Tshekedi Khama: No axes to grind
Methaetsile Leepile | Friday September 18, 2015 16:01
The commemoration of Kgosi Tshekedi Khama’s 110th anniversary in Pilikwe last Saturday was quite some spectacle. It drew people by the hundreds from all over the country and the region, perhaps the most conspicuous being the flamboyant Baherero. They came in their numbers from far-flung regions of Namibia and Botswana.
They were accompanied by royalty: His Royal Highness Tjinaani Maherero, the grandson of the legendary Herero leader and chief of the Omahehe region – as well as their traditional leader, Paramount Chief Vikuii Rukoro.
The men folk looked immaculate in their colourful German style military attire; the womenfolk sassy in their chic Victorian style dresses and head dresses. They almost stole the show with their renditions and chants to Chief Rukoro, each time he made an appearance, be it to the podium or to his posh German salon.
Ngwato royalty was also there in full force, among them Semane Molotlegi and Sekgoma Tshekedi Khama, two of the Regent’s surviving children, both now in advanced age. Long serving Ngwato regent, Kgosi Sediegeng Kgamane graced the occasion. So did the heir to Seretse, Kgosi Ian Khama.
Tshekedi Khama was an historical figure of gargantuan proportions; a polarising character who was equally loved by his admirers and hated with a penchant by some, including the English colonial overbears. His unsettled relationship with his nephew, Seretse, is well documented. But here in Pilikwe, the residents had come to celebrate the achievements of the man, not to be reminded of his escapades with his detractors.
Kgosi Ian Khama put to rest speculation that he was aggrieved by the volatile relationship that his father had with Tshekedi. The two, he reminded the audience, had long put their differences aside by the time of the Regent’s death. In the build up to the event, there were murmurs within the Pilikwe community, that Khama had never visited their village during his entire term as President of the republic. This had created perceptions that he perhaps had an axe to grind.
If there was any doubt that Tshekedi respected his nephew, Pilikwe resident Diphimotswe Koloi was there to attest. He eulogised that during his time, he had watched many a time Tshekedi hold up Seretse’s horse’s stirrups and wait for the young chief to mount, before proceeding to his own horse. “That showed the respect that Tshekedi had for his nephew”.
Ninety-two-year-old Obed Makgola Lesole from Tshimoyapula grew up looking after horses in Tshekedi’s estate in Serowe. He later worked as an agronomist for the Regent in Gammangwato. Away from the madding crowd, he recounted stories about Tshekedi’s ingenuity, his humanness, his botho – to some attentive listeners. He told them that many of today’s community development programmes were started by Tshekedi Khama.
“It was Tshekedi who first introduced Ipelegeng, the community work programme that we know of today. He had 15 ox wagons, each with a plough and a span of 16 oxen. These were deployed to plough fields for widows and widowers all over Gammangwato. There was a 50-hectare farm in Radisele, a 50-hectare farm in Phikwe (north west of Palapye), a five-hectare farm in Nata and a 125-hectare farm in Tshimoyapula.
“All these were ploughed season after season. Nobody went hungry during his time. The poor and the destitute were well looked after as regiments were deployed to construct houses for them,” he quipped.
Octogenarian Emmanuel Ontumetse from Serowe, a distinguished civil servant and one time ambassador to Zambia, has had the unique opportunity of serving under Tshekedi Khama, Seretse Khama and Ian Khama. “Botlhe ka boraro ba nthumile – I served all three of them,” he reminded the crowd back at the main tent. He was Tshekedi’s secretary. When the Regent travelled to England in 1959 for a medical check up, he had told him that he was unlikely to come back alive. “Ko ke go yang ke a go tla ke le mo kesing”.
So he ordered him to retrieve personal documents from his safe in Serowe for safe custody in Pilikwe. He instructed him that two weeks after his burial, he should go and open the safe and hand over the key and the contents to Ngwato regent Rasebolai Kgamane. He should tell Kgamane that the goods belonged to Bangwato; they were a gift from him.
“Kgosi ... and by then I had become accustomed to the fact that he meant Seretse... will call on you shortly after I had passed on.”
And so it was. Three weeks after he was buried, Kgosi Seretse sent an emissary in the name of Lenyeletse, his brother-in-law, to Ontumetse. “He asked me twice if his uncle’s goods were safe before ordering me to look for a truck that would ferry all his uncle’s belongings to Pilikwe.” When the current Kgosi, Ian Seretse Khama, was in the army, he used to send Ontumetse to Kgosi Lucas Mangope in Mafeking on family errands affecting the Tshekedi household.
In a touching speech, Chief Rukoro reminded Bangwato that Tshekedi provided refuge to Baherero in their hour of need. His people were nearly exterminated by the Germans at the beginning of the last century. The Germans had committed immeasurable crimes against humanity, including Jews and scores of European communities over the centuries. They have apologised for their deeds to all these people except to the Baherero. The Baherero would not rest until the Germans apologised and paid reparations. He said: “Africans should look forward to the day when the Germans will be the first European power to be taken to the International Criminal Court to answer charges on crimes against Baherero...”
As a gesture of goodwill from his people, Chief Rukoro presented a stud Brahman bull and two stud Brahman females “whose progeny would multiply and give the Ngwato in Pilikwe milk and meat for a hundred years to come”, to Kgosi Khama.