Classroom amnesia

Jeff Ramsay | Monday September 28, 2015 17:35

This time of year it is common for us to be reminded about just how far Botswana has come since 1966 in terms of economic growth and human and social development. At independence our country was indeed ranked among the world’s poorest and least developed societies, with an annual per capita income estimated at about 80 US dollars. This is in part a reflection of the fact that the first decades of colonial occupation coincided with a decline in real incomes.

From 1966-96 Botswana enjoyed the highest economic growth rate in the world. At the same time the country experianced one of the world’s fastest rates of human development as measured by such quality of life indicators as the expanded provision of education and training and improved health and nutrition. Also often cited are such additional facts as the virtual absence to paved roads or other basic infrastructure in a country where less than 70 Batswana had by 1966 acquired any form of post secondary school qualification. 

Given such dire material circumstances, it is perhaps not surprising that less attention is generally paid to what the end of British overrule meant in terms of human rights and the rule of law. 

As “British Protected Persons” prior to the 1960s Batswana quite literally had no protection under British law.  This status was confirmed by a 1909 London Court of Appeal ruling that Sekgoma Letsholathebe had no standing before the court as the High Commissioner’s authority in the Bechuanaland Protectorate was not subject to judicial review in cases involving protected natives.

The deposed Batawana regent had challenged his indefinite detention without charge under the provisions of the 1907 “Expulsion Law”. His lawyers argued in vain that as a British subject he had the basic human right of habeas corpus, that is, the right to know why he had been imprisoned.

Prior to 1966 the deposed Batawana regent was the first of hundreds of Batswana who were detained and/or banished without any charge for varying periods, including such prominent figures as Dikosi Sebele II and Tshekedi Khama, Simon Ratshosa, John Nswazwi, and Gobuamang, as well as Seretse Khama whose banishment is now the subject of a major film production. 

In Botswana, like the rest of Africa, imperialism was ultimately about the negation of the common humanity and thus the human rights of the indigenous population.  The architects of imperialism further understood that denying subject peoples their indigenous past was an effective means of disempowering them. Confirmation of this ugly truth may be found in the page one Introduction of the Official 1965 Bechuanaland Protectorate Handbook, which states:

“Happy is the nation that has no history. By this standard there can be few nations in Africa happier than Bechuanaland, for apart from the inter- and intra-tribal conflicts normal to the African continent before its emergence into modern life and thought, its record is remarkably free of incident of any kind. The Batswana offered an equally friendly reception to missionaries, traders and soldiers alike when they came to offer their various receipts for happiness, and since the British drew a line on the map and said ‘This is Bechuanaland’ they have lived quietly and undemandingly for 70 uneventful years.”

The above passage contextualises the importance of Seretse Khama’s well known, if often misquoted, rejoinder, which he delivered when addressing the 1970 graduation ceremony of the University of Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland:

“We were taught, sometimes in a very positive way, to despise ourselves and our ways of life. We were made to believe that we had no past to speak of, no history to boast of. The past, so far as we were concerned, was just a blank and nothing more...It should now be our intention to try to retrieve what we can of our past.

We should write our own history books, to prove that we did have a past, and that it was a past that was just as worth writing and learning about as any other. We must do this for the simple reason that a nation without a past is a lost nation, and a people without a past are a people without a soul.”

For any community to know where it wishes to go it is necessary for it to appreciate where it has been. By way of metaphor, imagine if you woke up one morning suffering from amnesia. That is, having completely forgotten where you came from and who you are. You would inevitabljy be confused and uncertain as to what to do. As individuals our inner strength draws from our past experience, which further informs our sense of identity.

It is no different for a nation. Yet today our first President’s words continue to seemingly challenge us. Since 1970 hundreds of books have been written about Botswana’s history.

Yet there is little evidence that our children are now being taught in a positive way to believe that Botswana has a shared past to boast of.