Jeff Ramsay | University of Botswana (original) (raw)

Papers by Jeff Ramsay

Christopher Lamb "Quill" Hermans, who passed away on October 28, 2024, played a central role in l... more Christopher Lamb "Quill" Hermans, who passed away on October 28, 2024, played a central role in laying the foundations of Botswana's post-independence trajectory of sustained economic growth and accompanying social development. His legacy was a product of his dedication to Botswana's financial development as the founding Governor of the Bank of Botswana (BOB), chief architect of our national currency, and pioneer Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning (MFDP). He also distinguished himself working on various international assignments for the World Bank and served as the first Chairperson of the Botswana International Financial Services Centre. The following modest tribute to the late Governor Hermans consists of two parts. It begins with a short profile of Hermans’s life, whose text has been expanded from a previously published obituary by this author. The appended second part provides an overview of the evolution of currency in Botswana, from the use of cowrie shells to the introduction of the Botswana Pula. Its content is culled from a larger body of material previously produced by this author as background information for the Bank of Botswana’s institutional museum.

Sunday Standard, 2012

The following essay on Professor Zachariah Keodirelang “Z.K.” Matthews’ Botswana legacy is an edi... more The following essay on Professor Zachariah Keodirelang “Z.K.” Matthews’ Botswana legacy is an edited amalgamation of weekly articles that originally appeared as a “Builders of Botswana” series in the Sunday Standard (Botswana) in 2012, with a 2021 ‘Back 4D Future’ reset in the Mmegi Monitor. The essay begins with a summary profile of Z.K.’s life, followed by sections on his formative relationships with Tshekedi and Seretse Khama, his post-Second World War emergence as a leading figure in the Anti-Apartheid struggle, and his final years as Botswana's chief diplomat.

Monitor, 2020

THE GREAT BECHUANALAND ESCAPE: GOLDREICH & WOLPE’S UNEASY 1963 FLIGHT TO FREEDOM The following t... more THE GREAT BECHUANALAND ESCAPE: GOLDREICH & WOLPE’S UNEASY 1963 FLIGHT TO FREEDOM

The following text, edited for continuity, was originally published as a six-part “Back 4D Future” weekly series in the Monitor (Gaborone) newspaper between March 3 and May 18, 2020. The series was conceived as part of a Botswana Freedom Fighter’s Pipeline trilogy that also included “Samora Machel’s 1963 Passage through Botswana” and “Mandela’s 1962 Movements in Botswana.”

Drafted as part of a Debswana 55th Anniversary Publication, the following text outlines the histo... more Drafted as part of a Debswana 55th Anniversary Publication, the following text outlines the historical roots of how Botswana emerged as a leading player in the global diamond supply chain.

The following profiles were drafted by this author over the years for use on President’s Day and ... more The following profiles were drafted by this author over the years for use on President’s Day and other occasions. Having been used in official and semi-official communications, with variations, they have been widely reproduced. I have assembled them together here for the convenience of readers. On a personal note, it has been this author’s privilege to have known and, to varying degrees, worked with all but two of the figures below, the exceptions being our first, President Sir Seretse Khama, and second Vice President, Lenyeletse Seretse.

Monitor, 2016

The following document is adapted from articles that were published in the Monitor newspaper (Apr... more The following document is adapted from articles that were published in the Monitor newspaper (April-June 2016). They were part of a more extended series focusing on the heritage and early life of the Bakwena ruler Kgosi Sechele I, whose 19th-century reign in many ways laid the foundations of today’s Botswana. Sechele’s people, the Bakwena of modern Botswana, have existed for over three centuries as a morafe or tribal community belonging to the ethno-linguistic group known as Batswana. Their cultural practices, traditional beliefs, and accepted bloodlines are part of the broader category of Sotho-Tswana peoples in Southern Africa. In this context, it should be noted that Sotho-Tswana oral traditions vary in their accounts of historic events. The modest aim of this study is to reconstruct an annotated narrative of Sechele’s royal forebears. In this exercise, the author has, to a greater extent, relied on oral traditions recorded before the Second World War. Collectively, the tales give us an image of the past from an indigenous perspective. As historical evidence, they may be metaphorically understood as an incomplete human illustration rather than a detailed photograph. While one has endeavoured to be faithful to the source material, one does not assume that the resulting text constitutes an uncontested, much less whole, truth chronicling the early dynastic annals of the Bakwena and their neighbours. Instead, it is conceived as an attempt to provide insight into bygone interpretations of the lineage whose legacy moulded Sechele’s worldview. In Setswana, a good person, one who epitomises the humanistic values of Botho, may be described as a “Child of God and the Ancestors." This ideal dovetails with such classic axioms as “What is new and worthy is built on what is old." In recognition of these longue durée constructs, the text also discusses indigenous pre-Christian beliefs, whose values continue to shape the spirituality of many Batswana today. These beliefs provide an epistemological and sociocultural basis for Sechele’s syncretic Christian perspective, which set him apart as a pioneer in the faith’s regional inculturation.

Weekend Post, 2016

Kgosi Sekgoma aLetsholathebe II (1873-1914) has the tragic distinction of being the first Motswan... more Kgosi Sekgoma aLetsholathebe II (1873-1914) has the tragic distinction of being the first Motswana to legally challenge the authority of the colonial state in its metropolitan courts. As the ruler of the Batawana from 1891, until his removal from power as “Chief” by the British in 1906, Sekgoma displayed ruthless talent in asserting his independent authority. Through a combination of charisma and the skilful use of patronage, he came to command broad popular support among his subjects. This was especially true among those who were not at the time considered to be the paternal descendants of the morafe's original, ba bina phuti, founders. Following his removal, Sekgoma was detained without trial for just over five years by the British at Gaborone. His lawyers argued that his detention violated his natural right under the law to either be tried or released. Unfortunately for him, and many other Batswana who would follow in his footsteps, the Imperial courts ultimately ruled that as a British Protected Person, rather than a Crown subject, Sekgoma had no legal standing. The decision thus upheld the absolute authority of the High Commissioner, acting on behalf of the British Crown, to rule over the Bechuanaland Protectorate without any domestic restraint.

Sunday Standard, 2011

The following document brings together articles on the history of the Bangwaketse royal dynasty t... more The following document brings together articles on the history of the Bangwaketse royal dynasty that were first published as part of an August-November 2011 series in the Sunday Standard (Gaborone) newspaper. At the time this author had been invited by the newspaper's publishers, with the input of members of the royal house, to produce the series in anticipation of the October 2011 coronation of Malope II as Kgosi-e-Kgolo of Bangwaketse. A condensed version of the serial was incorporated in the official programme for the coronation - A Royal Affair Peo Ya Ga Kgosi Malope II October 7 2011 Souvenir Book Programme, a pdf. copy of which is available online @
https://www.academia.edu/91920515/A_ROYAL_AFFAIR_PEO_YA_GA_KGOSI_MALOPE_II_October_7_2011_SOUVENIR_BOOK_PROGRAMME.

