In a way, South Africa could be considered the 'frontier' between the West Coast of Africa and the East Coast. -- Well -- if you are on a trans journey, that could be the way one can see it. There is such a vast, vast difference between the West Coast and the East Coast -- already, only a few weeks into the second part of our magical journey, it is almost as if we have crossed over to another continent altogether. Like black and white. Like night and day. Like chalk and cheese.
I say that South Africa could be considered the 'frontier' as South Africa does not really fall into either category. A modern first world country (yes, I know, since about fifteen years ago one cannot really make that statement anymore...) in a third world continent. And then, the first new country we enter into on our journey back up north, came Botswana. I know I am starting to sound silly, claiming every country we enter into to be just beautiful, just wonderful, just the most fascinating -- but bear with me -- Botswana, to me, has been by far one of the most surprising countries so far. I had been there before, experienced some of its culture before, am familiar with the Tswanas and their beautiful smiles and warm hospitality, with their dry, dusty heat and dead-tree landscape, their elephants and their basket weaving, the 'zebra' black and white synergy of their leadership and thinking -- and yet, I was still surprised and delighted by what the country had to offer us this time round. -- As we quote David so often on this trip: "In Africa you never know what you will get; sometimes it is good, sometimes it is bad, but it is always a surprise". Never a truer word spoken when it came to Botswana...
The Republic of Botswana is a southern African country and in many ways unique. Its history is not so different from other African countries, and yet, the end result is -- probably because of the excellent leadership of a single man -- a shining example of what could have been for every other country were it not for the people involved in their development.
In the 19th century, hostilities broke out between the Tswana inhabitants of Botswana and the Ndebele tribes who were making incursions into the territory from the north-east. Tensions also escalated with the white settlers from the Transvaal to the east. After appeals by the Batswana leaders Khama III, Bathoen and Sebele for assistance, the British Government put "Bechuanaland" under its protection on 31 March 1885. The northern territory remained under direct administration as the Bechuanaland Protectorate and is modern-day Botswana, while the southern territory became part of the Cape Colony and is now part of the northwest province of South Africa. The majority of Setswana-speaking people today live in South Africa. It adopted its new name after becoming independent within the Commonwealth on 30 September 1966. It has held free and fair democratic elections since independence.
Botswana is flat, and up to 70% is covered by the Kalahari Desert. It is bordered by South Africa to the south and southeast, Namibia to the west and north, and Zimbabwqe to the northeast. Its border with Zambia to the east is poorly defined but at most is a few hundred meters long -- so it is a mid-sized, landlocked country of just over two million people.
Botswana was one of the poorest countries in Africa when it gained independence from Britain in 1966, with a GDP per capita of about US$70, but has transformed itself, becoming one of the fastest-growing economies in the world to a GDP per capita of about $14,800 . Much of this was because of the leadership of Sir Seretse Khama,
(1921-80), founding President of Botswana, (1966-80). He inherited an impoverished and internationally obscure state from British rule, and left an increasingly democratic and prosperous country with a significant role in Southern Africa. He attended Fort Hare University College and graduated with a general BA degree in 1944. In August 1945 he was sent to England for a legal education. After a year at Balliol College, Oxford, he enrolled for barrister studies at the Inner Temple, London.In 1947 Seretse Khama met an English woman of his age, Ruth Williams, daughter of a retired army officer. They were married in September 1948. Uncle Tshekedi ordered Seretse home to berate him and demand a divorce. But, after a series of public meetings in Serowe, Seretse turned his people against Tshekedi, and was popularly recognised as Kgosi together with his wife. The proclamation of a black chief with a white wife, in a territory strategically placed between South Africa and the Rhodesias, caused outcry among white settler politicians. South Africa had come under the control of white Afrikaner nationalists in 1948. The British were told that there was no chance of the pro-British opposition party winning the next all-white election in South Africa, if Seretse Khama was allowed to be chief of the Bangwato.
The Labour government in Britain desperately needed South African gold and uranium. It agreed to bar Seretse Khama from chieftainship. The Commonwealth relations minister denied that the government was bowing to racism, and lied about this before the House of Commons. A judicial enquiry was set up to prove Seretse's personal unfitness to rule. However, Justice Harragin concluded that Seretse was eminently fit to rule. His report was therefore suppressed by the British government for thirty years. Seretse and his wife were exiled to England in 1951, and in 1952 the new Conservative government declared the exile permanent. The treatment of Seretse and Ruth Khama by British governments received international press coverage, and outrage was expressed by a wide range of people including human-rights activists, Scottish, West African, Indian and West Indian nationalists, British communists, and conservatives who supported the principle of aristocratic inheritance. Eventually, in 1956, a new Commonwealth relations minister realised that Britain must distance itself from institutionalized racism in South Africa, and decided to allow Seretse and Ruth home as commoners and private citizens.
Back home, Seretse Khama was still respected as a man of principle and integrity, but was generally seen as being out-of-touch and a yesterday's man. He was a not too successful cattle rancher and dabbler in local politics, and declined in health until incipient diabetes was diagnosed in 1960. Then, however, much to everyone's surprise, in 1961 he was suddenly energized as a nationalist politician.
The first task was to lay the groundwork for an export-oriented economy, based on beef processing and copper and diamond mining. President Khama then turned his personal attention to foreign policy, seeking out allies such as President Kaunda of Zambia to break Botswana free from its image of being a docile 'hostage' state. He also used his unique authority to develop local democracy and quash the powers of traditional chiefs, to develop citizen administrative capacity without over-bureaucratization, and to promote the rule of law in the operations of the state.
Though Botswana came to be described as a 'paternalist democracy' under the dominance of one political party, it succeeded in establishing itself as both prosperous and peaceful. Between 1966 and 1980 Botswana had the fastest growing economy in the world. It also came to be seen a remarkable state with high principles, upholding liberal democracy and non-racialism in the midst of a region embroiled in civil war, racial enmity and corruption. State mineral revenues were invested in infrastructural development, education and health, and in subsidies to cattle production. The result was a great increase in general prosperity, in rural as well as urban areas, though with inequities that were to become increasing apparent after the death of Seretse Khama. Seretse Khama was known for his intelligence and integrity, and a wicked sense of humour --puncturing the pomposity of those who had too high an opinion of themselves. He also went through cycles of ill-health and depression, exacerbated by diabetes. He underwent intensive medical treatment in 1968-69 and in 1976-77, when he was fitted with a heart pacemaker, but bounced back energetically in both cases with an innovative period lasting for years. His wife, Ruth Khama, remained the guardian of his health and homelife, but had relatively little influence on his politics.
Today Sir Seretse and Lady Ruth's son, Ian, leads the country and continue in his father's footsteps in practising a healthy and pragmatic policy - both in foreign affairs and economically. -- After the noticeable lack of infrastructure, industry and commerce in most of the West African countries, the visible expansion and growth and development around every corner in Botswana was a pleasure to behold.
