Ntwa Ya Hitler (3) - Passage To Egypt

Batswana ultimately accounted for just over 10,000 men out of the 25,000 who served in the APC, which also included troops drawn from Lesotho and Swaziland.

Officially, the APC was an all-volunteer force. But, for most people the word of the kgosi was law, although a few politicised migrants back from Gauteng refused. Others avoided service by either hiding or migrating to South Africa, where their labour was in heavy demand in the burgeoning wartime industries. In a few areas such dodgers became known as “Maseapitse”, as in those who ran from the horses of the dikgosi.