A fully annotated version of Part 2 of the series has been separately published online as “Kgosi Sebego the Hard-Hearted Crocodile” @
https://www.academia.edu/95107479/KGOSI_SEBEGO_THE_HARD_HEARTED_CROCODILE_by_JEFF_RAMSAY_1

Epidemic Encounters, Communities, and Practices in the Colonial World edited by Poonam Bala and Russell Viljoen, 2023

At the end of the nineteenth century, indigenous communities in southeast Botswana [then the Bech... more At the end of the nineteenth century, indigenous communities in southeast Botswana [then the Bechuanaland Protectorate] were becoming dependent on migrant labour. By the 1920s working on contract in the South African mines was the shared life experience of most able-bodied adult males, while women and children struggled to sustain domestic production at below subsistence level. Although ultimately reinforced by colonial state impositions, this transformation was initially driven by the catastrophic appearance of a series of epidemics that, when coupled with other natural disasters, undermined domestic social reproduction. Although the significance of labour migration in shaping Botswana society has been a focus of considerable scholarship, the epidemiology associated with its emergence has received little attention. In this respect, recent works on colonial-era medical history have focused more on the evolution of healthcare delivery than the social legacy of major disease outbreaks. More broadly, while there has been regional recognition of the trauma caused by past epidemics, such as smallpox and rinderpest, the significance of disease in the shaping of twentieth-century Southern African social order was relatively neglected. As Howard Phillips observed:

“Epidemics – the unusually high prevalence of lethal human disease in a town, country or region – loom small in accounts of South Africa’s past, almost in inverse proportion to the anxious attention they attracted while they raged. In part this is because, until quite recently, historians have not known how to incorporate them into their versions of history, dominated as they were by political, economic social and cultural issues…In this short-sightedness, they failed to recognise that, far from existing outside of these frameworks, in some separate medical paradigm, epidemics (and disease generally) are integral to every aspect of life, death and society.”

As a contribution to the broader study of disease as a factor in the consolidation of imperialist hegemony, this chapter focuses on the impact of invasive pathogens in the underdevelopment of Kweneng or the Bakwena Tribal Reserve as it was gazetted under colonial rule, where virtually the entire population suffered severe material losses and a consequent decline in livelihoods. The abruptness of this change gave rise to domestic turmoil as people struggled to recover their welfare and sense of social order.

Mmegi, 1995

The following monograph is adapted from a seventeen-part series of “The Struggle” that appeared i... more The following monograph is adapted from a seventeen-part series of “The Struggle” that appeared in the Mmegi newspaper in 1995 to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the end of World War II. At the time this author was also assembling an exhibit at Kgosi Sechele I Museum for the occasion: “On the Frontline, Batswana Participation in the World Wars." Both the articles and exhibit were part of a wider collective initiative, spearheaded by the then-existing District Museums, working with local war veterans, to remind the nation of the extent of the Bechuanaland Protectorate’s engagement in the global conflict. Variations of the original articles subsequently appeared in the Botswana Daily News (2003), and Weekend Post (2015), and were condensed for inclusion in the booklet From Boys to Men: The Story of the BDF at 30 - 1977 -2007. “The Fighting Becs” began as an attempt to contextualize the wealth of detail contained in Alan Bent’s 1952 semi-official account Ten Thousand Men of Africa: The Story of the Bechuanaland Pioneers and Gunners, 1941-1946, with a broader understanding of the war’s progression, while taking on board subsequent contributions by locally based scholars about Botswana’s engagement in the conflict (see Bibliography). Additional sources included then-emerging testimonies of war veterans, in the context of the 50th-anniversary commemorations held in Francistown, Mochudi, Lobatse, and Molepolole, along with the findings of two then-doctoral students Ashley Jackson and Deborah Schmitt (nee Shackleton). Nearly three decades later one can take some satisfaction that what was initially uncoordinated collective efforts by various interested parties to recall Botswana’s contributions and sacrifices as part of the British Empire’s war effort succeeded in generating popular and official interest in the Second World War’s local legacy. One tangible outcome of this awakening was Government's decision, effective in 1998, to provide pensions to surviving veterans and family members. In addition to some modest editing of the original text, the content below has been enriched with illustrations and maps.

Daily News, 2000

Throughout its eighty-one years of existence, the Bechuanaland Protectorate was a territory ruled... more Throughout its eighty-one years of existence, the Bechuanaland Protectorate was a territory ruled by white foreigners, whose subjects lived in the shadow of white settler-ruled neighbours. White supremacy was an inexorable context for the conduct of economic, social, and political relations. Notwithstanding this hegemonic reality interaction between indigenous Africans and European settlers in the Protectorate’s Tribal Reserves was shaped by contradictory tendencies toward social engagement and segregation, cooperation, and conflict.

At times these intracommunal ambiguities served as a lightning rod for expressions of obsessive fear on the part of white segregationists in the region about the fragility of the colonial colour bar against the backdrop of their ‘black peril’, Afrikaans ‘swart gevaar’, pathologies. In the Southern African context these two terms have been narrowly defined as episodes of twentieth-century colonial settler hysteria at the prospect of black men being attracted to have sexual relations with white women. They are here more broadly understood as a marker for wider sustained fears about the fragility of white minority control. As reflected in literature and alarmist media, surges in black peril anxiety tended to coincide with challenging events such as the 1896 Chimurenga in Zimbabwe, the 1906 Bambatha Rebellion in Kwazulu-Natal, and social transformation arising from the World Wars.

The best known Botswana-associated example of the black peril trope was the global controversy that followed Seretse Khama’s 1948 marriage to Ruth Williams, which has been the focus of films as well as an extensive literature, including associated fiction. Earlier, in 1933, the British Empire’s racial hierarchy had been shaken by the Bangwato regent Tshekedi Khama’s trial and alleged flogging of a young white man named Phinehas McIntosh. Less remembered is the story of the “White Slaves of Molepolole” whose reportedly fallen status was the subject of recurring newspaper headlines in the 1920s.

This is an expanded 2023 revision of an original Builders of Botswana weekly series that appeared August-October editions of the Daily News (Botswana)

LOSING TO THE WORLD IN THE KALAHARI – SOME ASPECTS OF THE HISTORY OF THE GHANZI DISTRICT AND CKGR TO 1990 by JEFF RAMSAY , 2000

The following monograph began as a series of newspaper essays that were published in the Daily Ne... more The following monograph began as a series of newspaper essays that were published in the Daily News in 2000 and the Midweek Sun in 2002. Subsequent content revisions and additions appeared over the years in additional Botswana periodicals. The articles have been edited for continuity and modified with the inclusion of extensive, updated, endnotes in place of occasional in-text references. Interest in the Ghanzi region's past was an extension of this author's initial research focus on the socio-political evolution of Kweneng. It was further influenced by my exposure to indigenous rights issues in Ghanzi in the mid-1990s, as a member of the Advisory Board of MS-Botswana (Mellemfolkeligt Samvirke [Danish Volunteer Service] in Botswana) and as a newspaper columnist, as well as through interactions with other scholars. When the series appeared in the popular press they were conceived as sideline contributions to the then-ongoing "Kalahari Debate" that was raging in academic circles about the past, present and future status of Khoisan-speaking peoples in the region. For all the scholarly passion, intellect, and published output that arose from the said debate, its critical findings have to a great extent remained on the academic sidelines, raising questions about its ultimate relevance to the still marginalised communities that were its focus.

