Francistown history in exhibition

WANETSHA MOSINYI
Correspondent | Wednesday July 18, 2007 00:00

 

Kamogelo Mapila, a curator at the museum, revealed to showbiz that they had been receiving numerous requests for the history of Francistown to be exhibited.  He said the exhibition should last until the end of the year unless there is another major exhibition at the museum.

The exhibition starts with pictures and information about how one million years ago, Homo Erectus, lived next to the Tati and Ntshe rivers.  'They probably followed the rivers to Nyangabgwe, although none of their stone hand axes have been found here,' the exhibition reads.

Next it documents the arrival of Homo Sapiens (modern man), who lived about 200,000 years ago and used stone tools, many of which had been found around Nyangabgwe.  The Late Stone Age who were hunters and gatherers are said to have lived around the area.  'They were probably Khoi-speakers, the ancestors of Basarwa.'

The exhibition then documents the Bantu migration that moved from Central Africa to the south.  'Groups settled along the way, and here they were farmers. When trade began in the area, gold, ivory and animal furs would have been produced in the Nyangabgwe area.'

The history of how the Mutapa and Butua states emerged after the collapse of Great Zimbabwe is also documented followed by them being invaded by the Zulus and the Mambo (King) killed.  

It is said that King Mzilikazi of the Amandebele took over western Butua.  The Bakalanga around Nyangabgwe became Mzilikazi's subjects and had to pay tribute in grain, furs, women and boys.

'After the unsuccessful raid by the impisi on Shoshong in 1863, the Matebele took revenge on the Bakalanga and murdered the Batalaote people.  The other Bakalanga fled to the Boteti or Shoshong, or hid their villages and grain stores in the hills.'

When the Bakalanga returned to their homes after the defeat of the Matebele by the British in 1896  they found that their land had been taken over as mining concessions and ruled by Europeans.

Gold
The majority of the photographs in the exhibition show the mining of gold in the area, which started around 1100 A.D., and more actively between 1250 and 1650.  Many of the mines were abandoned when underground water made further excavations difficult or impossible.

In 1866, Englishman Henry Hartley, hired a geologist Carl Mauch to examine some of the early mines.  The exhibition shows a newspaper article in the Bulawayo Chronicle of April 9, 1954, detailing how Mauch mapped the oldest goldfield in Southern Africa.  King Lobengula is said to have granted mining rights in the area but refused to sell the land.
Prospectors and miners flooded the area.  The first mines to be worked in 1869/70 were at Tati settlement, 30km southeast of what is now Francistown.

Few, if any, of these miners obtained permission from the Matebele to mine, since Lobengula had died, and the Matebele were arguing amongst themselves over succession.

The original owners of the land were the Bakalanga who had lived there for 900 years or more.  They became vassals of the Matebele in 1840 after their own king, Mambo, had been killed.  In 1864 most of Bakalanga left for fear for a Matebele invasion and the area was virtually deserted when the European miners came.

A settlement was established near the Tati and Shashe confluence and there was a considerable flurry of activity at the various mines.  The Tati Mining Concession covered the entire area between Shashe and Ramokgwebane rivers.

Financial difficulties caused London and Limpopo Mining Company (LLMC) to sign the concession over to the Northern Light Gold and exploration Company later to become Tati Concession Mining and Exploration Company Ltd. and then Tati Company.

A mug shot photograph of the grey bearded John Cecil Rhodes is part of the exhibition and in the same poster native workers are labouring it out, constructing the renowned railway line.

A large mining operation was started at the Monarch Reef near the confluence of Tati and Ntshe rivers in 1895 when the railway from Mafikeng to Bulawayo was planned it was decided to pass near Monarch rather than the Tati settlement. The line was part of Rhodes' dream of building a railway from Cape to Cairo and passed south of Nyangabgwe Hill because it was the shortest route to Bulawayo.

Tati Concession had to move its organisation 30 miles from Tati settlement to Monarch station and lay out a new township at the cost of R25, 000.  The settlement, which developed was called Francistown, named after Daniel Francis, one of the founding directors of the Tati Concession, which owned virtually all the land of the settlement.
'Why he was chosen for this honour is not clear.  In fact, little is known about the man who came here as a gold prospector and gave his name to the town.  In about 1890 he retired to England and died in 1920 at the age of 80.'

The town
The exhibition continues to document Francistown with more emphasis on how Tati Company auctioned off 300 freehold stands, which were to form the centre of this new town.  Natives were excluded from bidding, as they were not allowed to own land.
The first commercial enterprises along Haskins Street were the Tati Hotel, opposite the railway station, and the Tati Concessions Limited offices.  There were also several wholesale and retail stores.  Francistown was nonetheless the 'Capital of the North' and apparently quite a rowdy place, with miners drinking to their luck or drowning their sorrow at the Tati Hotel.

During the Anglo-Boer War, there was also a Francistown Defence Force made up entirely of volunteers.  Right from the beginning, separate residential areas were established for 'coloured' people in Satellite Township, and for the 'natives' between the railways and the Tati River.

Before bridges were built, people crossed the 'Inchwe' (Ntshe) River at a drift or used the box-and-cable that was eventually replaced by a suspension bridge.  The Tati Company was in charge of electricity and sanitation and it collected hut taxes and ran the hotel, two stores and a traditional beer, brewery. 

Bluejacket Street was 'the lane at the back'.  Favourite outings, meanwhile, were an afternoon drive to Lady Mary Ranch to see the elephants or a stroll up Nyangabgwe Hill to try to catch a glimpse of the resident leopard.

In 1947, Haskins Street became the first road in the Bechuanaland Protectorate to be tarred.  The occasion was the visit of King George VI, whose royal train stopped in Francistown.  'The King, however, never got off the train.'

Ten years later, Tatitown was created and the African population moved from the east bank to make room for light industry.  At independence in 1966, Francistown ceased to be a company town and it was no longer racially segregated.

The town grew in leaps and bounds whenever times were good. 

In the 1890s, mining and commerce were booming.  In the 1920s and 30s Monarch mine was again in full operation along with 20 smaller mines in the area, but that boom was followed by the global depression and World War II.

From 1936 until about 1980, Francistown was largely sustained by the operations of (Witwatersrand Native Labour Association) WNLA, a company that recruited labour from as far a field as Angola for the South African mines.  The men were transported to and from the mines via Francistown.

Francistown was the main transport centre for the mining industry, sending about 100, 000 foreign miners to the South African mines.  The Francistown railway station and later the airport handled the largest number of passengers outside the urban areas pf South African, and Francistown was the biggest commercial centre in Botswana before independence.

The city
The town has expanded dramatically in recent years as Francistown established itself as a major retail for the north of Botswana and much of Zimbabwe. With one exception (across from the post office) all the multi-storey buildings date from the 1990s.
In 1997, Francistown celebrated its centenary in grand style and was awarded city status.

Although the city has spread farther than early settlers could ever have imagined, there are still recognisable historic landmarks:  Nyangabgwe Hill, St. Patrick's Church, John Mackenzie School, Tati Company houses and shop, Government Camp.

The census figures for Francistown reflect how employment opportunities have steadily drawn rural migrants to the city:  In 1971 there were about 18,610 people and the current population is estimated at around 100,000.