This author woke up early this morning to the sad news of the passing of Professor Lydia Nyathi-Saleshando (formerly Ramahobo), who in life earned her place amongst Botswana’s historic figures for her effective leadership in the struggle for culture, including linguistic and political recognition of non-Setswana ethnic communities.
She achieved this as a highly respected academic but, more fundamentally, as a key founder and activist of Reteng Multicultural Coalition and Kamanakao Association.
Her advocacy incorporated international outreach at the UN and elsewhere alongside domestic grassroots organising and lobbying.
The late Professor’s academic rise included obtaining her Master’s and PhD degrees in Applied Linguistics at the University of Pennsylvania [this author’s alma mater].
She became the dean at the Faculty of Education and deputy vice-chancellor for student affairs at the University of Botswana. She is the author of numerous scholarly articles, chapters and books focusing on education and ethno-linguistic empowerment.
In her leadership of the Kamanakao Association, the late Nyathi-Saleshando followed in the footsteps of such post-World War II "separatists" as Samotsoko Moeti, Saundo Chombo, and Motsamai Mpho.
Background
The Wayeyi, whose ancestors migrated from southern Zambia no later than the 18th century, constitute the largest ethnic group in Ngamiland. Originally, they lived in scattered homesteads, under local traditional authorities. When the Batawana settled in Ngamiland in the 19th century, the Wayeyi were initially unable to resist these less numerous, but militarily more powerful, by the 1840s gun wielding, state-builders. The Batawana evolved the system of botlhanka, or bolata, which subordinated many Wayeyi, depriving them of such rights as owning or inheriting property, defending themselves in kgotla, and even exercising authority over their children.
Some Wayeyi were partially assimilated as so-called “Makuba”, a pejorative term the Batawana generally applied to the Wayeyi. Though originally fishing people and agriculturists, many Wayeyi became stockholders.
In the 1930s, they were also encouraged to settle in larger, Setswana-type villages along the edge of the Okavango Delta, with many being recruited by WNLA as migrant labourers in the South African mines.
After World War II, an outspoken Wayeyi minority advocated separatism as a way of elevating their status. In 1948, they petitioned the British for rights to their own dikgotla, land use without having to pay rent or labour, and property inheritance.
The Wayeyi were granted their own dikgotla, but the Batawana claimed that botlhanka had ceased to exist and rejected the other demands.
The separatists continued to agitate for reform, including establishing a Wayeyi reserve with their own “chief.” When local government reforms were implemented in the late 1960s, many separatists' grievances were resolved. But tensions between Wayeyi and Batawana remained.
In the 1990s, a new generation of Wayeyi activists formed the Kamanakao Association to revive the separatist agenda and install their own chief. May her soul rest in eternal peace!
