Racial Discrimination in Colonial Botswana: 1946–1965

Abstract

Using primary sources from the Botswana National Archives and Records Services, this paper argues that racial discrimination in colonial Botswana was inextricably linked to the race relations existent within its neighbours, particularly South Africa and the then Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe), respectively. These countries had a substantial number of settlers who, by and large, were associated with segregationist policies and racial dominance. It further argues against the conception that Botswana did not have forms of discrimination because the number of settlers existent in the territory was negligible compared to that of its neighbours. Called upon to give evidence of the existence (or the lack thereof), of racial prejudice the local inhabitants in colonial Botswana provided ample evidence to confirm its existence, the paper argues.

Key words:

• racial discrimination
• preferential treatment
• separate
• segregation
• colour prejudice
• race
• Africans
• Europeans

Notes

1. For details on the Roman Empire and its relations with north Africa see M.L. King, Western Civilization: A Social and Cultural History (Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2006), 168–173; also W.H. McNeil, A World History (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1979), 92–101.

2. For details of the slaves and slave trade see P.D. Curtain, The Atlantic Slave Trade: A Census (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1969); E.A. Alpers, Ivory and Slaves: Patterns of International Trade in East Central Africa to the 19th Century (Madison: Berkeley, 1969); also see E. Isichei, History of West Africa (London & Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1977), 6. Here Isichei explains why the Europeans preferred Africans instead of native Indians of North America or white indentured servants.

3. For details of colonialism see A. Memmi, The Colonizer and the Colonized (Boston: Beacon Press, 1967), Ch. 1. Also see F. Fanon, Black Skin White Masks (New York: Grove Press, 1967).

4. On the issue of the distribution of land in Kenya and how it affected Africans see F. Furedi, The MauMau War In Perspective (Nairobi: Heinemann Kenya, 1990), 4–13, 23–37; also T. Kanogo, Squatters and the Roots of MauMau, 1905–63 (London & Nairobi: James Currey & East African Educational, 1987), 8–9, 179–181.

5. See I. Mlambo, Rhodesia: The Struggle for a Birthright (London: Hurst, 1972). Also see R. Palmer, Land and Racial Discrimination in Southern Rhodesia (Berkeley & Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1977).

6. For South Africa and racial segregation see H. Adam, Modernizing Racial Domination: South Africa's Political Dynamics (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1971); T.D. Moodie, The Rise of Afrikanerdom: Power, Apartheid, and the Afrikaner Civil Religion (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1975); G. Gerhart, By Right of Race: The Evolution of Black Power Politics in South Africa, 1934–1976 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1977), H.F. Bourne, Blacks and Whites in South Africa: An Account of the Past Treatment and Present Condition of South African Under British and Boer Control (London: P.S. King & Son, 1900).

7. Q.K.J. Masire, Very Brave or Very Foolish: Memoirs of an African Diplomat, ed. S. Lewis Jr (Gaborone: Macmillan, 2006), Ch. 5. In this chapter Masire does not only describe his experiences with racism in the B.P. but also attributes its existence to South Africa as a sizable number of South African settlers had businesses in colonial Botswana. Also see J.D. Omer-Cooper, A History of Southern Africa (London: Phillip, Currey & Heinemann, 1989), 258–259. Cooper discusses how South Africa with its well-known racist laws opposed multiracialism in colonial Botswana as it saw it as an example which preached that blacks should be equal to the whites; K. Shillington, History of Southern Africa (Essex: Longman, 1987), 168–169. Again Shillington describes how South Africa was paranoid about the proliferation of its race relations and therefore saw developments of potential multi-racialism as a challenge to its apartheid laws and wanted it nipped in the bud: E. Munger, Economic Hostages of South Africa (London: Oxford University Press, 1965).

8. See J.B. Rampa, ‘Euro-African Relations and Attempts at Incorporation’ (BA Research Essay, University of Botswana and Swaziland, 1978); see also O. Selolwane, ‘Attempts at Incorporation of the BP into the Union of South Africa’ (BA Research Essay, University of Botswana and Swaziland, 1978).

