13 Sep 2015

President Lt Gen. Seretse Khama Ian Khama has applauded the Pilikwe and Serowe communities as well as Tshekedi Khama’s family for celebrating the life and legacy of their great leader, the late Kgosi Tshekedi Khama.

“Often we depend on entities such as Botswana Society and museums to assist us with the preservation of our past. We must recognise that it is everybody’s preserve to advance our history,” President Khama said on Saturday (September 12).

The late Kgosi  Tshekedi Khama was a regent of the Bamangwato from 1926 to 1946, assuming power on behalf of his young nephew, Seretse Khama.President Khama said he only knew his late uncle during the last years of his life because he was young.

He said there were countless stories written about his great uncle, in particular his skirmishes with the colonial government and resident commissioners then, emanating mostly from his role in calling for the formation of a Legislative Council.

A well documented incident was his decision to flog a young white man, Macintosh at his kgotla.

President Khama also put aside lingering perceptions that there was a permanent fallout linked to his exile from Serowe. He said the late regent had reconciled his differences with his father, Sir Seretse Khama and other members of the royal household in Serowe.

“He and some of his followers continued to work with my father through the years,” he said.

He said his uncle also worked well with other dikgosi in making sure that Botswana did not become a part of the Union of South Africa, and at the same time supporting the liberation of other countries in Southern Africa.

Kgosi Tshekedi Khama was the last born son of Kgosikgolo Khama III and Semane. He was born on 17 September 1905 in Serowe and went to school at the Serowe Public School from 1912 to 1916.

He then attended Lovedale College from 1917 to 1921 and the South African Native College at Fort Hare from 1923 to 1925.

He first married Bagakgametse Moloi in Serowe in February 1936. He married his second wife, Ms Ella Moshoela in May 1938 in Mafikeng and was blessed with five children: Leapetswe Khama,  Sekgoma Khama, Semane Khama, Modiri Khama  and Mphoeng Khama.

Only two of his children are surviving namely Mr Sekgoma Khama and Queen Semane. Tshekedi Khama died in June 1959 and was buried in Serowe.

Meanwhile, President Khama received two heifers and a bull from the Paramount Chief of Baherero in Namibia, Advocate Vekuii Rukoro, which he later handed over to Kgosi Gasebalwe Seretse of Pilikwe. Ends