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Abstract
When the government of Botswana introduced the country's Pula currency in 1976 there had been significant involvement of the public in coming up with the name for the currency. A public debate also took place regarding which national symbols were to appear in the new currency. While these issues are fairly well known in the history of Botswana, no attention has been given to a brief but important debate raised by the historian Neil Parsons in early 1975 about the inappropriateness of the shield that appears in the national coat of arms, and was most likely to appear in the new currency. Parsons argued that the shield was of Zulu origin and not Tswana, and he was supported by the president of the opposition Botswana National Front (BNF) and former chief of the Bangwaketse, Bathoen Gaseitsiwe. This paper brings to light and assesses Parsons' debate.
[M]ay I appeal to the designers of the new coin not to make the same mistake as on the country's coat of arms, where a Zulu rather than a Tswana type of shield is used. Neil Parsons (3 January 1975)
[M]ay I appeal to the designers of the new coin not to make the same mistake as on the country's coat of arms, where a Zulu rather than a Tswana type of shield is used. Neil Parsons (3 January 1975)
Notes
1. B.C. Muzorewa, ‘The Development of the Money Economy and Analysis of the Monetary and Financial System in the Republic of Botswana’ (MPhil thesis, University of Leeds, 1976), 173–194.
2. C.J. Makgala, ‘The Historical and Politico-cultural Significance of Botswana's Pula Currency’, Pula: Botswana Journal of African Studies, 22, 1 (2008), 41–55.
3. G. Winstanley, Under Two Flags in Africa: Recollections of a British Administrator in Bechuanaland and Botswana (Kelvedon: Blackwater Books, 2000) and Q.K.J. Masire, Very Brave or Very Foolish: Memoirs of an African Democrat (Gaborone: Macmillan, 2006), 81.
4. Email communication from Janet Hermans, 2 October 2013.
5. Email communication from Janet Hermans, 2 October 2013. On the role of these officials on the development of Botswana see P. Fawcus and A. Tilbury, Botswana: Road to Independence (Gaborone: Pula Press, 2000) and L. Lekone, ‘The Career and Murder of Sir Russell England in Botswana, 1926–1970’, (BA essay, University of Botswana, 2008). For more information on what the flag and coat of arms depicted see Makgala, ‘Historical and Politico-cultural Significance of Botswana's Pula Currency’.
6. O.K. Dingake, Unearthing the Hidden Treasure: The Untold Story of Gobe Matenge (Gaborone: Medi, 2011), 136.
7. O.K. Dingake, Unearthing the Hidden Treasure: The Untold Story of Gobe Matenge (Gaborone: Medi, 2011), 136.
8. O.K. Dingake, Unearthing the Hidden Treasure: The Untold Story of Gobe Matenge (Gaborone: Medi, 2011), 136.
9. O.K. Dingake, Unearthing the Hidden Treasure: The Untold Story of Gobe Matenge (Gaborone: Medi, 2011), 137.
10. Email communication from Janet Hermans, 2 October 2013.
11. Dingake. Unearthing the Hidden Treasure, 136–137.
12. Masire, Very Brave or Very Foolish, 80–81.
13. Email communication from George Winstanley, 21 October 2013. Also see Winstanley, Under Two Flags in Africa, 235–236.
14. On the introduction of free education see Mogopodi H. Lekorwe, ‘The Kgotla and the Freedom Square: One-Way or Two-Way Communication’, in J. Holm and P. Molutsi, eds, Democracy in Botswana (Gaborone: Botswana Society & Macmillan, 1989), 223.
15. R. Vengroff, Botswana: Rural Development in the Shadow of Apartheid (Cransbury, NJ: Associated University Press, 1977), 88–89.
16. For example see C.J. Makgala's review of Masire's memoirs in the Botswana Notes and Records, 44 (2012), 248.
17. Republic of Botswana, A Monetary System for Botswana (Gaborone: Government Printer, 1975), 5.
18. Masire, Very Brave or Very Foolish, 81.
19. O. Mogadime, ‘Prayer for “Pula” Or More Money’, Botswana Daily News, (Gaborone), 3 March 1975.
20. For more information see Makgala, ‘The Historical and Politico-cultural Significance of Botswana's Pula Currency’, and C.J. Makgala, ‘Public Debates on Foreign Exchange Policy in Botswana, 1976–2005’, Botswana Journal of Business, 2, 2 (2007), 57–69.
21. See N.Q. Parsons, ‘King Khama III, The Bangwato and the British, with Special Reference to 1895–1923’ (PhD thesis, University of Edinburgh, 1973).
22. N. Parsons, ‘Don't Confuse “Thebe” With that Zulu Shield’, Botswana Daily News, 3 January 1975.
23. Personal Communication with Professor Fred Morton, 12 September 2013.
24. R.H. Pahl, ‘Authorities Differ on Shape of Tswana Thebe’, Botswana Daily News, 17 January 1975.
25. Pahl, ‘Authorities Differ’.
26. B.S. Gaseitsiwe (MP for Kanye), ‘Oval Thebe has Zulu Origin’, Botswana Daily News, 31 January 1975.
27. See C.J. Makgala, History of the Bakgatla-baga-Kgafela in Botswana and South Africa (Pretoria: Crink, 2009), 58–61.
28. For these poems see I. Schapera, Praise Poems of Tswana Chiefs (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1965).
29. See A.J. Wookey, ed., Dinwao Leha Ele Dipolelo Kaga Dico tsa Satswana (Kuruman: LMS Printing Press, 1913).
30. Gaseitsiwe, ‘Oval Thebe has Zulu Origin’.
31. N. Parsons, ‘Discussion of Thebe’, Botswana Daily News, 2 April 1975.
32. Neil Parsons, A New History of Southern Africa: Second Edition (London: Macmillan, 1993).
33. Parsons, ‘Discussion on Thebe’.
34. Email communication with Janet Hermans, 2 October 2013.
35. K. Shillington, Luka Jantjie: Resistance Hero of the South African Frontier (London, New York & Johannesburg: Palgrave Macmillan, Wits University Press, 2011), 25.
36. Masire, Very Brave or Very Foolish, 53.
37. Personal communication with Professor Brian Mokopakgosi, 12 September 2013.
38. Email communication from George Winstanley, 21 October 2013.
39. S.M. Molema, Chief Moroka: His Life, His Times, His Country and His People (Cape Town: Acacia, 1951).
40. Email communication with John Aldridge, 25 September 2013.
41. N. Parsons, ‘Why Wipe Out History: NO Country has a Perfect Name’, The Botswana Gazette, 6 February 2002.
42. N. Parsons, ‘Sparkling Botswana’, Mmegi, 15 February 2008.
43. See Makgala, ‘Nation-Building and Debates on “Perfect” Country Name: An Appraisal of Letters to Newspapers in Botswana, 1981 and 2002’, Botswana Notes and Records, 40 (2008), 88–99.