The Conspiracy

But I also want you to be aware that this does not just affect me, but you all as well, all the Chieftainships of the Northern and Southern Protectorate, and of the Union. Help! Help! Help! Our land and nation are going”- “Your elder brother” Kgosi Sebele II to Kgosi Tshekedi Khama, Mahikeng 10 June 1931, being the day of Sebele’s final departure for Ghanzi.

Previously, we noted that at the time of his 1929 appointment as the Resident Commissioner of the Bechuanaland Protectorate, Charles Ferdinand Rey was already determined to radically reduce the powers of local dikgosi, as a prelude to the territory’s anticipated transfer into the Union of South Africa.