The Establishment Of The Protectorate (Part 10) � �Khama And Rhodes�
Jeff Ramsay | Monday August 3, 2015 16:29
These same sovereign powers are echoed today in our country’s Constitution, which in paragraph 86 defines Parliament’s authority as follows: “Subject to the provisions of this Constitution, Parliament shall have power to make laws for the peace, order and good government of Botswana.”
The wording of paragraph 86 is thus reflective of a formal shift of sovereign authority from the High Commissioner in South Africa, as the delegated representative of the British Crown (i.e. “Mmamosadinyana”), to the people of Botswana through their elected representative.
As was also previously noted, the British Government’s legal claim to sovereignty over Botswana between 1891 and 1966 was legally justified in the context Bramestone’s “Memorandum as to the Jurisdiction and Administrative Powers of a European State holding Protectorates in Africa,” which had explicitly defined Bechuanaland as:
“An uncivilized territory to which Europeans resort in greater or less numbers, and where, inasmuch as the native rulers of the territory are incapable of maintaining peace, order and good government among Europeans, the protecting Power maintains courts, police and other institutions for the control, safety and benefit of its own subjects and of the natives.”
In other words, notwithstanding enduring popular myths about the origins and nature of the Protectorate, for 75 years Britain’s self-proclaimed right to rule over Botswana was legally justified not as an initiative to protect Batswana from the Boers or any other external threat, but rather to protect any and all Europeans from Batswana! Mmamosadinyana’s representatives had thus appropriated “unfettered and unlimited power to legislate for the government of and administration of justice among the native tribes in the Bechuanaland Protectorate.”
To assure that Batswana accepted the new colonial order the territory’s Administrator, Shippard, immediately set about expanding the presence of the paramilitary Bechuanaland Border Police (BBP) north of the Molopo River; beginning with the stationing of the “K Troop” in what is now the “Village” section of Gaborone to specifically watch over the southern Dikgosi.
Earlier, in keeping with his leading role as Cecil Rhodes’ point man in the region, Shippard had formally notified only one local kgosi of the Rhodes-ian British South Africa Company’s (BSAC) Royal Charter. In a letter addressed to Khama dated the 16th of December 1889 he wrote:
“The British South Africa Company has received from Her Majesty most extensive powers not only over the whole Bechuanaland Protectorate, but up to the Chobe and Zambesi Rivers and far beyond...
“The powers of the Company include all mercantile operations, digging for precious stones and minerals, the raising, equipment, and maintenance of armed forces for preserving order and protecting the territories included in the Company’s Charter, and many other rights and privileges. The Company will not interfere in any way with your rights and powers in the Government of your country and people, and Mr. Rhodes hopes to have your support and assistance in his great work of carrying the blessings of civilization not only into Matebeleland and Mashonaland [Zimbabwe], but, in due time and with God’s blessing, throughout the interior of Africa.”
In his 1st of January 1890 reply to Shippard, Khama stated that: “I trust I may always be found ready to give all the help in my power to open the interior to the blessings of God’s Book, and all the blessings which the English people have brought to me and my people, and to help the English Government in every way in which I gave my promise to you at Kopong to be ready to do.”
Khama’s letter to Cecil Rhodes of the same date went further by specifically offering Bangwato support in any war against the Amandebele.
Consciously or not, the Phuti had already assisted Rhodes by detaining a number of Bulawayo bound individuals who opposed BSAC interests. This led to an international incident in July 1888 when his men attacked a party of Boers leading to the death of a certain Piet Grobler, who had been commissioned to serve as Pretoria’s envoy to Amandebele.
In further communications, Khama had also urged the Balozi and Batonga to follow his example by signing agreements with Rhodes’ agents; which would subsequently become the basis of BSAC rule over “Northern Rhodesia” (Zambia).
From 1890 Khama’s new capital at Palapye served as a forward base for BSAC expansion into central Africa. This culminated in 1893, when Khama led 1760 armed men, alongside 815 BBP against the Amandebele. Altogether, at least two thirds of the force mobilised against the Amandebele ruler Lobengula came from the Protectorate
In a desperate effort to avoid a fight he knew was futile Lobengula had sent two groups of messengers to beg for peace from the High Commissioner. But, both parties were killed en route by Shippard’s police. Lobegula’s downfall, however, also marked the beginning of Khama’s own conflict with Rhodes.