The Rod Of Moleta

An example is Motswaledi-Kgosi Sebego I (regency 1825 – 1844) of the Bangwaketse who was certainly one of Southern Africa’s most formidable early 19th-century military leaders. While consistent with the general popular neglect of pre-colonial Botswana based history, Sebego’s relative anonymity amongst this region’s past who’s who is certainly not due to any dearth of historical evidence about his deeds on, or for that matter off, the battlefield.

This is especially true of Sebego’s audacious storming of Sebetwane’s fortified settlement at Dithubaruba on August 28, 1826. Key aspects of his week-long military campaign leading up to the final assault were detailed in the diaries of an ivory trader named Andrew Geddes Bain, who had accompanied Sebego, as well as in surviving Sengwaketse accounts and additional contemporary references. The Bain diaries were, moreover, published by the Van Riebeeck Society back in 1949.