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The call for national sovereignty in Bechuanaland took place against a background of massive change in the British Empire. In 1945, when Seretse Khama had first sailed to the UK, the imperial motherland had over fifty formal dependencies in a colonial Empire that was scattered across the world. But in 1957, the year after Seretse’s return from exile, the Gold Coast had become Ghana, the first British territory in Africa to achieve independence. ‘Ghana’s independence’, declared Nkrumah, its first President, ‘is meaningless unless it is linked with the total liberation of Africa.’26 All over the continent, African nationalism was gaining ground, and many of the young African men who had been studying in the UK at the same time as Seretse had now returned home and were leading their countries to independence. The resolutions that had been passed with such passion and determination in 1945 at the Pan-African Congress in Manchester – by Nkrumah, Kenyatta, Banda and others – were at last coming to fruition.
In Britain, too, there was a growing sense of unease about the imperial role, especially in connection with Britain’s handling in Kenya of the Mau Mau rebellion. In 1959, news emerged from Kenya that at the Hola ‘rehabilitation’ camp, eleven long-serving detainees had been beaten to death by guards and eighty-one had been injured. This caused an outcry in Parliament and was seen to discredit the Governor, Sir Evelyn Baring, especially when an inquiry revealed that he had presided over mass trials and death sentences, where emergency courts had sentenced men to capital punishment for very minor allegations. Baring did not resign and none of his senior officers was ever charged over these crimes. When Baring left Kenya at the end of his governorship in September 1959, he left under a shadow that became closely associated with the history of British Africa.27 Another such shadow was the report of the Devlin Commission, which investigated the reasons for the imposition of Emergency Rule in Nyasaland (Malawi) and the brutality of the British Administration; it was heavily critical and accused the colonial Government of running a ‘police state’.28
In any case, the Empire had been steadily in decline since the Second World War. This was highlighted by the humiliation of the UK over the Suez crisis. In early November 1956, only weeks after Seretse’s and Ruth’s return to Bechuanaland, Britain and France had responded to Nasser’s nationalization of the Suez Canal by invading the region, on the pretext of separating Egyptian forces from an attacking Israeli army. But within a few days of the invasion, Britain was condemned by the UN and the USA and her troops were forced to leave Egypt. It emerged that Prime Minister Eden had lied to the House of Commons in denying prior knowledge of Israel’s attack; he resigned in January 1957 and Harold Macmillan became Prime Minister. Ever afterwards, the Suez crisis was regarded as synonymous with the loss of British imperial power.
The waning of British rule in Africa was given a high profile in February 1960 by Macmillan. He went on an intensive six-week tour of Africa, which began with a visit to independent Ghana and covered 20,000 miles, ending in South Africa. On his way south, on 26 January, he stopped off in Francistown in Bechuanaland and attended a special meeting of the Joint Advisory Council in the airport building; there he met Seretse, as a member of the JAC, and also Ruth.29 After this he flew on to Cape Town, where he gave a speech to the all-white South African Parliament, which – for the first time – gave a clear and highly publicized account of the difference between South African and British policy on the issue of race and the future of Africa. Drawing attention to the growing spirit of nationalism throughout the world, he discussed the impact of this development in Asia and, more recently, in Africa:
The wind of change is blowing through this continent, and whether we like it or not this growth of national consciousness is a political fact. We must all accept it as a fact and our national policies must take account of it.
Then he set out Britain’s position:
We reject the idea of any inherent superiority of one race over another. Our policy therefore is non-racial. It offers a future in which… all play their full part as citizens… and in which feelings of race will be submerged in loyalty to new nations.30
Macmillan’s speech was met with predictable dismay by Europeans all over Africa. But it was welcomed with enthusiasm by many people throughout the Empire and the world. As far away as Canada, the Ottawa Journal praised Macmillan’s courage and concluded – rightly – that the speech ‘may well find an honoured place in history books of the future’. In the UK, it was welcomed by many politicians on both the Left and the Right. But there was also hostility and right-wing Conservatives formed the Monday Club, to mark the ‘Black Monday’ on which the speech had been given.31
But they could not arrest the process of decolonization. After Ghana became independent in 1957, Nigeria followed in 1960. In the next year, it was the turn of Sierra Leone and Tanganyika, and then Uganda in 1962. Kenyatta, who was freed from prison in 1961, was sworn in as Prime Minister of a sovereign Kenya in 1963, inviting Seretse and Ruth to the Independence celebrations. Zanzibar also achieved independence in 1963, uniting with Tanganyika as Tanzania the following year. Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland became independent as Zambia and Malawi, respectively, in 1964; the Gambia followed in 1965.
But the whites in Rhodesia, on the northern border of Bechuanaland, were not willing to give up their unfair advantages on the basis of colour. In November 1965, Ian Smith and the white community of Southern Rhodesia vowed they would not allow black rule in the country – which they now called Rhodesia – for 1,000 years. In an effort to ensure this, they made a Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI) from Britain; it was unilateral because Britain would not countenance an independent state in which the black majority did not have a fair share of power. Under white minority rule, only 220,000 whites held power, land and privileges at the expense of nearly 4 million blacks.