Botswana has two linked myths that are central to the nation's identity. One is that the Batswana... more Botswana has two linked myths that are central to the nation's identity. One is that the Batswana chiefs invited the British to colonize and "protect" them in 1885 from Boer aggression. The second is that Queen Victoria herself, guaranteed to continue this protection in 1895 when the Three Dikgosi ventured to England in 1895. The paper will not only demonstrate that both parts of this mythology are patently false, but will then go on to show why the Batswana went on to believe these ideas. Both parts of the myth essentially were used by the British to mask their predatory actions in annexing Botswana, but the Batswana turned the myths against the British as a political tactic during the Incorporation era. Once this happened, the myths became central to the national identity.

Weekend Post , 2014

From 1824 to 1844 Sebego I was the Motswaraledi-Kgosi or Regent of the main faction of the Bangwa... more From 1824 to 1844 Sebego I was the Motswaraledi-Kgosi or Regent of the main faction of the Bangwaketse morafe (plural merafe – Tswana polity or tribe). His two-decade reign coincided with the period of violent region-wide conflicts that are commonly, albeit controversially, referred to as the Mfecane or Difaqane era of Southern African history. During this time of tumult, Sebego distinguished himself as a military leader. At the beginning of his reign, he mobilized an army of over 4000 to expel Sebetwane’s Makololo horde from southern Botswana. Subsequently, he waged a prolonged war of resistance against Mzilikazi’s Amandebele, whom he defeated at Dutlwe. Thereafter, he advanced into western Botswana, in the process driving the Ovaherero and Moruakgomo’s Bakwena out of the area, while ruthlessly subjugating local communities. When he visited him in 1843, the missionary David Livingstone considered Sebego to be the region’s preeminent ruler. For his documented military exploits alone, Sebego deserves to be remembered among the pantheon of Southern Africa's notable early 19th-century warrior kings, alongside such peers as Mzilikazi, Sebetwane, Soshangane, and Tshaka. Yet in his homeland of Botswana, he has become a largely forgotten figure

Weekend Post, 2016

This article is adapted from a thirteen-part series published in the Weekend Post (Gaborone). Ear... more This article is adapted from a thirteen-part series published in the Weekend Post (Gaborone). Earlier versions of its content had previously appeared in various Botswana periodicals, beginning with the Sunday Tribune (Gaborone) in 2001. The publication was conceived as an attempt to combine the wealth of Ikalanga traditions collected by Masola Kumile with additional insights from the then-emerging literature on Ikalanga heritage in Botswana, focusing on the fall of first the Chibundule or Tshibundule and subsequent Nichasike dynasties, which together ruled the Bakalanga and neighbouring communities over some four centuries, that is from c. 1450 until the 1840s. The Chibundule dynasty, which was overthrown during the mid-17th century, is associated with the ‘Balilima’ branch of Bakalanga, while the Nichasike or Changamire dynasty that usurped them is associated with the ‘Banyayi’ branch. More broadly, the Bakalanga is here defined to include all communities who have historically identified themselves with the Ikalanga language and culture.

Monitor, 2022

Prior to his becoming the first President of Mozambique, Samora Moisés Machel had distinguished h... more Prior to his becoming the first President of Mozambique, Samora Moisés Machel had distinguished himself as the leading military and political figure in Mozambique Liberation Front or Frelimo’s (Frente de Libertação de Moçambique), armed struggle against the continued colonial occupation of the Fascist Portuguese Estado Novo. His personal journey to become a freedom fighter began in 1963 when he left his country bound for refuge in Botswana. What for Machel was a dangerous first step towards realizing his destiny, was also a milestone in the enduring friendship and collaboration between the peoples of Botswana and Mozambique as personified by the shelter and support that he and his two companions Matias Mboa and Angelo Vasoues de Lisboa received from the Kgaboesele family during the months they were forced to stay in Lobatse, while trying to reach Tanzania [then Tanganyika]. Machel and his comrades’ 1963 passage through Botswana paved the way for others. Between 1963 and 1966 over one hundred Frelimo Freedom Fighters transited what was then still the British administered Bechuanaland Protectorate (BP) in order to reach their movement’s bases in Tanzania. Many more followed between 1966 and 1975.

Monitor, 2019

While the fact of Mandela’s movements through Botswana 1962 are fairly well established, the foll... more While the fact of Mandela’s movements through Botswana 1962 are fairly well established, the following account, which draws on relevant BP Police surveillance reports from the period, provides additional insights into the role of Bechuanaland agents, both civilians and officials, in frustrating concerted efforts by the South African Police (SAP) to apprehend Mandela inside the BP. While the fact that the elements within the Protectorate’s administration played a covert as well as overt role in the movement of freedom fighters through Botswana in the 1960s has been previously recognised, much of the declassified documentary evidence for this has been relatively neglected. These include the relevant police reports detailing Mandela’s January 1962 stay in Lobatse.

This account has been adapted, with added endnotes, from the author’s Back 4D Future series “Mandela in Lobatse,” which was published in the Monitor newspaper (2/12/2019-3/2/2020). It is being submitted for further academic publication

Sir Ketumile Masire - March 1998 Commemorative Brochure, 1998

Sir Ketumile Masire - March 1998 Commemorative Brochure was produced as a semi-official brochure ... more Sir Ketumile Masire - March 1998 Commemorative Brochure was produced as a semi-official brochure marking the stepping down of Botswana's second President. It contains a forward by Nelson Mandela and text by Jeff Ramsay profiling Masire as well as photos, messages of world leaders, and coverage of US President Bill Clinton's visit to Botswana, which coincided with the event.

A Royal Affair - Peo ya ga/The Enthroment of Kgosi Malope II , 2011

"A Royal Affair" is the souvenir Booklet and Programme produced for the October 2011 Enthronement... more "A Royal Affair" is the souvenir Booklet and Programme produced for the October 2011 Enthronement of Bangwaketse Kgosi Malope II, content and editing by Dr. Jeffress Ramsay, with Botswana National Archives and Botswana Post. The publication features "History of the Bangwaketse Royal House" by Ramsay.

Botswana Note and Records, 1989

Since its creation in the early 1960s, the purpose and destiny of the Central Kalahari Game Reser... more Since its creation in the early 1960s, the purpose and destiny of the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR) has been the focus of much deliberation and some controversy. Most recently there has been considerable public discussion as to whether the demands of human settlement can be reconciled with rising, often externally generated, calls for better protection of the area's fauna. So far debate on this and other questions has proceeded with little reference to the CKGR's historical development. This article seeks to partially redress this dearth. The potential pitfalls of ahistorical approach to development planning were suggested in a report prepared for the Botswana Society's 1985 Symposium on Research/or Development which observed that: "Effective planning for the future depends upon models of how things work, and in most cases, such models are based upon projections from past social and economic processes. If these models are not of sufficient time depth and generality, there is a danger of basing future action on
inaccurate or false information.'

