General Sechele�s docrine of war

Richard Moleofe | Friday September 23, 2016 16:03

First, it was the consolidation of his own tribe and next the alliance with other tribes which resulted in the creation of what we can comfortably call the embryonic conception of modern day Botswana.

When he took over power, he was determined to build the essence of loyalty from his tribe because of the experience of his father’s assasination when he was around 12 years of age. At the time, General Sechele could not raise a sufficient number of able-bodied men to secure his entire territory. The reason for this was that after his father’s assassination, several Bakwena subjects were scattered in the entire Kweneng country and beyond.

To augment this serious deficit of manpower, he began to build alliances with the neighbouring tribes such as Bahurutshe of Mangope, Bakgatla of Mosielele, Batlokwa of Bogatsu and Balete of Mokgosi. Bakwena as a tribe were not numerically superior as some historians estimate their population at around 4,000 when he took power. But it was Gen Sechele’s military prowesses that led him to building such an alliance with neighbouring tribes.

I view his actions as extraordinary as he realised that for him to have a superior army, he needed to form alliances. His actions have actually pointed toward the building of modern Botswana as a nation which is basically a conglomeration of various tribes.

Collective security for him was paramount to him and this is why he pursued the principle of unity. No army in the world can win wars if there is no element of cohesion. Unity of force is a key principle of war and that I will discuss further in the next instalment of this column.

Gen Sechele had never been to Sandhurst in the United Kingdom or WestPoint in the United States. His military skills were so sharpened that he applied the same principles of war that Gen Grant did across the Atlantic in America’s war of independence.

We may not view Gen Sechele in that same light, but he was actually fighting a war of independence. By his actions, he paved the way for the birth of independent Botswana. His principle of unity has actually helped us to be what we are today.

It was never going to be easy even for the British colonialists to bring together so many tribes that somewhat enjoyed the full benefits of autonomy. It was not for Gen Sechele to create an endless kingdom. When building his alliances, he was mindful of the consequences of stretching his territory beyond the horizons. In the study of war, when you occupy territory you must be in a position to defend it. Otherwise it is useless to win battles only to relinquish territory thereafter.

Look at what the Ndebeles of Mzilikazi did. They came all the way from south eastern South Africa, which is now present day Mpumalanga and Kwa-Zulu Natal, to defeat tribes here only to abandon territory and move on to Bulawayo. The Ndebeles had superior firepower and this intoxicated them in their quest for conquest. That is why their progeny have nothing to show for their ancestors’ bravery and the manner in which they were winning wars.

The manner in which Gen Sechele conducted war was based on his doctrine that encompassed sustainability. He knew very well that for the size of his army and the civillian population, he could not sustain the replenishment of supplies in far-away places. In actual fact, Sechele had a point because the factor of logistics is always key in  conducting any military campaign.

One of the things I find intriguing about Gen Sechele is his art of diplomacy. I regard diplomacy to be the foundation to any country’s military doctrine. We all know that Gen Sechele’s main supplier of arms was the UCCSA Church, which was the London Missionary Society at the time.

Dr David Livingstone was more than willing to allow the church to be used as a conduit for arms from Scotland. That is why the Boers determined to destroy his Kolobeng Mission Station in his absence.  Scotland was essentially providing muskets and other low-calibre weapons.

But Gen Sechele clearly had a critical need for more effective firepower. For this reason he procured his famous canon from the Germans who were definitely a competing power with Britain in this part of the world.

Gen Sechele pushed his arms deal through the Schulzters who were a resident missionary family. We see here that Gen Sechele conquered the Germans through his art of diplomacy because they would otherwise not just sell a weapon of such calibre to just any African king! The condescending attitude of the West during that time of the Industrial Revolution was not to arm “niggers” because they would stand on their way in their quest for raw materials in Africa. 

Two hundred years later, modern Botswana failed to convince the Germans on their need to buy Leopard 1 tanks, not even one! If Gen Sechele lived in our time, we would have long had a military doctrine which is something BDF is still struggling with.

Military doctrine is a clear roadmap on how any military would conduct operations in the present and future. Gen Sechele being the visionary that he was, he had a clear path of how he was going to conduct military operations. He was not a man who left things to chance. He executed things that were in the details of his plan.

Bakwena and their alliances did not win battles by mere chance. Their plans were a matter of life and death, and their king was responsible for whatever outcome. For that reason, Gen Sechele endured sleepless nights planning with his lieutenants in the war room.