The 1908-10 Campaign Against Incorporation Into South Africa (Part 6)

At least some of the later party came prepared to press for a firm guarantee that Bechuanaland and the other protectorates would soon become part of the nascent Union.

Also shipped in, however, was a secret dispatch by the commanding officer of British forces in South Africa, General Methuen, “on the subject of the fighting strength and resources of the Basuto.” This report, which was widely circulated among the South African officials as well as within the Colonial Office, must have made for sober reading to any inclined to simply dismiss Basotho, and by extension Batswana and Amaswati, concerns: