The first public political protest

It may come as a surprise that any kind of public protest could have dogged the processes of change that came with Independence in 1966. 

In fact, it was the 1965 election and its aftermath, which prompted in Mochudi the country’s first public protest of the new era. That election result gave the new 14-member Kgatleng District Council a mix of eight BDP Councillors and six BPP Councillors. Almost immediately, the new Minister of Local Government announced that he had appointed four specially-elected members to the Council – all four being BDP members, thus converting a majority of just two, to a safer majority of six! Given the controversy that has surrounded this particular constitutional provision during the last 50 years, it is worth noting how protest immediately followed the very first time that it was used. Mind you, in terms of more recent protests, this one was almost miniscule.