Seisa family honours great grandfather in style
simon seisa - Gao Seisa | Monday February 5, 2024 06:00
He accompanied the three famous chiefs, Kgosi Khama 111, Kgosi Bathoen and Kgosi Sebele to England to seek protection or safety from Cecil John Rhodes who wanted to incorporate their country into South Africa.
The well organised family reunion that was held this New Year’s eve had brought together all Seisa family members in Botswana and other relatives from Lesotho, their great grandfather’s country of origin, and South Africa to gather merrily in Nata for history.
They had introductions and acquaintances of different clans making up the larger Seisa family in these three countries.
Before this introduction of families, the family’s spokesperson, Simon Tobane Seisa who was also named after their great grandfather who was celebrated, narrated the historical events that led to Simeon Tobane Seisa’s coming to Botswana which was by then Bechuanaland Protectorate, in 1895. Digging deep from his historical extracts, he said their grandfather, Simeon Tobane Seisa first met Sekgoma Khama at Lovedale University in South Africa while they were students and clicked for a lifetime friendship that later took these bosom friends to Botswana for good at the invitation of Sekgoma Khama.
He told the family gathering that Lovedale University was one of the top universities in Southern Africa that was dominated by students from rich and royal families in the region and that is why Simeon Tobane Seisa met Kgosi Sekgoma who was from Bangwato royal family. Upon arrival in Bechuanaland Protectorate, at Shoshong which was by then Bagammangwato’s capital, Simeon Tobane Seisa later tied the marital knot to two wives and the families bred the many Seisa descendants who had congregated in Nata: a village that currently houses many Seisa family members.
While in Bechuanaland Protectorate, Simeon Tobane Seisa became a responsible and loyal to the Bangwato royal family and in addition of intellectual prowess as a matriculant of a highly esteemed university earned him the appointment as Khama’s private secretary and the 1895 Dikgosi delegations’ interpreter when the three chiefs’ went to England to seek protection from Queen Victoria against Cecil John Rhodes.
He went further to narrate how the Dikgosi delegation struggled to convince the missionary Reverend Willouby, to accede to their protection requests and they patiently soldiered on with their quest until the Foreign Secretary in charge of colonies, Lord Chamberlain confirmed this request coincidentally with that of Lesotho and Swaziland. At this moment of his speech, some members of the Seisa family became emotional as they broke the silence protesting the exclusion of Simeon Seisa from the P100 note where the three famous chiefs he had accompanied are drawn as a form of national recognition. “But why is our grandfather not included on the same P100 note with those Dikgosi,” asked Molwana Motsoela, who had immediately rushed to the podium to grab the microphone to loudly express his concern.
That short protest did not however diminish the excitement that engulfed the well decorated tent whose colours, royal blue and white colours matched the same colors of the attire. Explaining the choice of royal blue colour, Simon Tobane Seisa said the family is a royal one as depicted on the family tree that portrays the historic Basotho King Moshoeshoe as part of their family. He said on top of that there are currently 31 Basotho royals in the form of chiefs and headmen added by few in Botswana. ‘The Bakoena ba ha Lephahamela’ which is an umbrella name referring to the Seisa family and other related families characterised this event with great jubilation as ululations, dance and shouting which punctuated every musical item that was played between the event’s agenda items. And this was done to the annoyance of the master of ceremonies who indeed had a great difficulty maintaining order and silence during the memorable merrymaking event. The occasion had pulled more than 60 Seisa family relatives from Lesotho and South Africa. Jokes and subsequent laughter amongst cousins as is the Setswana custom also became the order of the day.
This day will forever become memorable as it was indeed meant for that. This historic family reunion will also go down the annals of history as a family event that attracted a lot of media attention from Mmegi newspaper, Radio Botswana and Botswana Television (Btv) who found it worthy to write/broadcast this legend’s celebrations. It is in this respect that Simon Tobane Seisa, the family spokesperson passes the family’s acknowledgements to the said media institutions for supporting the family during the celebration of their great grandfather whose instrumental role was never recognised by the government. As Simeon Tobane Seisa’s exploits in Botswana were also shared in his presentation and his clan further learnt how their great grandfather later migrated to the Northern part of Botswana in villages like Sebina, Nata, Tutume and Goswe where other members of the family still live. Being a responsible man that he was as portrayed when he executed his role as Khama 111’s Private secretary/interpreter, a famous businessman, Haskins was also tempted by the same academic credibility in him and he appointed him the Manager for his branch in Tutume.
The Haskins building, which is now a cooperative society building, still stands at Magapatona ward in Tutume adjacent to St John church: a place where Simeon Seisa stayed with his family before his demise in 1937and subsequent burial at Goshwe near Tutume. He might be no more but his legacy still lives as the family and few Historians have documented his instrumental role and his descendants celebrated him. A motivational speaker who was invited to motivate the family to unite encouraged them to continue with family bond that will help them relieve each other from hardships of contemporary lifestyle.
After the event the family dispersed and went back to their respective homes replete with valuable information on their country of origin, how they came to reside in their villages and most importantly knowing their family relatives in Botswana and beyond. In this respect the family’s preparation committee eased this through drawing of the family trees. Family introductions and acquaintances were also done smoothly as a result of this documentation, whose soft and hard copies were given to family members for reference purposes. As is common procedure, family reunions are held interchangeably across different places and therefore this year the Seisa family prepares to journey to the mountain kingdom for the 2024 installment whose residents promise to stage a much hotter event. Hotter because they want to reciprocate the treatment they called a ‘5 star hotel treatment’ they enjoyed in Nata, Botswana.