A British Government intelligence report observed that almost the entire white community of Bechuanaland, including British colonial officials, were vocally sympathetic to the Smith regime and applauded the declaration.32 ‘So Ian Smith has done it at last,’ wrote Tony Read, an official in Molepolole, to his mother in November 1965:
Good on him, I say, although it’s such a tragedy that such loyal & progressive people as the Rhodesians should be branded as traitors at the whim of communist-inspired bastards like Nkrumah & Kenyatta.33
The stated position of the British Government was by no means supported by all its officials working in the region.
Despite the hostility of the majority of whites in Bechuanaland, Seretse and other members of the Legislative Assembly argued that the time had come to move towards the full independence of the country. The Resident Commissioner held meetings with the Assembly in Lobatse in 1963, which led to a consensus – that there should be a national election, based on the principle of one man, one vote. Anxieties were felt by the diKgosi, who were afraid of losing power, and by Europeans, but the British Government backed the commitment to self-government.34 It had also agreed to independence for Basutoland; one British official sourly commented that Seretse may have been pushing for sovereignty because he felt ‘that he has to keep up with the Basuto Jones’s’.35
It was agreed that the very first national election would be held on 1 March 1965, selecting members of the National Assembly to take the nation to independence the following year. It was also agreed that there would be a House of Chiefs, which would look at all proposals involving changes to traditional customs. Washington watched with interest. In 1963 it received a report from the region stating that in the view of the British High Commission, Bechuanaland was ‘the best administered of the three Territories with Seretse Khama developing leadership potential (British obviously building him up).’36
For Bechuanaland to be independent, it needed to have a capital city within its own borders. The current anomaly was underlined by the fact that because Seretse was a prohibited immigrant in South Africa and could not go to Mafikeng, meetings of the Legislative Assembly had to take place in Lob
atse. Plans were drawn up for the development of the village of Gaberones – which then became known as Gaborone – into a town, taking advantage of its proximity to the railway line and to a large water supply from a dam. ‘For donkey’s years,’ observed the Daily News Africa Service, ‘Gaberones has been an unambitious, sweltering one-horse dorp.’37 But now it was set for a major expansion, to accommodate not only all the offices and homes in Mafikeng’s Imperial Reserve, but also the institutions required by the capital city of an independent nation. Construction of the city began in February 1964, with the aim of being occupied by the Government in time for the national election; it was completed in twelve months, enabling the Government to move out of Mafikeng earlier than was expected. The main credit for this, observed The Times, belonged to the people of Bechuanaland themselves – ‘It has become the symbol of the country’s belief in itself; of its ability to run its own affairs and of its future.’38
The three leading political parties began their campaigns for the election – the BDP, the BPP, and the Bechuanaland Independence Party, which was vigorously anti-white. On behalf of the Bechuanaland Democratic Party, Seretse travelled around the towns and the countryside, often accompanied by Ruth; together they smiled and gave the outstretched arm and clenched fist salute, as the crowds cheered. The new government, emphasized Seretse, would be elected on the basis of
each citizen casting one vote… irrespective of the citizen’s standing in his community; in other words the Batswana, European, Asian and Bushman citizens of this country will have equal rights for electing the country’s government…
May God help you to vote intelligently, and God bless Bechuanaland.39
On 1 March 1965, the first election in Bechuanaland took place. Even before six o’clock in the morning, people were streaming towards the polling stations.40 Seretse and Ruth were among the first people to vote in Serowe. The heat was stifling, with the sun blazing down from a cloudless blue sky, but nothing could dent the determination of the voters – long queues formed of people of all ages, including women with babies on their backs and old men. They arrived on foot, on donkeys, on bicycles, on horses, on ox-wagons, on mules and on camels. One observer described election day in Mochudi:
the long slow-moving line of Mochudi voters, all in their best, the women in their blue aprons, flounced and corded, or in gay prints, some with umbrellas and some with babies, the men mostly in their best too, all clutching their registration cards, behaving as though they were going to church with no singing or shouting, but immense decorum.
In a sense, added the observer, it was a religious occasion. But afterwards, she saw ‘one old woman doing a small happy dance, all by herself’.41
In his own district, Seretse received 5,904 votes, compared to just 53 and 39 received by his opponents. Overall, the Botswana Democratic Party won a resounding victory: 28 of the 31 seats, most of them by massive majorities. Seretse Khama had been chosen as leader of the nation – Kgosi by birth and now Prime Minister by the people’s choice.42 By political conviction he was modern, progressive and democratic, but he also had the advantage of being known everywhere as a man who had acted with supreme dignity in the face of exile by the British.43 Ketumile Masire became Deputy Prime Minister.
