in place measures to collect tax from those arriving from the gold mines after they sold their labour there. Some young able bodied men had found this to be an easier way of escaping the regimented regimental labour. But for Tshekedi this was a win-win situation for the tribe. 

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