MANDELA, KHAMA LIKENESS

SIR SERETSE Khama, (see Friday ’ s solution below) the first president of Botswana was, from the age of 11, sent to elite schools in South Africa and to Fort Hare, from which he obtained his BA and enrolled for a law degree at the University of the Witwatersrand where he was Nelson Mandela’s study partner.

The two men must have had a lot to share. Both were born into royal families. Seretse was son of a Bamangwato paramount chief, while Mandela’s father was a chief and a councillor to the AbaThembu monarchs. Both their fathers died when they were young boys.

Seretse was brought up by his uncle, Tshekedi Khama, who was regent; Mandela was brought up by the AbaThembu regent, Jongintaba Dalindyebo. So the two royals must have had a lot to share about the political direction the future of their countries should take.

Mandela was earlier expelled from Fort Hare for political activism and already did not see himself as a chief in Mvezo, but as a leader taking part in the struggle for liberation.

Against his uncle’s wishes to abandon his studies at Wits University and take over the Bamangwato throne, Seretse had pleaded to continue his law studies in England.

As fate would dictate he met and married a white British woman, not even a royal, but a commoner.

His uncle was infuriated and rallied the tribe against the marriage. Seretse was eventually given an ultimatum: ascend your throne – or marry a white woman and forsake any claim to the crown.

He chose marriage and formed the Botswana Democratic Party in 1962, leading his country to independence from Britain.