Sunday Standard, 2012

Monitor, 2020

THE GREAT BECHUANALAND ESCAPE: GOLDREICH & WOLPE’S UNEASY 1963 FLIGHT TO FREEDOM The following t... more THE GREAT BECHUANALAND ESCAPE: GOLDREICH & WOLPE’S UNEASY 1963 FLIGHT TO FREEDOM

Monitor, 2016

Weekend Post, 2016

Sunday Standard, 2011

Epidemic Encounters, Communities, and Practices in the Colonial World edited by Poonam Bala and Russell Viljoen, 2023

Mmegi, 1995

Daily News, 2000

This is an expanded 2023 revision of an original Builders of Botswana weekly series that appeared August-October editions of the Daily News (Botswana)

LOSING TO THE WORLD IN THE KALAHARI – SOME ASPECTS OF THE HISTORY OF THE GHANZI DISTRICT AND CKGR TO 1990 by JEFF RAMSAY , 2000

Weekend Post , 2014

Weekend Post, 2016

Monitor, 2022

Monitor, 2019

Sir Ketumile Masire - March 1998 Commemorative Brochure, 1998

A Royal Affair - Peo ya ga/The Enthroment of Kgosi Malope II , 2011

Botswana Note and Records, 1989

Historical Dictionary of Botswana Fifth Edition , 2018

The death of Botswana's last founding father, Sir Ketumile Quett Masire, in June 2017, marked the... more The death of Botswana's last founding father, Sir Ketumile Quett Masire, in June 2017, marked the end of an era. Since the release of the Fourth Edition of Historical Dictionary of Botswana in 2008, Botswana has gone through its most turbulent and divided decade to date. Throughout September 2016, when Botswana celebrated its 50th anniversary of independence, all the successes of the Seretse and Masire era were sources of massive national pride. Botswana had expanded provisions of electricity, water, education, and health services to almost all of its people and become a model nation that owned its natural resources and plowed the profits back into the nation's development. Despite these successes, Botswana has a high unemployment rate (about 20 percent) and a much larger cohort of the underemployed. This fifth edition of Historical Dictionary of Botswana contains a chronology, an introduction, appendixes, an extensive bibliography, and more than 700 crossreferenced entries on important personalities and aspects of the country's politics, economy, foreign relations, religion, and culture. This book is an excellent resource for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about Botswana.

Africa: Global Studies, 1991

The Fourth Edition of Global Studies: Africa is part of a unique new series of volumes being prep... more The Fourth Edition of Global Studies: Africa is part of a unique new series of volumes being prepared to provide readers with concise background information and current world press articles on regions and countries of the world. It contains background essays and statistics for the countries of Central, East, South and West Africa, with an extended regional essay showing the connection of North Africa with the rest of the continent. In addition, this latest volume in the Global Studies series reprints a wide selection of articles chosen from international newspapers and magazines,

The author/editor, Dr. Jeff Ramsay, was a contributor to the previous editions of Africa: Global Studies. This new edition has been extensively revised to reflect significant ongoing changes on the continent.

HISTORICAL TIMELINE: CHOBE WHERE TIMELESS AFRICA COME TOGETHER, 2021

The 2021 opening of the Kazungula Bridge between Botswana and Zambia marked a new chapter in the ... more The 2021 opening of the Kazungula Bridge between Botswana and Zambia marked a new chapter in the history of the Chobe District as a commercial and transport hub. Over the centuries the area has served as a crossroads linking the wealth of central and southern Africa across the Chobe and Zambezi rivers. It has thus evolved as a meeting place of unique cultural diversity as well as natural wonders. The historical timeline with endnotes was produced as part Motaki consultancy for the Botswana Ministry of Environment, Natural Resources Conservation and Tourism.

From Boys To Men The Story of the BDF at 30 - 1977 -2007, 2007

Booklet produced by the Botswana Defence Force (BDF) to mark its 30th Anniversary. Written by Jef... more Booklet produced by the Botswana Defence Force (BDF) to mark its 30th Anniversary. Written by Jeff Ramsay, Modirwa Kekwaletse, and Mesh Moeti. In addition to background on the BDF's first three decades, it includes an account by Ramsay of Batswana troops in World War II

Raising a Nation Botswana Democratic Party: 1962-2002, 2002

Raising a Nation was produced by myself with Front Page Publications (Modirwa Kekwaletswe & Mesh ... more Raising a Nation was produced by myself with Front Page Publications (Modirwa Kekwaletswe & Mesh Moeti) as a commemorative brochure for the Botswana Democratic Party's (BDP) 40th Anniversary. While not a purely academic work its text and photos provide background on Domkrag's roots and evolution as Botswana's ruling political party.

The Making of a President: Sir Ketumile Masire's Early Years, 1994

Over the past three decades, His Excellency Sir Ketumile Masire has been the leading architect of... more Over the past three decades, His Excellency Sir Ketumile Masire has been the leading architect of modern Botswana. Yet despite his importance very little is known about him. The following account of his rise to leadership is a revised version of a nine-part series which appeared in the Botswana Gazette newspaper in July-September 1993. We are indebted to the Gazette's managing editor, Clara Taukobong Olsen, and her staff for their help in preparing the series. As was the case with our original articles, this text merely seeks to shed light on aspects of the President's early life. The material we have collected is inadequate for a more comprehensive biography. Moreover, the time is not yet ripe for such a project as some of its most important chapters belong to our present future. We also feel that the Masire presidency is still too recent to give us sufficient historical perspective, and so we stopped at 1980. But we hope that modest effort has at least made a start at describing a man with an interesting and important career.

Building a Nation: A History of Botswana from 1800 to 1910 by Jeff Ramsay, Barry Morton and Themba Mgadla (1999 revised edition for schools), 1999

This revised volume of the 1996 text provides a comprehensive account of Botswana's nineteenth-ce... more This revised volume of the 1996 text provides a comprehensive account of Botswana's nineteenth-century roots. The book chronicles the political, social, and economic changes affecting the various communities, which were incorporated into the Bechuanaland Protectorate. Beginning with an introduction to the nature of History and the kinds of sources used, the new edition looks briefly at Southern African Communities before 1800. It then continues with a re-examination of the period of Bakololo and Amandebele invasions (1823-44) and traces the process by which Batswana rulers were able to build up their own authority and resist outside incursions through their participation in the trade of guns for game products. A full account of the 1852-53 Batswana victory over the Transvaal Boers is included. Other chapters examine such issues as Christian evangelization, education, shifting patterns of indigenous servitude, and the subjugation by Batswana of non-Batswana speaking communities, such as Khoisan speakers, Wayeyi and Bakgalari. The myth of Batswana seeking a British Protectorate is rejected in its chapter on the coming and consolidation of British rule. The final chapter traces the beginning of a separate territorial consciousness beginning in the early campaigns to keep the Protectorate free of the rule of neighboring settler colonies.

Tshomarelo Ngwao: The Museums of Botswana Celebrate Twenty-Five Years of Independence, 1991

Tshomarelo Ngwao is published to celebrate the work of the museums of Botswana during the twenty-... more Tshomarelo Ngwao is published to celebrate the work of the museums of Botswana during the twenty-five years of independence. The idea for this publication came from Dr. Jeff Ramsay of the Kgosi Sechele Museum. Listing of Contents:

