Seretse Khama

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Seretse Khama

Sir Seretse Khama KBE (July 1, 1921 - July 13, 1980) was the first President of Botswana. He is internationally remembered for bringing peace and prosperity to the formative years of his nation.

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[edit] Childhood and education

Seretse Khama, born in Serowe, British Protectorate of Bechuanaland, was the grandson of Khama III, king of the Bamangwato people. The name "Seretse" means “the clay that binds together,” and was given to him to celebrate the recent reconciliation of his father and grandfather; this reconciliation assured Seretse’s own ascension to the throne with his aged father’s death in 1925. At the age of four, Seretse became kgosi (king), with his uncle Tshekedi Khama as his regent and guardian.

After spending most of his youth in South African boarding schools, Khama attended Fort Hare University College in South Africa, graduating with a general B.A. in 1944. He then travelled to the UK and spent a year at Balliol College, Oxford, before joining the Inner Temple in London in 1946, to study to become a barrister.

[edit] Marriage and exile

In June of 1947, Khama met Ruth Williams, an English clerk at Lloyd's of London, and after a year of courtship, married her. The interracial marriage sparked a furore among both the apartheid government of South Africa and the tribal elders of the Bamangwato. On being informed of the marriage, Khama's uncle Tshekedi Khama demanded his return to Bechuanaland and the annulment of the marriage. Khama did return to Serowe but after a series of kgotlas (public meetings), was re-affirmed by the elders in his role as the kgosi. Ruth Williams Khama, travelling with her new husband, proved similarly popular. Admitting defeat, Tshekedi Khama left Bechuanaland, while Khama returned to London to complete his studies.

However, the international ramifications of his marriage would not be so easily resolved. Having banned interracial marriage under the apartheid system, South Africa could not afford to have an interracial couple ruling just across their northern border. As Bechuanaland was then a British protectorate, the South African government immediately exerted pressure to have Khama removed from his chieftainship. Britain’s Labour government, then heavily in debt from World War II, could not afford to lose cheap South African gold and uranium supplies. There was also a fear that South Africa might take more direct action against Bechuanaland, through economic sanctions or a military incursion. [1] [2] The British government therefore launched a parliamentary enquiry into Khama’s fitness for the chieftainship. Though the investigation reported that he was in fact eminently fit for the rule of Bechuanaland, "but for his unfortunate marriage",[3] the government ordered the report suppressed (it would remain so for thirty years), and exiled Khama and his wife from Bechuanaland in 1951. In 1952, a new Conservative government declared the exile permanent.

[edit] Return to politics

The sentence would not last nearly so long. Nationalist, communist, and human rights groups around the world immediately protested against the government decision, holding it up as evidence of British racism. In Britain itself there was wide anger at the decision and calls for the resignation of Lord Salisbury, the minister responsible.[4] A deputation of six Bamangwato travelled to London to see the exiled Khama and Lord Salisbury, in an echo of the 1895 deputation of three Bamangwato kgosis to Queen Victoria, but with no success.

In 1956, the government finally relented, allowing Seretse and Ruth Khama to return to Bechuanaland as private citizens. Khama began an unsuccessful stint as a cattle rancher and dabbled in local politics. In 1960 he was diagnosed with diabetes.

In 1961, however, Khama leapt back onto the political scene by founding the nationalist Bechuanaland Democratic Party. His exile gave him an increased credibility with an independence-minded electorate, and the BDP swept aside its Socialist and Pan-Africanist rivals to dominate the 1965 elections. Now Prime Minister of Bechuanaland, Khama continued to push for Botswana's independence, from the newly-established capital of Gaborone. A 1965 constitution delineated a new Botswana government, and on September 30, 1966, Botswana gained its independence with Khama acting as its first President.

[edit] Presidency

At the time of its independence, Botswana was among the world’s poorest countries. Tax revenues proved insufficient to cover the costs of government, forcing Botswana into heavy debt with Britain. The foreign policy situation was similarly bleak; trapped between the aggressive white minority governments of apartheid South Africa and Rhodesia, most observers believed that Botswana would have little choice but to become a satellite state to one or the other.

Khama set out on a vigorous economic program intended to transform Botswana into an export-based economy, built around beef, copper, and diamonds. The 1967 discovery of Orapa’s enormous diamond deposits particularly aided this program, and between 1966 and 1980 Botswana had the fastest growing economy in the world. Much of this money was reinvested into infrastructure, health, and education costs, resulting in further economic development. Khama also instituted strong measures against corruption, the bane of so many other newly-independent African nations.

On the foreign policy front, Khama refused to allow South African and Rhodesian liberation movements to use Botswana as a base for raiding operations. However, he did allow these groups transit to Zambia, leading to reprisal raids from both neighbouring governments. Shortly before his death, Khama would play a major role in negotiating the end of the Rhodesian civil war and the resulting creation and independence of Zimbabwe.

Khama remained president until his death from pancreatic cancer in 1980, when he was succeeded peacefully by Vice President Quett Masire. He was buried in the Khama family graveyard on a hill in Serowe.

[edit] Notes and references

  1. ^ Redfern, John (1955). “An appeal”, Ruth and Seretse: "A Very Disreputable Transaction". London: Victor Gollancz, p221. “The British government knew well enough, throughout the dispute, that the Union [of South Africa]'s Nationalist Government was playing up the theme of the protectorates, and that it was within the Union's power to apply economic sanctions at any time. (The latest available figures show that more than half the cattle exported from Bechuanaland go to the Union...)”
  2. ^ Rider, Clare (2003). The "Unfortunate Marriage" of Seretse Khama. The Inner Temple Yearbook 2002/2003. Inner Temple. Retrieved on 2006-08-06. "Under the provisions of the South Africa Act of 1909, the Union laid claim to the neighbouring tribal territories and, as the Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations pointed out to the Cabinet in 1949, the 'demand for this transfer might become more insistent if we disregard the Union government's views'. He went on, 'indeed, we cannot exclude the possibility of an armed incursion into the Bechuanaland Protectorate from the Union if Serestse were to be recognised forthwith, while feeling on the subject is inflamed'."
  3. ^ Rider, Clare (2003). The "Unfortunate Marriage" of Seretse Khama. The Inner Temple Yearbook 2002/2003. Inner Temple. Retrieved on 2006-08-06. "Since, in their opinion, friendly and co-operative relations with South Africa and Rhodesia were essential to the well-being of the Bamangwato Tribe and the whole of the Protectorate, Serestse, who enjoyed neither, could not be deemed fit to rule. They concluded: 'We have no hesitation in finding that, but for his unfortunate marriage, his prospects as Chief are as bright as those of any native in Africa with whom we have come into contact'."
  4. ^ Redfern, John (1955). “The mean marquis”, Ruth and Seretse: "A Very Disreputable Transaction". London: Victor Gollancz, p189. “Some sections of the press attacked him, the Daily Express with especial force: ... "For the nation's good, Lord Salisbury's first deed as Commonwealth Relations Secretary should be his last."”

[edit] Further reading

Preceded by:
(–)		 President of Botswana
1966–1980		 Succeeded by:
Quett Masire
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