Academic explores history of a united Batswana
Attributes xenophobia, immigration and borderline problems, Bogosi and racial intolerance to tribal divisions
Academic Mosireletsi Mokalake says that modern tribal lines have led to social disintegration and feuds that have led to dichotomy among African nations. He documents all this in his latest gem of a book titled, ‘ State Creation, Nationalism, Nationhood and Ethnicity in Southern Africa,’ published by Keitsemang Publishers.
Plans are underway to distribute the book at Botswana Book Centre and Exclusive Books, and also online on Amazon. The plan is to also ensure that the book reaches the whole of southern Africa before the end of the year.
Mokalake is an independent researcher who holds a Master of Arts Degree in Politics and International Relations from the University of Botswana, a Bachelor of Arts in Public Administration and Diploma in Law also both from UB.
He said that he developed interest in writing this book while doing his academic research after he noticed that historical information is often distorted and the separated historical information led to tribal inequality and polarisation, while in actual fact Batswana are one people and Africans are a single nation and should strive for peace and unity.
He explained that during his studies for Political Science and Public Administration, his research interests revolved around the concepts of state, nation and nationalism. Related realms such as history, anthropology and ethnography have also attracted this research, as demonstrated in the book, he noted.
Mokalake started writing the book in 2020 and it was published this year in September. The book is 676 pages and a fascinating historical account that is both interesting and intellectually stimulating so much that it will blow away the mind of any discerning reader. He simplifies the history of Batswana per tribe - in the context of African development and the place of Botswana in the global context, and also demystifies all false concepts of identity among our people.
Mokalake explained in the book that the way southern African states have been created in the 19th Century from Kingdoms to colonial states, which later turned into modern nation - by colonial states have brought the current socioeconomic and political dilemmas such as xenophobia. He said because of the migrant labour system, current chieftainship disputes because the borders divided one people apart, borderland problems such as shortage of land in GaMalete and Tlokweng because their lands are in South Africa today, and so forth.
Mokalake further traces the dismantlement of tribal divisions and racial inequality from the first settlements until modern day Africa and Botswana. He also argues interesting historical pieces such as that Motsamai Mpho came up with the name Botswana.
He also mentions how Batswana, who he references as a timid and peaceful people, were reluctant to fight the Boers in the southern parts of Africa and promptly moved up to what is now Botswana when the Boers terrorised them, unlike the Xhosa, who put up a bloody fight along the Kei River, shortly after the first colony was established along the Orange River.
Dithakong was the first village along the line. “The Boers were fighting indigenous blacks and
tried to drive them out, after stating that there would be no territorial jumping across the established lines,” he said.
He also noted that historically, it is believed that Molefhabangwe Mothibi was thought to be the Kgosi of all Batswana before the tribes were divided. He makes a few other comparisons and reflections and notes that in doing his historical research he explored findings from the 20th century, and most notably the 19th century before the new millennium.
His references begin with a voyage to Cochin China published in the years 1792- 1793 and right to John Burton’s exploration of the context between Batswana and European in 1806, an account of the journey made in the years 1802 to the residences of the chief of Botswana’s nation.
He traces the roots of Botswana and South Africa to before the establishment of what we now know as South Africa in 1910, before diamonds were discovered in Dikgatlong, Kimberly, where the surrounding Batswana would then mushroom and thrive, such as the Batlharong and Batlhaping, who bore Montshiwa and Gaseitsiwe who led the Tswana sub tribes further South.
In further North Botswana was Khama who overlooked the Batswana up here. Basically the Bantu; Nguni, Xhosa, Zulu and also Sotto and Tswana tribes lived separately under different tribal lines but knew that they were inter- connected even though they slowly began to migrate southward.
He also explores the different dialects of Tswana tribes and their linkages in addition to traditional customs and rituals. One interesting aspect is the role of bogosi among the different tribes and the role and impact of the institution in social cohesion. In a nutshell, Mokalake said that the Bantu are one people and there are really no DNA and genetic differences. “We are all the same, any differences are just a figment of human imagination,” he said. Mokalake’s attempt to go back in time is an honest attempt to remind, retell and drive the public to where the roots of Batswana emanate to the contemporary southern Africa. He explained that this is necessitated by the observations that current political polemics seem to be tied to the recent history of emergence of apartheid and concomitant spirited political activism which led to armed liberations and lengthy political incarceration.
He also makes the observation that at times the proper understanding of the past appears to be suspect, which in every respect can inhibit the policy making process.
“Limiting concerns to recent occurrences, coupled with historical generalisations devoid of exactness is inhibitory, because the current problems such as xenophobia, immigration complications, borderline problems, Bogosi succession problems and racial intolerance at times manifesting into what is termed hate speeches, illegal mass protests manifesting in destruction of private and national property are all offsprings of colonial interloping.
Mokalake added that any political assessment or policy making which “estranges itself from the colonial dynamics, but rather wants to restrict itself to the limited recent past, shall always be restrained to temporal settlements which naturally encourage the reoccurrences of the same problems. Grave decisions require proper comprehension of the past to plan for the present and the future.”