2 Introduction - Sarah Hughs
5 The Kgosi Sechele Museum is Coming Up - Inger-Marie Borgeen
7 Some Places of Historic Interest in Molepolole - Jeff Ramsay
9. Molepolole in the 1920s - Jeff Ramsay
13. How Sechele Won the Batswana-Boer War of 1852-53 - Jeff Ramsay
19. How the Bangwato Broke Away from the Bakwena - Jeff Ramsay
21. Khama III Memorial Museum: The Prehistory of a Regional Museum - Hans Vorting
25. Seretse Khama's Return Home, 1956 - Neil Parsons
31. A Rich Past -Archeologica Surveys in the Mokgware Hills - Alinah Segobye
37. The Serowe Insect and Snake Collection - Per Forchhammer
39 Publications Relating to the Serowe Insect Collection -Per Forchhammer
45. The Bessie Head Papers - Ruth Forchhammer
48 Tshekedi Khama's Work Against the Incorporation of South West Africa into the Union of South Africa, 1948-58 - Rogoff Modise
55 The Role of Local Museums in Monument Work- Nick Walker
57 Bongaka Jwa Setswana - Traditional Medical Practices - Phodiso Tube
62. The Botanical Garden from 1968 to 1991- Bruce Hargreaves
66. Mkumbo - traditional Kalanga Marriage - Phodiso Tube
69 Looking Back Over 15 Years at Phuthadikobo Museum - Sandy Grant
73 Bojale 1990 - Pat Kollars
77 The Choires of Mochudi - Dikhwaere tsa Mochudi - Ntikwe Poonyane Motlotle
79. Supa-Ngwao: A Museum without a Home - Catrien van Waarden
83. Mining in Northeast Botswana - Catrien van Waarden
99. Historic Buildings of Francistown - Supa-Ngwao Museum Society
111 Glossary

Building a Nation - A History of Botswana 1800-1910, 1996

The following pdf has been reformatted from the original 1996 textbook manuscript without maps, p... more The following pdf has been reformatted from the original 1996 textbook manuscript without maps, pictures and illustrations, as well as indices and list of further reading. Th text is unchanged excepts for correcting minor typos and standardising use of preferred group names, e.g. Veekuhane rather than Bekuhana, Wayeyi rather than Bayei.

Comrade Fish: Memories of a Motswana in the ANC Underground (Revised Edition), 2018

With the end of political apartheid and the African National Congress’s rise to power in South Af... more With the end of political apartheid and the African National Congress’s rise to power in South Africa, the history of its liberation struggle can now be more fully related by its participants. Nelson Mandela has led the way with his own autobiography, which is one of several by leading ANC members. The role played by Botswana citizens within the ANC is relatively obscure, notwithstanding the publication of autobiographies by two such participants, Michael Dingake and Motsamai Mpho.
Without undermining the contributions of others, there can be no doubt that Fish Keitseng was the key Botswana citizen member of the ANC during the early 1960s. After extensive involvement in the ANC’s passive resistance campaigns of the 1950s, he was arrested by South African authorities and prosecuted in the Treason Trial, along with Mandela, Mpho, and 153 other leading ANC members. Following his deportation to his native Bechuanaland Protectorate in 1959, he established and successfully ran an underground transit system, which funnelled ANC members from Lobatse in the southern Protectorate to Northern or sometimes Southern Rhodesia (later Zambia and Zimbabwe), from where they journeyed to Tanganyika/Tanzania. This operation was of vital importance for it enabled the ANC, along with its Congress Alliance allies, to rescue thousands of activists from the clutches of the apartheid state. This in turn allowed for the re-establishment of the organisation from exile as a liberation movement capable of ultimately assuming state power.

The Birth of Botswana - A History of the Bechuanaland Protectorate from 1910 to 1966, 1987

Edited by Fred Moton and Jeff Ramsay, Birth of Botswana, a History of the Bechuanaland Protectora... more Edited by Fred Moton and Jeff Ramsay, Birth of Botswana, a History of the Bechuanaland Protectorate from 1910 to 1966 draws on contributions from 15 Botswana-based scholars to provide a concise but comprehensive history of the twentieth-century evolution of the British-ruled Bechuanaland Protectorate up to the territory's 1966 independence as the Republic of Botswana. The text consists of 14 chapters divided into four sections under the broad themes of 1) Dikgosi and the African Response to Colonial Rule, 2) Other Voices, 3) The growth of Regional Politics after World War 2 and 4) The Merging of Interests.

Comrade Fish: Memories of a Motswana in the ANC Underground by Fish Keitseng, Compiled by Jeff Ramsay and Barry Morton, 1999

THE THREE YEAR J.C SOCIAL STUDIES REVISION NOTES, 1997

Published in 1997 The Three Year Social Studies Revision Notes and Questions provided a comprehen... more Published in 1997 The Three Year Social Studies Revision Notes and Questions provided a comprehensive summary of what was then the new Social Studies syllabus for Botswana.

Building a Nation A History of Botswana 1800-1910, 1996

This is a scanned copy of the original 1996 text, which provides a comprehensive account of Botsw... more This is a scanned copy of the original 1996 text, which provides a comprehensive account of Botswana's nineteenth-century roots. The book chronicles the political, social, and economic changes affecting the various communities, which were incorporated into the Bechuanaland Protectorate. Beginning with an introduction to the nature of History and the kinds of sources used, the new edition looks briefly at Southern African Communities before 1800. It then continues with a re-examination of the period of Bakololo and Amandebele invasions (1823-44) and traces the process by which Batswana rulers were able to build up their own authority and resist outside incursions through their participation in the trade of guns for game products. A full account of the 1852-53 Batswana victory over the Transvaal Boers is included. Other chapters examine such issues as Christian evangelization, education, shifting patterns of indigenous servitude, and the subjugation by Batswana of non-Batswana speaking communities, such as Khoisan speakers, Wayeyi and Bakgalagari. The myth of Batswana seeking a British Protectorate is rejected in its chapter on the coming and consolidation of British rule. The final chapter traces the beginning of a separate territorial consciousness beginning in the early campaigns to keep the Protectorate free of the rule of neighboring settler colonies. A revised 1999 edition formatted for schools has also been previously posted, as well as its manuscript.

Keynote Address by Dr Jeff Ramsay at the 2024 Marapo-a-Thultwa (Block 8 Gaborone) Independence Da... more Keynote Address by Dr Jeff Ramsay at the 2024 Marapo-a-Thultwa (Block 8 Gaborone) Independence Day celebrations.

BOCONGO, 2021

Brief keynote remarks delivered at the September 14, 2021 BOCONGO Workshop on Constitutional Revi... more Brief keynote remarks delivered at the September 14, 2021 BOCONGO Workshop on Constitutional Review.

The Battle of Dimawe was the pivotal opening act of the Batswana-Boer War of 1852-53, a seminal e... more The Battle of Dimawe was the pivotal opening act of the Batswana-Boer War of 1852-53, a seminal event for the birth of Botswana as a modern nation-state. During the conflict, a coalition of merafe united under Sechele's leadership in a seven-month armed struggle against the Transvaal Boers. Although the Boers began the hostilities, by invading south-eastern Botswana, they ended up on the defensive. After being besieged in their laagers for nearly half a year, they sued Sechele for peace. As a result, the merafe settled in what is today Botswana remained free of white settler hegemony.

