Heritage buildings destroyed at old Sekgoma Hospital
Thalefang Charles | Friday May 12, 2017 12:07
The old Sekgoma Memorial Hospital’s monumental main building has been destroyed as part of an ongoing refurbishment exercise meant to build a clinic at the old hospital. This is part of a Ministry of Health and Wellness project to utilise the dilapidated buildings that were abandoned when the new P300 million state of the art hospital was first opened in 2007.
The “refurbishment project” did not take into consideration the heritage value that the old main building has in the history of Serowe, Bangwato and Botswana. The relics have been completely defaced.
The project manager at the ministry’s headquarters in Gaborone, Jaya Chindra told Mmegi this week that the ongoing refurbishment is just “minor structural adjustment to the old buildings and nothing drastic”.
He said the project was approved in the 2009-2010 financial year but due to lack of funds, it only began recently. Chindra said although he was not part of the initial planning exercise, he believes there were some consultations conducted with stakeholders, as is the norm.
But surprisingly, in Serowe no one knows about consultations to destroy the old buildings – not even the very interested heritage protectors at the village museum. On Saturday the Khama III Memorial Museum curator, Scobie Lekhutile, was shell shocked to discover the level of destruction made by the supposedly “minor refurbishments” at the site.
Lekhutile was on a Bangwato Heritage Trail guiding the media practitioners who had a World Press Freedom Day retreat at Serowe. He was stunned to discover that the historical main building, originally completed in 1928, has been completely defaced and destroyed beyond recognition.
It is clear from the destruction that the builders did not consider any heritage value of the building when they worked on the construction of the clinic.
“This is what development is doing to our heritage. Most developers do not value our history and they do not really care about these old but very important structures,” a visibly distraught Lekhutile told visiting media.
At the site, it appears construction started with the high heritage value building before touching the lesser value and relatively newer structures.
According to Lekhutile, this is not the first time that a rich heritage value building has been destroyed in Serowe. A few years ago, the Central District Council (CDC) completely demolished the pre-independence Resident Commissioner’s house. The house was home to Colonel Jules Ellenberger who was the Resident Commissioner of the Bechuanaland Protectorate from 1923 to 1927.
In 2015 President Ian Khama pleaded with the Serowe community to stop the habit of destroying old buildings. Khama said this when officially opening Sekgoma II’s refurbished house at the Serowe main kgotla on December 23.
“You have made a big mistake by demolishing the Colonial Resident’s Commissioner’s House. It must never happen again. You must preserve these buildings because they are our national heritage,” Khama advised.
Hardly two years after Khama’s caution and advice on the preservation of relic buildings, central government through the Ministry of Health has destroyed arguably the building with the most sentimental value in Serowe. Nearly 75% Serowe residents were born at the old Sekgoma Hospital, including Botswana’s third president, Festus Mogae. It is one of the first modern health facilities in the country and the story of how it was built is a significant historical account.
How Sekgoma Hospital was built
In 1925 the Prince of Wales who later became King George VI visited the dusty impoverished village of Serowe. The Prince unveiled Khama III’s tombstone, the first ever white marble tombstone of a Botswana kgosi, and when he left Serowe, Bangwato contributed to give the future King a mohago (provision for the journey back) of 700 Pounds.
Humbled by the gift from such impoverished Africans from a poor, dusty village, the Prince refused to accept the gift and offered to top it up by 300 Pounds and let Kgosi Sekgoma II and his morafe use the money on something that would benefit them all.
The Prince’s gesture was warmly welcomed and it was decided that the contributions would be used to build a health facility in the village. A few days later, Kgosi Sekgoma II died suddenly – some people attributed his death to the fatigue suffering during the laborious preparations for Prince’s visit – leaving his infant son Seretse Khama as the heir to the throne.
The hospital was however built and completed around 1928. It was fittingly named Sekgoma Memorial Hospital after the departed kgosi. The main building had a placard stone inscribed: “This stone was laid and this building dedicated to the welfare of his father’s people by the chief’s infant son and heir Seretse October 1928” (sic).
This week the contractor was scrambling around searching for the placard stone after Mmegi inquired about its whereabouts.