Three Dikgosi and Government Enclave

On Tuesday this week I interviewed my first woman Member of Parliament. I arranged this through my contact at the FEF. I met her at her office in the Parliamentary Annex, which took me to Government Enclave. This is where Parliament is, the Office of the President, the National Archives, the Independent Electoral Commission and the headquarters for many ministries. So I anticipate that I will be spending much more time there. Government Enclave is ringed round by Khama Crescent and is adjacent to one end of the the Main Mall. On Wednesday I was back to be introduced to three more women Members of Parliament, one of whom I will interview next Tuesday. There are currently seven women MPs altogether, all from the ruling BDP party. Four were directly elected and three specially elected.

My foray to Government Enclave made me realize that I needed to take Mave and Kuno there. Since they have a four day weekend today was a good day to go. But we started our excursion, with Mary, at another fabulous site, namely the 'Three Dikgosi [chiefs] Monument' in a part of town intended to be developed as a central business district. This monument celebrates three extraordinary chiefs, Khama III, Bathoen I and Sebele I, who in 1895 traveled to England to appeal directly to Queen Victoria to prevent Cecil Rhodes from bringing Bechuanaland under British South Africa Company rule. They were not immediately successful, though they impressed everyone they encountered. Shortly after their return another event, the Jameson Raid, prevented the incorporation into the BSAC. But this would remain an, if not the, overriding preoccupation during the Protectorate days, namely the fear of 'transfer' to white ruled, apartheid South Africa. It was largely the continued insistence by Batswana chiefs that prevented this from happening. The monument is magnificent.

From there we went to Government Enclave where we saw Parliament (though not allowed to photograph it since Parliament was in session). Nearby there is also a statue of Seretse Khama, first president of Botswana, which we visited. Seretse Khama has his own remarkable story, having been stripped of his own chieftancy and exiled to the UK - all for marrying a white woman, Ruth Williams (later Lady Khama), while a student in England. According to the British, these actions were taken out of concern for the 'transfer' issues mentioned above. The Khamas were allowed to return in 1956 and Seretse Khama played a significant role in the lead up to independence. He was president from independence in 1966 until he died in 1980, followed by Quett Masire, 1980-1998, Festus Mogae, 1998-2008, and then Seretse's son Ian, from the Botswana Defence Force, who became president in 2008. At the end of Masire's term a two term limit was adopted for all future presidents. The statue of Seretse Khama was dedicated in 1986 by Julius Nyerere of Tanzania.

Postscript: While poring through past issues of Mmegi I learned that last year the statue of Seretse Khama was cleaned AND turned around to face Parliament. For the previous 20 plus years it had been facing away from Parliament and toward the Main Mall (the center of town). Apparently this change was the source of some controversy as facing the Main Mall meant facing 'the people.' But, as was noted, trees in the intervening years have obscured the view and now Seretse Khama faces Parliament as do, apparently, statues of leaders in other countries.