The past magic of Lobatse’s waters
Lewanika Timothy | Tuesday October 7, 2025 12:49
Once earmarked to be a plausible national capital, Lobatse was a town born with a star. The town’s “waters” herein used figuratively to depict its early lucky streak, were deep brooks that fostered innovation and made Lobatse a town of many firsts.
The country’s first abattoir was in Lobatse, marking the early dreams of industrialising through the beef industry. Under the Botswana Meat Commission (BMC), beef exports held the fort for the country’s fiscus before the dawn of the diamond age.
Many moons later, the town would later become home to firms that would dominate the tale of retail and manufacturing in Lobatse. A good example would be Choppies which in 2024 had full year sales above P9.1 billion. Choppies was born in 1986 in Lobatse initially as Wayside supermarket. The year 1993 saw the opening of a second store still in Lobatse. From 1993, Choppies embarked on a great expansion drive, with new stores being opened in the greater Gaborone periphery. The expansion also moved to more highly populated geographical areas of Botswana.
Flotek is also part of the success stories born from Lobatse, having started in 1998 as a manufacturer of pipes and fittings. It has now become a regional success story with operations across Africa. The company still operates in Lobatse where the plant employs over 700 people. Started by a team of zealous entrepreneurs, Flotek has grown to become a point of a national pride.
Most of these entrepreneurs were of Asian origin and according to historian, Jeff Ramsay their entrepreneurial success wasn’t handed to them on a silver platter.
“Lobatse and Francistown were blocks outside tribal authority,” he told Mmegi. “They were supported by farming and transport. Indian migrants had an opportunity to join a vibrant commerce culture. “But even they didn’t get it easy. Indians were not preferred traders compared to their European counterparts, but these entrepreneurs were relentless.”
He notes that Lobatse’s star once shone even brighter when it was considered as the site of the new capital.
“Initially Lobatse was earmarked to be the capital. There was a push for development, but it was affected by the Great Depression and other calamities. The British Commission could not at that time provide more funds but in the 1960s it was decided there weren’t enough water resources for the town to become the country’s capital.”
It’s not just the entrepreneurial success of the town that colours the history of Lobatse. The town also has strong ties with different epochs of political revolutions. Beyond being the genesis of the country’s entrepreneurial spirit, the town has etched itself into annals of history as a town loved by political giants.
Lobatse is also well known for having provided homage to some of the greatest liberation fighters of Southern Africa such as Nelson Mandela of South Africa, Samora Machel of Mozambique and Sam Nujoma of Namibia, who would all go on to become Presidents of their nations.
Oliver Reginald Tambo also sojourned through Lobatse, and the town became an important staging post for political players fleeing apartheid South Africa and colonial Mozambique. The legacy is preserved in the Samora Machel Museum, a joint Botswana-Mozambique initiative, and in the house that once sheltered Nelson Mandela, now kept as a national monument.
The township was established in the 1890s alongside the construction of the railway line from Mafikeng to Bulawayo, next to the Peleng settlement, which was once occupied by the Bakgwatlheng before the Bangwaketse took over.
Peleng itself, according to historical annals, and affectionately known as “Kasi,” was a melting pot, comprising Bahurutshe migrants who fled the Marico district after revolting against the South African government, Shona Zezuru exiles expelled from South Africa, and Asian and Middle Eastern traders who came to establish businesses. This ethnic diversity shaped Lobatse’s unique cultural fabric and fed into its vibrant commercial life.
The town also carried the marks of early modernisation. In the early 1960s, Lobatse had Botswana’s first tarred road, a short stretch prepared for the 1947 visit of King George and Queen Elizabeth, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. Electrification, schools, a clinic and, most importantly, the Botswana Meat Commission transformed the town into one of the most urbanised centres of the time. Industries sprouted, farming and transport thrived, and commerce flourished.
The question that now hangs over the town is why Lobatse, once so central to the nation’s story, has struggled to hold on to its shine. Ramsay believes the reason lies somewhere around the collapse of the Botswana Meat Commission, which was supposed to be the anchor of Lobatse’s economy. Its decline weakened employment, slowed trade and undermined the industrial ecosystem that had thrived around it. Significant investments have been made over the years, but without a reliable economic anchor, the town has struggled to reinvent itself.
Still, Lobatse remains a place rich with the country’s history, a town that sheltered presidents-in-waiting, produced Botswana’s first industries, and that once stood as the beating heart of a nation on the brink of Independence.
Walking down its streets today is akin to stepping into big shoes on the first tarmac laid in Botswana, to see where the nation’s earliest industries were born, and to recall the dream of the capital city that could have been.