9. See Q.N. Parsons, T. Henderson, and T. Tlou, Seretse Khama (Gaborone: MacMillan & The Botswana Society, 1994).

10. M. Dutfield, Marriage of Inconvenience: The Persecution of Ruth and Seretse Khama (London: Unwin Hyman, 1990).

11. S. Williams, Colour Bar: The Triumph of Seretse Khama and His Nation (London: Penguin Books, 2006).

12. M. Benson, Tshekedi Khama (London: Faber & Faber, 1960).

13. D. Wylie, A Little God: The Twilight of Patriarchy in a Southern African Chiefdom (New Haven, Hanover & London: University Press of New England, 1990).

14. M. Crowder, The Flogging of Phineas McIntosh: A Tale of Colonial Folly and Justice, Bechuanaland, 1933 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1988).

15. C.J. Makgala, ‘A Survey of Race Relations in Botswana, 1800–1966’, Botswana Notes and Records, 36 (2005), pp. 11–23.

16. For details on the formation and aims of the Advisory Councils in the Bechuanaland protectorate see K. Manungo, ‘The Formation of the Native Advisory Council’ (BA Research Essay, University of Botswana and Swaziland, 1977; later published in Pula: Journal of African Studies, 13, 1&2 (1999): pp. 26–29); also see M. Hulela, ‘The European Advisory Council’ (BA Research Essay, University of Botswana and Swaziland, 1978), and more recently, M.M.M. Boalaane, ‘The Formation of Advisory Councils’, in P.T. Mgadla and B.T. Mokopakgosi, eds, Forty Years On: Essays in Celebration of Botswana's Forty Years of Independence (Gaborone: Department of Information Services, 2008), pp. 77–79.

17. Botswana National Archives and Records Services, Gaborone (Hereafter BNARS) S260/1, Colour Bar: Discrimination Within the Empire: Minutes of the 27th Session of the African Advisory Council, 25th April – 4th May 1946, pp. 8–25.

18. Botswana National Archives and Records Services, Gaborone (Hereafter BNARS) S260/1, Colour Bar: Discrimination Within the Empire: Minutes of the 27th Session of the African Advisory Council, 25th April – 4th May 1946, pp. 8–25.

19. Botswana National Archives and Records Services, Gaborone (Hereafter BNARS) S260/1, Colour Bar: Discrimination Within the Empire: Minutes of the 27th Session of the African Advisory Council, 25th April – 4th May 1946, pp. 8–25.

20. Botswana National Archives and Records Services, Gaborone (Hereafter BNARS) S260/1, Colour Bar: Discrimination Within the Empire: Minutes of the 27th Session of the African Advisory Council, 25th April – 4th May 1946, pp. 8–25.

21. Botswana National Archives and Records Services, Gaborone (Hereafter BNARS) S260/1, Colour Bar: Discrimination Within the Empire: Minutes of the 27th Session of the African Advisory Council, 25th April – 4th May 1946, pp. 8–25.: The Chairperson of the African Advisory council, the Resident Commissioner, providing a summary of the deliberations on racial discrimination in the Bechuanaland Protectorate. In his rather lengthy rendition he gave the example of the Batswana discriminating against the Basarwa because they were considered to belong to a lower social and economic status in relation to the Batswana.

22. Botswana National Archives and Records Services, Gaborone (Hereafter BNARS) S260/1, Colour Bar: Discrimination Within the Empire: Minutes of the 27th Session of the African Advisory Council, 25th April – 4th May 1946, pp. 8–25.: The Chairperson of the African Advisory council, the Resident Commissioner, providing a summary of the deliberations on racial discrimination in the Bechuanaland Protectorate. In his rather lengthy rendition he gave the example of the Batswana discriminating against the Basarwa because they were considered to belong to a lower social and economic status in relation to the Batswana.: Northern Rhodesia's pattern of land distribution was similar to that of colonial Botswana where Africans were not allowed to acquire land in Crown land but Europeans could be allowed to utilise land in ‘tribal’ owned areas. In short acquisition or occupation of land in Crown Land was discriminatory based on race. Also see BNARS S260/1 Color Bar discrimination, District Commissioner's Office, Ghanzi to Government Secretary, 4th August, 1947. The District Commissioner (DC) was justifying why the Highlands of Kenya and the Northern Rhodesia High Veldt were supposed to be reserved for Europeans only.