A spokesman at the British embassy in Cape Town was quoted by the American embassy as saying that the Bechuanaland elections had ‘turned out nicely’ because the ‘real chief (Seretse) had gone down into the market place’. The new Government, added the embassy, ‘is the one we would have chosen ourselves’.44
As soon as the new Cabinet had been sworn in, preparations were started for full independence. One of the difficulties they faced was the expansionist aims of South Africa. Dr Hendrik Verwoerd, who had been the Prime Minister of South Africa since 1958, had withdrawn his country from the Commonwealth in 1961 and was now seeking to construct a series of satellites and buffers made up of South West Africa, the Bantustans, and the High Commission Territories. The idea that the High Commission Territories might form part of South Africa had been a consideration of British policy since 1910. But now that it was clear this was not going to happen – since Britain was backing their wish for self-determination – the Nationalists decided to woo public opinion in the High Commission Territories, especially among conservative diKgosi.45 As part of this campaign, they reached out the hand of friendship to Seretse. After Seretse’s election victory, Verwoerd announced that the South African Government had rescinded the ‘prohibited immigrant’ ban on him and his wife.46
Seretse had no intention of responding to Verwoerd’s advances. But South Africa had to be managed very carefully: for although its policy of apartheid was roundly and robustly condemned by the African population of Bechuanaland, the Protectorate was dependent for its economic survival on its racist neighbour. In 1966, when Seretse was in London, he discussed the problem with Tony Benn. For his part, he said, ‘he was being subjected to strong pressure from South Africa which wants to absorb the Protectorates into a new semi-independent Bantustan status’.47
Since Macmillan had given his ‘wind of change’ speech in March 1960, Verwoerd had been pressing ahead with the consolidation of apartheid, restricting African people in every aspect of their life. A few weeks after the speech, at Sharpeville, police had fired into a crowd protesting against the Pass Law; sixty-nine people were killed, including children, most of whom were shot in the back. The South African Government then declared a state of emergency and banned the ANC. After this, in the early 1960s, fugitives from the struggle for liberation from apartheid – including Mandela in 1962 – found a haven in Bechuanaland and an escape route to the north. Some refugees, like Joe Slovo, moved rapidly north to freedom; others, like Oliver Tambo, stayed there for a while before moving on to Zambia.48
The years leading up to the independence of Bechuanaland were exhausting for Seretse. He travelled all over the Protectorate and also to Europe and the US, seeking economic assistance to develop the country.49 Many of the health problems that had plagued him over the years returned and although Ruth did her utmost to make him rest, Seretse drove himself hard. While in Washington in 1965, he had a medical check at a hospital where the examining physician told him he was a ‘very sick man’, with uncontrolled diabetes and anaemia. He urged immediate treatment, pointing out the risk of a diabetic coma. At the very least, he said, Seretse should be admitted to hospital in London before returning to Bechuanaland.50 But despite the pressure of work and his suffering from ill health, Seretse never lost sight of his dream of his country’s future – or even his sense of humour. During discussions of a suitable name for the new official residence of the President, names like State House and Presidential Palace were put forward – and Seretse asked, mischievously, ‘What about the Woodpile?’51
Independence Day was set for 30 September 1966. To prepare for this, talks were held at Marlborough House in London in February 1966, to discuss the new constitution; these talks were attended by Seretse, Masire, Opposition Leader Philip Matante, Bathoen II, as representative of the House of Chiefs, and senior British officials from Bechuanaland and the Colonial Office.52 It was decided that the newly independent country would be called Botswana and the people would be known as Batswana; Botswana would remain within the Commonwealth, as the tenth African nation to choose to keep such a link with Britain. The talks were a resounding success, but at a cost for Seretse, who suffered an attack of diabetes and had to stay for a while in a London hospital before returning home.53
Shortly before Independence Day, Elizabeth II proclaimed Seretse as a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire. Only a decade and a half before, because of his marriage to Ruth, the leading men of the British Government had sought to keep secret a report stating that Seretse was a ‘fit and proper person to be Chief’, because they wanted to keep him out of any position of power. But now he became Sir Seretse Khama, and his wife became Lady Khama. ‘The stone that was rejected had now become the head cornerstone!’
observed Joe Appiah with amusement – Sir Seretse and Lady Khama ‘had overcome the follies and prejudices of little men parading as gods’.54
26
Pula! Botswana 1966
The wind of change which blew the Republic of Botswana into being at midnight on 29 September 1966 was no simple gust – but a blizzard of biting, blinding sand from the Kalahari Desert. For six hours a gale had raged, with winds of up to 35 miles an hour. At the new airport just outside Gaborone, men rushed out to tie down the light aircraft parked in front of the single-storey reception building. There was a full moon, but it was almost hidden by the thick dust flying in swirls through the air.
Princess Marina of Kent had come to Gaborone on behalf of the Queen to hand over the reins of government. At Government House, where she was staying, her officials grew worried about the weather as it grew close to midnight, when the party of dignitaries would leave for the celebrations at the Independence Stadium. One of them suggested to Seretse the possibility of postponing the ceremony, to protect her from the storm. But Seretse was horrified. ‘You cannot postpone independence!’ he replied indignantly. The Princess was in complete agreement. She briskly pulled a headscarf over her tiara and set off for the stadium with the Queen’s Commissioner.1 In a gold lamé evening dress, she took her seat in the grandstand with the other dignitaries, in their morning coats and evening dresses, huddled under blankets.2