Inside Seretse’s secret

Friday, September 27, 2024 | 1580 Views |

Legacy unlocked: Khama guided the country through the discovery of diamonds to the enduring policies that have made the country an economic miracle. In the picture, Khama, De Beers chairman, Harry Oppenheimer and De Beers Resident Director, Louis Nchindo officiate at the opening ceremony of Orapa Mine in 1970 PIC: NATIONAL ARCHIVES & RECORDS

As the British Protectorate flag rolled down from the poles of dusty and poor Bechuanaland in the dusk of September 29, 1966, a handful of people held an iron-clad secret that could have damned the nation’s prospects of independence from the protectorate arrangement. These individuals were led by Sir Seretse Khama who knew a secret that would define the economy of Botswana, TIMOTHY LEWANIKA writes.

Botswana’s independence was given on a silver platter, without a single stone thrown or the tiniest drop of bloodshed.

Candidly speaking, the British must have seen it as good riddance to finally let go of a colony that was a barren investment in the eyes of many; a colony in abject poverty with little to no natural resources. As was British policy back then, colonies were to serve as a fortune booster for the United Kingdom and Botswana was far from satisfying this criteria, at least from what met the eye.

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