While a small village today, between 1853 and 1863 Gakgatla served as the centre of the Bakgatla ... more While a small village today, between 1853 and 1863 Gakgatla served as the centre of the Bakgatla bagaManaana morafe. This residence came about in the aftermath of the 1852-53 Batswana-Boer War, which had begun with August 17, 1852, Transvaal Boer attack on the previous BagaManaana centre at Maanwane in the Madikwe region. The attack caused the BagaManaana under Kgosi Mosielele to flee from Maanwane to the protection of the Bakwena Kgosi Sechele I at Dimawe. It was thereafter from Gakgatla that they morafe first settled at Moshupa in 1863. While the motives for this move are disputed, BagaMmanaana, as well as Bakwena traditions, suggest that it came about after the Gakgatla River dried up. Sechele then advised the Bakgatla Kgosi Mosielele to take up residence on his southern border where one of his servants, Mosope, lived. Subsequently, in 1870-71 the BagaMmanaana were divided by a bogosi dispute when Pilane claimed the throne from his ailing biological, but not customary, father Mosielele. Moshupa was then temporarily abandoned when the larger faction accompanied Pilane resettling at Kgabodukwe, while the loyal followers of Mosielele took refuge with the Bangwaketse Kgosi Gaseitsiwe at Gamafikana. Mosielele died in 1873 at Gamafikana, where a branch of the BagaMmanaana has since remained. In 1880 Kgosi Pilane led his people to resettle at Moshupa. In 1935-36 about half of Moshupa’s population resettled at Thamaga under the rule of Pilane’s brother Gobuamang.

The Timeline for the Establishment of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Botswana was drafted for... more The Timeline for the Establishment of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Botswana was drafted for presentation at the church event marking 500 Years of the Reformation and 160 Years of the Church In Botswana, which was held at Dithejwane (Dithubaruba), on October 29, 2017.

I am humbled to be part of this centennial celebration of the life, death, and legacy of Samuel K... more I am humbled to be part of this centennial celebration of the life, death, and legacy of Samuel Katjiikumbua kaMaharero kaTjamuaha. King Samuel’s posthumous return to Okahandja, to rest beside his forebears, transcended the dying wish of an exiled royal and his family. As a milestone for the post-war recovery and continued resistance of Ovaherero, it ultimately proved to also be a turning point in the wider regional struggle of indigenous communities against the forces of colonialism, white supremacy, and Apartheid. Having spearheaded the 1904 revolt against Germany’s genocidal occupation of Namibia, Samuel Maharero died in exile on March 14, 1923, at Serowe, the capital of the Bamangwato Tribal Reserve in Botswana. At the time, Ovaherero from across Southern Africa mobilised to honour his wish to return to the place of his ancestors. The final internment of Samuel Maharero brought together royals, notables, and commoners, including representatives of the Green and White as well as Red Banners [Otjira Tjotjizemba, Tjotjingirine & Tjotjiserandu]. Otruppe veterans, orphans, and post-war recruits thus forged new bonds, as Otjiherero men and women came together across boundaries of faith, class, and political geography.

Presentation delivered at The Commonwealth Association of Museums Conference on Human Remains Man... more Presentation delivered at The Commonwealth Association of Museums Conference on Human Remains Management held at the University of Botswana, March 11-12, 2019:

The October 2000 repatriation of the human remains popularly known as “El Negro” (Spanish for “The Black one”) constitutes a textbook example of how not to carry out such an exercise. The remains were returned in an incomplete and undignified manner in gross violation of professional protocols and ethics, as well as indigenous sensibilities, while key stakeholders were not consulted. What was thus meant to have been a triumphant return of a son to his soil, bringing closure and a degree of reconciliation to an evil chapter in the annals of Europe’s violation of Africans, instead degenerated into controversy.

The document contains 352 slides on Botswana's Military History that were used by the author duri... more The document contains 352 slides on Botswana's Military History that were used by the author during guest lectures at the Botswana Defence Force (BDF) Staff College (2008-2019). Topics covered include the role and use of military history, sources of historical evidence, pre-colonial iron age warfare in Botswana and the region, 19th-century wars, and the introduction of firearms, war in the colonial era - Amandebele War of 1893, Boer War of 1899-1902, First and Second World Wars, Palestine Occupation 1945-48 - and an overview of the establishment of the BDF.

The Batswana-Boer War of 1852-53 was the seminal event in Botswana's birth as a nation state, as ... more The Batswana-Boer War of 1852-53 was the seminal event in Botswana's birth as a nation state, as well as the modern history of the Bakwena. During the war the Bakwena joined other Batswana communities (merafe) settled west of the Madikwe and Limpopo rivers in an alliance against the Transvaal Boers. Although the Boers began the hostilities, by invading south-eastern Botswana, it was they who soon found themselves on the defensive. After being besieged in their laagers for nearly a half a year, they sued Bakwena Kgosi Sechele I for peace. Thereafter, until the 1885 imposition of colonial rule, the Bakwena-Boer relationship was remained peaceful, if at times tense.

This slide presentation on the Batswana-Boer War of 1852-53 was prepared by Dr. Jeff Ramsay for an August 2017 Dithubaruba Festival event. It was delivered by Titus Mbuya [due to a death in the author's family].

The following slides provide a snapshot of the makeup and organizational structure of recognized ... more The following slides provide a snapshot of the makeup and organizational structure of recognized “Makgotla” and “Ntlha”, otherwise here listed as “Wards”, of the Bakwena Tribal Territory that were recorded as having existed during the reign of Kgosi Kgari aSechele II (1931-62), with some further reference to their historical origins. Together they provide a historical baseline for further appreciating the evolution and contemporary relevance of Sekwena Social Structure. Here it may be noted that the names reproduced in this document appear as they were recorded eight decades ago. In a few cases, the preferred spelling of names were either inaccurately transcribed and/or changed.

With such qualifications in mind, it could be worth exploring how closely the following 1940s data would dovetail with a potential new survey that attempted to map the Makgotla relationships of today’s Molepolole or more widely the Kweneng District. Such a study should reveal the extent to which changes over the last eight decades in the area’s demography, political administration, and residential patterns have reproduced and/or altered past patterns of social structure. While some of the Makgotla listed can trace their roots to the Bakwena bagaKgabo prior to the reign of Sechele I (c.1833-1892) it is clear that the morafe was significantly reconstituted under him. While the morafe may have numbered some 10,000 during the reign of Motswasele II (being comparable to the Bangwaketse of Makaba II), due to the severe dislocations of the 1820s (“difaqane”) Sechele’s initial following in 1833 was about 300 rising to a core population of 2,384 plus another 1,236 Bakaa at Dimawe-Kolobeng by 1849. In the aftermath of the Batswana-Boer War of 1852-53 the population of Sechele’s Kweneng expanded to as much as 60,000 through the influx of “Baagedi” many of who were absorbed into Bakwena Makgotla.

While the guns famously went silent along the Western Front on the 11th hour of the 11th day of t... more While the guns famously went silent along the Western Front on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, ending the First World War in Europe, the war in Africa continued. It was only two weeks later, on the 25th of November 1918 the last German army in the field, the undefeated East African forces of General Lettow-Vorbeck finally surrendered to the British at Mbala in modern Zambia.

No armed conflict had a greater impact on Africa as a whole than the First World War, which was accompanied by fighting across every corner of the continent, including Botswana. While some half a million Africans served on the battlefields of Europe and the Middle East between 1914 and 1918, millions more were ultimately involved in military action on the continent. Up to three quarter million African combatants perished, about half of whom were from what is now the SADC region. While there is no reliable aggregate count for civilian deaths, population declines of up to 10% were recorded in some areas.

Yet, a century later the popular image of the war in Europe does not include the large-scale presence of African troops on the Western Front, while the mass horror of the war in Africa still tends to be dismissed as a mere sideshow.

Quite beyond the body count, there can be little doubt, however, that the nature and course of the entire war would have been different without the participation of millions of Africans, with the final victory of the Anglo-French Alliance open to doubt.

Africans were in fact central players in a conflict whose global legacy is still being felt. The war in turn transformed Africa in ways that are currently being played out on this continent and beyond.

On Wednesday the 21st of November 2018 the University of Botswana and the Botswana Society, will mark the centenary of the end of the conflict by hosting an illustrated power-point presentation by Dr. Jeff Ramsay on “Black Power and the Fall of the Kaiserreich”.

Original PPT document converted to PDF

NB: Previous variations of Africa'sFirst World War had been presented on August 6, 2016, as part of a European Union delegations' event in Gaborone to mark the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War and subsequently on April 29, 2015, as a Botswana Society lecture.

In the two hundred years since his birth, the Rev. Dr. David Livingstone has been viewed as a Vic... more In the two hundred years since his birth, the Rev. Dr. David Livingstone has been viewed as a Victorian-era missionary explorer associated with ‘humanitarian imperialism’; an image vigorously promoted by imperialists after his death, which survives in the popular mind, e.g. Jeremy Paxman’s 2012 BBC Empire series. Kenneth Kaunda’s description of Livingstone a few years ago as “Africa’s first freedom fighter” has not been generally embraced. Yet the Livingstone who lived among Batswana from 1841-1853 was a far more radical figure than commonly portrayed. He was as scathing of British as Boer subjugation of the ‘aboriginal nations’ of South Africa Writing of the British Quarterly in 1851 he thus compared the renewed conflict between the Sandile’s Xhosa and British, to the independence struggle of Kossuth’s Hungarians against Austrian tyranny:
“But while England had been sympathizing with the struggles for freedom which she herself knows so very well how to enjoy, she has been struggling to crush a nation fighting as bravely for nationality as ever the Magyar did...We are no advocates of war but we would prefer perpetual war to perpetual slavery. No nation ever secured its freedom without fighting for it. And every nation on earth worthy of freedom is ready to shed blood in its defence.”

The following slides converted from PPT to PDF were used in my November 11, 2013, Botswana Society presentation on Livingstone's radical legacy coinciding with the year's bicentennial of his birth.

I am most humbled to be here among you in the Peleng Community Hall. I cannot think of a more app... more I am most humbled to be here among you in the Peleng Community Hall. I cannot think of a more appropriate place for us to come together, here in Botswana, to pay tribute to the legacy of Nelson Mandela. It was here in Peleng, in February 1962, that Nelson Mandela, aka David Motsamayi, took the first steps in transforming the then newly born Umkonto we Sizwe (MK) from its initial campaign of demonstrative sabotage into a dedicated military formation of trained freedom fighters. It was also here in Peleng, in October 1962, that the African National Congress held its first conference in exile, following its banning inside South Africa in the wake of the March 1960 Sharpeville massacre.

I was invited to give the keynote address at the Dithubaruba Cultural Festival held at Ntsweng on... more I was invited to give the keynote address at the Dithubaruba Cultural Festival held at Ntsweng on September 1, 2012. These are my remarks for the occasion, which focused on the origins of Bakwena merafe.

On the eve of the 2018 transfer of executive power I, as a historian who had worked under four of... more On the eve of the 2018 transfer of executive power I, as a historian who had worked under four of Botswana soon to be five Presidents, was invited by Business Botswana to be a speaker at their high-level evening event entitled “CELEBRATING THE SMOOTH DEMOCRATIC TRANSITION OF THE PRESIDENCY OF THE REPUBLIC OF BOTSWANA”, which was held at the University of Botswana Indoor Sports Complex. These were my remarks for the occasion that was attended by the current and immediate former President among others.

Remarks on the History of Banyayi , 2016

As we celebrate our Republic’s Golden Jubilee it may be noted that modern Botswana as a whole, an... more As we celebrate our Republic’s Golden Jubilee it may be noted that modern Botswana as a whole, and not just communities in the north-east, has its ancient Ikalanga roots. They run deep in our soil, having nurtured our growth as a united nation proud of its diversity. These roots were, moreover, not simply grafted onto our nation through the vagaries of colonial boundary-making. In the pre-colonial context, one finds evidence of significant interrelationships between the Bakalanga and Batswana, as well as other neighbouring peoples, to the extent that it is not possible to speak of any one indigenous community’s history in isolation

Measured in terms of demographic loss, the final 1904-08 Ovaherero and Nama uprising against the ... more Measured in terms of demographic loss, the final 1904-08 Ovaherero and Nama uprising against the Germans in Namibia was the most horrific of Africa's many anti-colonial struggles. Its impact can be summarised by the fact that it claimed the lives of well over 70% of all Ovaherero at the time, along with not less than half of the Nama. That Ovaherero can, nonetheless, regularly come together in celebration of their Heritage, here at Takarive and elsewhere, is a powerful testament to the community’s enduring strength in overcoming past adversity, while meeting their contemporary challenges in the Diaspora, as well as in Namibia. No community suffered more during the last century from racist pseudo-science as well as racial imperialism than the Ovaherero, along with their Ovambandero and Nama neighbours. By the same token no community, in this region or elsewhere, put up a stouter more sustained resistance to the forces of oppression. This is a history of extreme suffering and extraordinary heroism that is too important to forget.

The joy of this occasion is a testament to the enduring strength of the Nama in overcoming past a... more The joy of this occasion is a testament to the enduring strength of the Nama in overcoming past adversity as well as meeting contemporary challenges. No community suffered more during the last century from the racist ideology of imperialism than the Nama. By the same token no community, in this region or elsewhere, put up a stouter resistance. This is a history of extreme suffering and extraordinary heroism that is too important to forget. The location of the festival is appropriate. While Lokgwabe may appear unremarkable to some, it's founding, in 1909, was the very remarkable outcome of high-level negotiations between London, Berlin, and the people of this community to bring a final end to the Nama-German War. While the conflict started in Namibia, our presence here today is testament to the fact that it ended up being fought in western Botswana as well. In the process it drew in people from local communities, Bakgalagari, Barolong, Batawana etc. as well as Nama and a mass exodus Ovaherero.

. It is a privilege to speak about the legacy of Kgosi Tshekedi Khama on the 117th anniversary of... more . It is a privilege to speak about the legacy of Kgosi Tshekedi Khama on the 117th anniversary of his birth, as we also here mark the 70th Anniversary of Pilikwe, the village he founded and made his final home. This event is a platinum opportunity to reflect on the legacy of one of Africa’s greatest statesmen to this community, Botswana, and the world. From January 19th, 1926, the day he was formally installed as Bangwato regent, to when he drew his final breath in a London hospital on June 10th, 1959, Tshekedi was a tireless figure in his promotion of the political, social, and economic development of Batswana, while supporting the struggles of indigenous communities elsewhere. Would we be even living in a sovereign Botswana, bordering a free Namibia, had it not been for the blessing of Tshekedi? Perhaps not. Such is the depth of his enduring legacy.