23. BNARS S 260/1 Color Discrimination Description of examples of racial discrimination regarding land ownership and acquisition in colonial Ghana in 1946.

24. BNARS S 260/1 Color Discrimination Description of examples of racial discrimination regarding land ownership and acquisition in colonial Ghana in 1946, Memorandum of legislation Involving Discrimination, p. 5.

25. BNARS S 260/1 Color Discrimination Description of examples of racial discrimination regarding land ownership and acquisition in colonial Ghana in 1946, Confidential report marked ‘discrimination on grounds of Colour – Swaziland, p. 5.

26. BNARS S 260/1 Color Discrimination Description of examples of racial discrimination regarding land ownership and acquisition in colonial Ghana in 1946, Confidential report marked ‘discrimination on grounds of Colour – Swaziland, p. 5.

27. BNARS S 260/1 Color Discrimination Description of examples of racial discrimination regarding land ownership and acquisition in colonial Ghana in 1946, Confidential report marked ‘discrimination on grounds of Colour – Swaziland, p. 5. For more information on racial discrimination in Mozambique see J.M. Penvenne, African Worker and Colonial Racism: Mozambican Strategies and Struggles in Lourenco Marques, 1877–1962 (Portsmouth, Johannesburg & London: Heinemann, Witwatersrand University Press, James Currey, 1995).

28. BNARS S 260/1 Color Discrimination Description of examples of racial discrimination regarding land ownership and acquisition in colonial Ghana in 1946, Confidential report marked ‘discrimination on grounds of Colour – Swaziland, p. 5. For more information on racial discrimination in Mozambique see J.M. Penvenne, African Worker and Colonial Racism: Mozambican Strategies and Struggles in Lourenco Marques, 1877–1962 (Portsmouth, Johannesburg & London: Heinemann, Witwatersrand University Press, James Currey, 1995). Discrimination on Color or Race – Basotoland.

29. BNARS S 260/1 Color Discrimination Description of examples of racial discrimination regarding land ownership and acquisition in colonial Ghana in 1946, Confidential report marked ‘discrimination on grounds of Colour – Swaziland, p. 5. For more information on racial discrimination in Mozambique see J.M. Penvenne, African Worker and Colonial Racism: Mozambican Strategies and Struggles in Lourenco Marques, 1877–1962 (Portsmouth, Johannesburg & London: Heinemann, Witwatersrand University Press, James Currey, 1995). Discrimination on Color or Race – Basotoland, p. 3.

30. For details on the decolonisation process, see B.T. Mokopakgosi, ‘The 1965 Self-Government Elections and the Transfer of Power in the Bechuanaland Protectorate’, South African Historical Journal, 60, 1 (2008), 85–86. In this article Mokopakgosi provides further reasons why Britain thought it prudent to decolonise at this particular juncture.

31. See P. Fawcus with the collaboration of A. Tibury, Botswana: The Road To Independence (Gaborone: Pula Press & the Botswana Society, 2000), 36; 53; see also R.K.K. Molefi, ‘From Joint Advisory Council to Legislative Council’, in Mgadla and Mokopakgosi, Forty Years On, 101–103.

32. See P. Fawcus with the collaboration of A. Tibury, Botswana: The Road To Independence (Gaborone: Pula Press & the Botswana Society, 2000), 36; 53; see also R.K.K. Molefi, ‘From Joint Advisory Council to Legislative Council’, in Mgadla and Mokopakgosi, Forty Years On, 56.

33. See P. Fawcus with the collaboration of A. Tibury, Botswana: The Road To Independence (Gaborone: Pula Press & the Botswana Society, 2000), 36; 53; see also R.K.K. Molefi, ‘From Joint Advisory Council to Legislative Council’, in Mgadla and Mokopakgosi, Forty Years On, 56.

34. See P. Fawcus with the collaboration of A. Tibury, Botswana: The Road To Independence (Gaborone: Pula Press & the Botswana Society, 2000), 36; 53; see also R.K.K. Molefi, ‘From Joint Advisory Council to Legislative Council’, in Mgadla and Mokopakgosi, Forty Years On, 56.

