The Establishment Of The Protectorate (Part 7) � Khama�s �magnificent offer�

Jeff Ramsay | Monday July 6, 2015 17:35

The following day, Khama signed a document, drafted by Warren’s accomplice the Rev. John Mackenzie, in which it was stated: “I, Khama, Chief of the Bamangwato, with my younger brothers, and heads of my town, express my gratitude at the coming of the messengers of the Queen of England, and for the announcement to me of the Protectorate which has been established by desire of the Queen, and which has come to help the law of the Bamangwato also. I give thanks for the words of the Queen, which I have heard, and I accept of the friendship and protection of the Government of England within the Bamangwato country.

“Further, I give to the Queen to make laws and to change them in the country of the Bamangwato, with reference to both black and white. Nevertheless, I am not baffled in the Government of my town or in deciding cases among my own people according to custom; but again I do not refuse help in these offices. Although this is so, I have to say that there are certain laws of my country which the Queen of England finds in operation, and which are advantageous for my people, and I wish these laws should be established, and not taken away by the Government of England. I refer to the law concerning intoxicating drinks, that they should not enter the country of the Bamangwato whether among black or white people. I refer further to our law which declares that the lands of the Bamangwato are not saleable. I say this law also is good. Let it be upheld and continue to be law.”

In accepting protection, Khama, at Mackenzie’s urging, further offered the British large tracts of land so that “the English people should come and live in it”.

Mackenzie’s translation of Khama’s words and deeds should be treated with caution. The archetype of a “missionary imperialist,” it is evident from his own correspondence as well as the perceptions of others, that throughout the expedition the Reverend was more than willing to misinterpret if not entirely makeup matters.

 Notwithstanding possible textual manipulations, it nonetheless remains clear from subsequent events that Khama hoped that by taking up Mackenzie’s suggestion of some form of land offer, he and his people would not be made to pay taxes to the British. As it was much of the land he had offered was actually occupied by neighbouring groups such as the Bakalanga, Batawana, Bakwena and Bakgatla.

Thereafter, Warren returned to Molepolole where Kgosi Sechele was pressured to reach a similar agreement. The Mokwena thus cannily agreed to give up his own claims to Bakgatla bagaKgafela occupied lands east of the Notwane and parts of the western Kgalagadi bordering on Namibia “as long as my people should be able to hunt there.”

Sechele further affirmed that: “Concerning the laws which shall be established in the country, I wish to rule among my people according to custom, but I give to the Queen to rule among white people wherever they are.”

Thereafter, Warren went to Kanye, where Kgosi Gaseitsiwe also pressed for an agreement. This resulted in the Bangwaketse giving up their residual claims to Gamalete and Hukuntsi.

Though they dismissed the land concessions made by Gaseitsiwe and Sechele as being of little substance, Warren and Mackenzie hoped to use Khama’s “magnificent offer” as the basis for creating a white settler colony.

The two submitted a plan to carve out 7,000 farms of about 6,000 acres each. Fortunately, this idea was overruled from above. The Colonial Office instead accepted its South African High Commissioner’s conclusion that: “As to the country north of the Molopo River it appears to me that we have no interest in it, except as a road to the interior. I would suggest, therefore, that we should confine ourselves to preventing that part of the Protectorate being occupied by either Filibusters or Foreign powers, doing, for present, as little as possible in the way of administration or settlement. The Chiefs; Gatziziba [Gaseitsiwe], Sechele and Khama, might be left to govern their own tribes in their own fashion, and their offer of lands to Her Majesty’s Government ...should be refused.”

It was therefore decided that the British presence north of the Molopo would be limited to occasional police patrols to “protect Sechele’s country and the country neighbouring to Shoshong.” This circumstance suited the Batswana who were reported to have an “utter distaste for the rule or control of the white man.”

On the 30th of September 1885, what was by then British Bechuanaland was administratively divided by the Molopo River. The merafe located south of the river, who now lived in the shadow of white settlers, became part of the Crown Colony of British Bechuanaland, which in 1895 was incorporated into the Cape Colony.