The Bakgatla Baga Mmanaana (Part 5)

Sechele fortitude and accompanying bravado during the weekend long truce between the Batswana and Boers at Dimawe was underpinned by a formidable arsenal.

By 1849 the Boers were already claiming that the Bakwena alone had 500 guns and a cannon. Over the years, a number of people have taken Livingston’s rejoinder that his flock only had five guns and a cooking pot at face value. Yet, from Livingston’s own private papers, as well other accounts, it is clear that the Batswana defenders at Dimawe were in possession hundreds of guns. It is also all but certain that Sechele did deploy his cannon. Besides his boasting of it to Scholtz, we have Chapman’s subsequent diary passage referring to his discussions with Sechele about the battle.