The establishment of the protectorate (part 4) Warren at Molepolole

In our last instalment on the 1884 imposition of British authority, we noted that by May 1886 a Land Commission chaired by Rhodes close associate Sidney Shippard, had robbed the Batswana living south of the Molopo of 92% of their land.

Shippard, who became known to Batswana as “Morena Maaka” (“Lord of Lies”), was then appointed as Bechuanaland’s Administrator.

The Colonial Office foreclosed the possibility of a linkup between German South-West Africa and the Transvaal Boers in an Order-in-Council dated 27th of January 1885, which extended the Bechuanaland Protectorate north of the Molopo to include the southern Botswana up to the 22nd parallel of south latitude.

Editor's Comment
Batswana need to do better to stop FMD

It is a clear signal that the government’s purse is empty and that our own behaviour has left veterinary officials fighting with one hand tied behind their backs. We have been here before. During COVID-19, many of us thought we knew better. We ignored simple rules, we carried on as if the danger was someone else’s problem, and the virus took lives and left our economy on its knees. We are still broke from that experience. Yet now, with FMD...

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