The story of Seretse cannot be separated from its Serowe roots. It is thus appropriate that we ha... more The story of Seretse cannot be separated from its Serowe roots. It is thus appropriate that we have come together today to reflect on the legacy of your illustrious son of the soil while marking the 101st Anniversary of his birth. Seretse’s legacy can be summarised by the fact that in 1966 the reborn Botswana he led was an impoverished and internationally obscure state. Yet, by the time of the Tautona’s passing in 1980, it was globally known as a staunchly democratic and increasingly prosperous nation that was playing a positive and significant role in regional affairs. How had this decade-plus of remarkable progress come about? To achieve any goal, one must first envision it. Bagaetsho, our founding President had a clear vision of where he wanted to lead our nation. This quality was evident in April 1958 when he for the first time attended and rose to speak at a meeting of the Joint Advisory Council, affirming that:

“I think it is time that we ourselves in Bechuanaland, who neither belong to the Union of South Africa nor the Federation nor any other part as far as I can see, except Great Britain, should try to formulate a policy of our own which is probably unique to us. And that is a policy, perhaps; of even teaching those countries who profess to be more advanced than ourselves, that in as far as administration and race relationships [are concerned] they have more to learn from us than we from them. I must say, quite frankly that I have been rather disturbed to find that on the whole there is a tendency to look always over our shoulders. Perhaps I am wrong, if so, I stand corrected. We want to see what is happening elsewhere instead of getting on with what we know is peculiar to us and to the country itself. We should get on and have no fear that we may incur someone's displeasure, as long as what we do is internationally accepted...And if we are right, I am afraid emotion must come into this; we should not bother very much with what anyone might say...We have ample opportunity in this country to teach people how human beings can live together.”

African Economic History, 1990

Review of "Wrestling Botswana back from Khama", 2019

When Enole recently asked me to launch this his latest book we both were well aware that I had no... more When Enole recently asked me to launch this his latest book we both were well aware that I had not as yet had the opportunity to read any of its text. Neither had he and I indulged in any pre-discussions about its content. So, in my agreeing to accept his invitation neither of us could predict what my take on the publication's contents would be. I think that says something about our author of the hour's openness to potential criticism...

African Economic History, 1990

Part Themba Mgadla: Books. Find in a library: Historical dictionary of Botswana-WorldCat Written ... more Part Themba Mgadla: Books. Find in a library: Historical dictionary of Botswana-WorldCat Written by three scholars with close ties to the country, the dictionary offers concise descriptive entries for Botswana's significant personalities, places, events, .

The International Journal of African Historical Studies, 1992

BOOK REVIEW OF "Democracy in Botswana: The Proceedings of a Symposium Held in Gaborone, 1-5 Au... more BOOK REVIEW OF

"Democracy in Botswana: The Proceedings of a Symposium Held in Gaborone, 1-5 August 1988 by John Holm, Patrick MolutsiMulti-Party

Democracy in Botswana by Mpho Molomo, Brian Mokopakgosi

Succession to High Office in Botswana by Jack Parson, Michael Crowder, Neil Parsons"

The Rise and Fall of the Bakwena Dynasty of South-Central Botswana, 1820-1940, 1991

This dissertation examines the growth of an African state in the nineteenth century and its subse... more This dissertation examines the growth of an African state in the nineteenth century and its subsequent incorporation into the Bechuanaland Protectorate and the regional economy of Southern Africa. It begins by considering the transformation of the Bakwena monarchical state from a small, disunited community into a regional power, Kweneng, during the reign of Sechele I (c.1833-1892.) Under him Kweneng emerged as a refuge and centre of resistance to Boer aggression, culminating in the Batswana-Boer War of 1852-53. Despite his successful leadership in this conflict Sechele’s kingdom subsequently experiences relative decline prior it its inclusion into the Bechuanaland Protectorate. During the first decade of British overrule his successor Sebele I (1892-1911) sought to preserve their sovereignty in the face of the British South Africa Company’s desire to take over the Protectorate. The failure of the Jameson Raid ended this particular threat; but was accompanied by the onset of a prolonged ecological crisis and the initial consolidation of colonialism, which undermined the material basis of the local political economy. By the first decade of the twentieth century, Kweneng was becoming a labour reserve. Despite their growing economic dependence, Sebele’s administration spearheaded the campaign that prevented the inclusion of the Protectorate into the nascent Union of South Africa. The success he and his two successors, Sechele II (1911-18) and Sebele II (1918-31) occasionally enjoyed in winning concession from the imperial power did not prevent the growth of divisive internal opposition to them. All three were plagued by conflict with their “leading headmen” who generally identified themselves with the semi-established Congregational Church and colonial state. For their part, the monarchs cultivated the support of commoners by stressing the inclusive nature of their governing council and championing controversial pre-Christian practices, most notably initiation. By the 1920s Sebele II became the patron of a “Neo-Traditional” worldview, which challenged not only the pretensions of the local Christian elite but also elements of white domination. His resulting banishment by the British ended the political autonomy of Kweneng and its monarchy.

The Report of the Presidential Commission of Enquiry into Sections 77, 78, and 79 of the Constitu... more The Report of the Presidential Commission of Enquiry into Sections 77, 78, and 79 of the Constitution of the Republic of Botswana (popularly known as the Balopi Commission) was submitted to the Office of the President in November 2000. As a member of the Commission's Secretariate, it largely fell on the shoulders of myself along with Dr. Gloria Somolekae to do the physical drafting of the report, though its final text and findings very much belong to the Commission as a whole. In the years since the release the report has become increasingly hard to find, so I am pleased to be able to finally share it online. It may be noted that this is the actual report of the Balopi Commission, as opposed to the subsequent two Government White Papers that arose from its findings, which ultimately resulted in revisions to the Constitution. In some of the prevailing literature, the White Papers have since been confused with the report itself. The 176 pages of the report are divided into nine chapters that set out the Commission's Terms of Reference and methodology, summaries of relevant public opinion and underlying differences of viewpoint, proposals received for amending the Sections, International Benchmark of the political engagement of traditional leaders and the Commission's findings and conclusions.

International Court of Justice: Kasikili/Sedudu , 1997

Between 1992, when Botswana and Namibia agreed to appoint a a Joint Team of Technical Experts to ... more Between 1992, when Botswana and Namibia agreed to appoint a a Joint Team of Technical Experts to determine the disputed boundary between the two countries around Kasikili/Sedudu Island on the basis of that Treaty and of the applicable principles of international law, and 1999 when the International Court of Justice reached a Judgement in favour of Botswana with respect to the dispute, I was actively involved as a member of the Botswana Sedudu Task Force, which had set up by the Office of the President under the supervision of the Permanent Secretary for Political Affairs, Mr. Molosiwa Louis Selepeng. The Botswana Team Leader was the late Prof. Ian Brownlee, C.B.E., Q.C., deputized by the Hon, Abednego Tafa, who was then our Deputy Attorney General.

In the above context it largely fell on my shoulders to undertake historical research, including the discovery of past documents and map evidence, relevant to the case. This assignment ultimately involved extensive archival research in Namibia, South Africa, Zambia, the United Kingdom and the United States, as well as the Botswana archives and fieldwork in the Chobe District. My expectation is that my contributions as well as those of the other members of the Task Force are documented and should become available to interested members of the public through the appropriate declassification protocols over time. It is also my intent to donate private papers to the Botswana National Archives.

Public papers relevant to the case, as drafted by Botswana and Namibia, as well as the final Judgement itself, have in the meantime been published online by the website of the International Court of Justice, available @ https://www.icj-cij.org/case/98.

I have here shared from the site Botswana’s lead document. i.e. “Case Concerning Kasikili/Sedudu Island (Botswana/Namibia) Memorial of the Republic of Botswana, Vol. 1”, which outlines the core of the Botswana case, including chapters on history and map evidence with which this author was especially engaged as part of a wider collective effort.