Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

Seretse Khama was born heir to the Bangwato throne on July 1, 1921 in Serowe village, capital of the Bangwato in the British colony of Bechuanaland (now Botswana). The Bangwato were the largest ethnic group in the country, and Seretse was the grandson of Kgosikgosi (King) Khama III of the Bangwato. His father, Sekgoma Khama, died when Seretse was only 4 years old, and his uncle, Tshekedi Khama, acted as regent until Seretse finished his education before he could ascend to the throne.Khama spent his early years in the royal household, beginning his primary education at Khama Memorial School in 1929. He also learned traditional outdoor skills like tending cattle and horse riding. From 1931 onwards, Khama was educated in South Africa at the missionary-run interracial Lovedale Institution in the Eastern Cape and at Tiger Kloof, Vryburg; he was active in sports, studied music, and was a prefect.In 1941, the year he matriculated, Khama was a senior prefect at Lovedale and played a critical role in pacifying a student strike. Around this time, he showed a growing political awareness, resenting South Africa's racial segregation and discrimination. In Bechuanaland, too, he was opposed to racial and ethnic discrimination: here, discrimination was practiced in trading stores, in public places, and in trains. Khama clashed with a white station master at Palapye, and in his summer holidays of ... log in or subscribe to read full text