An example of theory in practice of the perpetual struggle of the opposites in life? Be that as it may, apparently some Kasane holidaymakers continue to mistake Botswana for the Bechuanaland Protectorate of yore where the expatriate colonial settlers were ruled by one law, Batswana by two laws: one, the native custom and another, the master and servant law. Tshekedi Khama wasn’t au fait with the distinction. His ignorance landed him in a soup when he had young McIntosh flogged Tswana-style, for committing a native offence in a native country when he was not a native!
On the eve of independence in 1965, Seretse Kham who was leader of the Botswana Democratic Party, later proudly renamed Domkrag (carjack in the language of Afrikaner bigots) annoyed one of his white sympathisers when he announced Domkrag policy for independent Botswana, whose constitution would be antithetical to apartheid across the border. “Independent Botswana would scorn apartheid, a policy of racial discrimination, it shall not be tolerated…all shall be equal before the constitution,’’ he is reported to have announced at a Lobatse public rally where he was whipping up ecstasy for the transformative event of independence; unaware he was antagonising potential supporters in the audience. Wild cheers of ‘Tsholetsa Domkrag’ (party slogan) contended with sneers of disapproval…
