26 Apr 2018

Saturday 28, the Botswana Defence Force and Batswana from all walks of life will take time to observe the growth and accomplishment of an institution that has come to be regarded by international strategic studies scholars as one of Africa’s success stories.

The BDF Day celebrations as is the norm is expected to attract a good crowd to the National Stadium in Gaborone to offer the men and women in uniform an opportunity to mirror on their rich history of over four decades.

To put the cherry on the cream, the military establishment is set to welcome their new Commander-In-Chief, President Mr Mokgweetsi Masisi who took a presidential oath beginning of the army’s birthday month. The BDF Commander Lt Gen. Placid Segokgo who is the host of tomorrow’s proceedings has also invited Zambian army Commander, Lt Gen Paul Mihova as guest of honour.

At the time of its formation in the 1970s, it was a turbulent political period in Southern Africa. The indigenous people were involved in liberation struggles against colonisers in neighboring countries. At the centre of these countries was Botswana, a landlocked country which had just gained independence from Britain in 1966. At the time, there was relative peace in the country, but the liberation struggles were very much felt here.

Down south, a bitter struggle against the oppressive apartheid regime was raging in South Africa, while on the eastern and northern borders, Zimbabwe (South Rhodesia) and Zambia (North Rhodesia) were involved in decolonisation struggles of their own. To the west, Namibia under the rule of South Africa’s apartheid regime was also fighting their own liberation struggle. All these upheavals posed a real security threat to Botswana which at the time did not have a military force, but only dependent on a small paramilitary Police Mobile Unit (PMU).

Eleven years after independence, the BDF was formed from the PMU and had the late Lt Gen Mompati Merafhe as its first commander. The immediate past President, Lt Gen Dr Seretse Khama Ian Khama then a 24 year old Brigadier in the army ranks became its deputy commander.

For a military establishment that had to start from the scratch unlike some of its sister military establishments in the region which were founded on existing and well advanced military structures, the BDF takes pride from its humble beginnings to becoming one of the professional military establishments that were purely home grown.

Perhaps one of the key features on the evolution of the BDF were the infamous Lesoma Ambush of 1978 in which 15 soldiers were ambushed and killed by Rhodesian Forces and the 1985 raid in Gaborone by the South African Defence Force commandos in which 12 people perished. The two incidents were a tragedy and a harsh lesson for the young force. The Lesoma incident is still recalled and commemorated as Fallen Heroes Day.

The desire to see peace prevail regionally and across Africa has made the BDF serve in places where they exposed themselves to life threatening situations. BDF has been a regular contributor to the United Nations Missions. In 1992 and 1993 a BDF contingent participated in ‘Operation Restore Hope’, a United States led coalition of forces to restore peace in war torn Somalia.

From 1993 to 1994 a team BDF officers participated in a UN Peacekeeping Mission in Rwanda as observers. The same year BDF troops participated in a UN peacekeeping operation in Mozambique. BDF also participated in Operation BOLESA, a SADC military intervention in Lesotho in 1998. The operation was the first step in a retraining programme for the Lesotho Defence Force members. Since then, BDF conducted operational exercises with defence forces of neighboring countries and other friendly forces. The popular Exercise Thokgamo was such exercise conducted in 2005 which SADC member states took part.

The last decade (2007-2017) has seen BDF establish a Defence Command and Staff College, adopt a Brigade Grouping structure, enroll female non-commissioned officers and introduce special entrant officer cadet program.

The annual celebrations commonly known as BDF Day, afford the force and the nation at large an opportunity to reflect the force’s past operations and future plans. Through numerous displays like mock battles, dog displays and obstacles, BDF demonstrate that they are not spared from ravages of illicit regimes in some war torn nations.  Thousands of Batswana throng to the national stadium annually during the last week of April to witness this.

One colorful display are flag bearers who are usually positioned at the centre of the guard. This is called the Colour party. They carry the National Colour and other flags appropriate to the event which include a unit flag and formation flag. The colour guard renders honors when the national anthem is being played when passing in review during a parade, the unit and formation flags salute by dipping or leaning the flag forward.

The Guard of Honour is a ceremonial practice to honor domestic or foreign dignitaries. It is mounted on occasions such as the BDF Day as a mark of respect. The BDF Band plays ceremonial and marching music during events such as BDF Day commemorations. The band maintains the troop’s morale by marching with sweet melodies being churned out. Ends