Inside Seretse’s secret :: Mmegi Online

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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Inside Seretse’s secret

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