Xenophobia among Batswana must go now :: Mmegi Online

The centerpiece of literacy as a cultural value and practice as the gateway to global awareness and to global travel rather than merely for local leisure consumption is seen in Khama III and other Batswana chiefs valuing reading and writing both in their native tongues and in English.

It is no wonder that in 1905 there were 1,000 Batswana in primary and secondary school according to Professor Lone Ketsitlile, a BIUST Professor and Mogae Institute research associate. It is no wonder that literacy and the globalism it encouraged was a family cultural value Khama III passed down to his wives and to his descendants.

It is no accident but within the tradition of family values that Khama III’s grandson, the future first President Sir Seretse Khama, found himself as a rare African studying at Oxford in the late 1940s and 1950s and was cosmopolitan and independent enough to marry a non-African which caused such a fervor amongst racist whites and traditional blacks, including members of his own family.

Already have an active account? Log in here.

Or Sign up and get unlimited access to premium articles.