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A History Note from "The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency"
A Historical Note:
Sir Seretse Khama, Founding President of Botswana and one of Mma Ramotswe’s heroes
Seretse Khama was the founding president of Botswana, taking office in 1966 and remaining in place until his death in 1980. Born in 1921 in the then-British protectorate, Bechuanaland, Sir Seretse was the grandson of Khama III, kgosi (chief) of the Bama-Ngwato people in central Botswana. Khama III died in 1923, and in 1925, Sir Seretse was named kgosi. His uncle Tshekedi was pronounced regent and guardian of the four-year-old ruler.
Sir Seretse was educated in South Africa, graduating in 1944 from Fort Hare University College. In 1945 he traveled to England to study law. There he met Ruth Williams, a former WAAF ambulance driver and clerk at Lloyds of London.
The two married in 1948, causing uproar both in Britain and in southern Africa. The marriage of a white woman to a black chief was politically dangerous for the British, who at the time were heavily reliant on the vast mineral resources available to them in Apartheid-driven South Africa. Sir Seretse’s uncle Tshekedi attempted to convince his nephew to have the marriage annulled, but popular opinion turned against Tshekedi as the Bama-Ngwato welcomed Ruth Williams.
Upon Seretse’s return to England to complete his education, he was met with Parliamentary investigation into his ability to rule, an investigation whose report concluded that Sir Seretse was “eminently fit to rule.” The British government chose to suppress the report, and in 1951, they exiled Seretse and Ruth to England.
The exile sparked debate and outrage in international communities. In 1956, the exile was repealed, and the couple returned to home in Botswana as civilians. Sir Seretse emerged in 1961 as the head of Bechuanaland Democratic Party. In 1965, Sir Seretse was elected Prime Minister in the country’s first universal franchise elections. Botswana gained independence on September 30, 1966, and Sir Seretse was named the first president of the Republic of Botswana and knighted by Queen Elizabeth II.
As president, Sir Seretse invested his country’s natural resources in building the new government’s infrastructure. He advocated for and aided Zimbabwe in the nation’s bid for independence, and co-launched the Southern African Development Coordination Conference. Sir Seretse was re-elected twice before his death on July 13, 1980. Ruth Williams, Lady Khama, died in 2002.
"It should now be our intention to try to retrieve what we can of our past. We should write our own history books to prove that we did have a past, and that it was a past that was just as worth writing and learning as any other. We must do this for the simple reason that a nation without a past is a lost nation and a people without a past is a people without a soul."
-- Sir Seretse Khama, speech given May 15, 1970 at the University of Botswana.
Sources: University of Botswana, www.thuto.org/ubh/bw/skhama.htm; About.com: http://www.africanhistory.about.com/cs/biography/p/bio_khama.htm?p=1