The point has been made by Sechele that he had counted on support from certain Ngwaketse and Kgatla Mmanaana at Dimawe, only to watch them flee at the battle’s onset and leave him stranded. It seems important to get our facts straight if, following Dimawe, we are to believe that Sechele and his “growing number of allies launched retaliatory raids throughout the western Transvaal.” Other Tswana merafe (Rolong, Malete, Tlokwa, Ngwato and Hurutshe) are said to have “joined in the struggle.” And, further a few weeks after Dimawe, Boer emissaries were ‘suing Sechele for peace.” Let’s have a close look at these claims.
Sechele’s actions and whereabouts: In early November 1852, Marico Commandant P.E. Scholtz received word from Sechele requesting peace on condition that Sechele retain his independence and would not recognise the laws of the ZAR (Scholtz to Pretorius 9 November 1852, SA Archives, n 444/fS2). Sechele’s initiative set in motion a series of exchanges that dragged on into December, and eventually led to the return in January of his son Kgari, stolen at Dimawe. But by then Sechele had already embarked on a journey via Kuruman to raise awareness of unprovoked Boer attacks and enslavement of his people, by giving talks in Bloemfontein and Cape Town, where he hoped to embark for England to underscore the ZAR’s violations of the Sand River Convention. Discouraged from continuing by the Special Commissioner Sir George Clark in Cape Town, Sechele returned to Dithubaruba in late April 1853.