35. BNARS, Botswana BNB 263 M.L.A. Kgasa and Tshekedi Khama addressing the Session of the African Advisory Council in 1952. Both statesmen demanded that they be given permission to form the Legislative Council just like other countries of West Africa, Northern Rhodesia and Central Africa had done.

36. Fawcus, Botswana: Road to Independence, 46.

37. BNARS S/260/1, confidential Despatch entitled ‘Different Treatment by Race in the Laws of British Colonial territories’ signed by Alan Lennox Boyd to all colonial governors, 23rd January 1956. It should be noted that Mr G.H. Baxter of the Commonwealth Relations Office in London had earlier (1950) brought this issue in Parliament. See BNARS S/260/1 Colour Bar: Discrimination Within the British Empire, G.H. Baxter, to E. Baring, 1950.

38. BNARS S/260/1, confidential Despatch entitled ‘Different Treatment by Race in the Laws of British Colonial territories’ signed by Alan Lennox Boyd to all colonial governors, 23rd January 1956. It should be noted that Mr G.H. Baxter of the Commonwealth Relations Office in London had earlier (1950) brought this issue in Parliament. See BNARS S/260/1 Colour Bar: Discrimination Within the British Empire, G.H. Baxter, to E. Baring, 1950, 77–78.

39. BNAR S S 523/8 Accommodation for Africans at Hotels, G.E. Nettleton to W.A.N. Clark, Director of Public Works, 23rd June 1950.

40. BNAR S S 523/8 Accommodation for Africans at Hotels, G.E. Nettleton to W.A.N. Clark, Director of Public Works, 23rd June 1950.

41. BNAR S S 523/8 Accommodation for Africans at Hotels, G.E. Nettleton to W.A.N. Clark, Director of Public Works, 23rd June 1950, 8. In colonial Botswana a young white man who had the penchant for harassing young women in an African village was flogged by an African Kgosi, an event that not only caused an uproar among colonial officials, but also outraged white settlers in neighbouring countries. For details of this incident see M. Crowder, The Flogging of Phineas MacIntosh (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1988).

42. BNARs, S523/8, Judicial and Penal Systems, East and Central Africa, p.8.

43. Seretse Khama's marriage to an English woman is well publicised. Several books have been published about this unusual, if not restricted, event. See Parson, Henderson, and Tlou, Seretse Khama; Duffy, A Marriage of Incovenience; S. Williams, Color Bar. Also see B. Shephard, Kitty and the Prince (Johannesburg & Cape Town: Jonathan Ball, 2003).

44. For details of the promulgation of the Immorality Act of 1927 in South Africa see: http://en.widpedia.org/wiki/Immorality_Act,_1927 [accessed 20 October 2013]. See also G. Gerhart, Black Power in South Africa (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1977), p. 85; J. Dugard, Human Rights and the South African Legal Order (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1978), 69–71.

45. BNARS, S 523/8, Judicial and Penal Systems, East and Central Africa, pp. 9, 25.

46. BNARS, S 523/8, Judicial and Penal Systems, East and Central Africa, pp. 47. Also Molefi, ‘From the Joint Advisory Council to the Legislative council’, in Mgadla and Mokopakgosi, Forty Years On, 101–103; see also Makgala, ‘A Survey of Race Relations in Botswana’.

47. P. Fawcus, with the collaboration of A. Tilbury, Botswana: The Road to Independence (Gaborone: Pula Press, 2000), p. 53.

48. R. Dale, ‘A Tale of Two Cities: Mafikeng and Gaberones,’ SAPIA: Journal of Public Administration, 4, 2 (1969), p. 133.

49. BNARS S 260/1 Colour Bar: Discrimination within the Empire: memorandum of legislation Involving Racial Discrimination under sub-heading ‘Representation of Legislative Councils’, p. 12.

50. BNARS S 260/1 Colour Bar: Discrimination within the Empire: memorandum of legislation Involving Racial Discrimination under sub-heading ‘Representation of Legislative Councils’, p. 12.

51. Fawcus, Botswana: Road to Independence, 69.

52. BNARS S 260/1/1 United Nations General Assembly, Eighteenth Session, agenda Item 43, Resolution adopted by the general Assembly, November 21, 1963.

53. BNARS, Botswana National Biographies 632 Bechuanaland Protectorate, Legislative Council: Report of the Select Committee on racial Discrimination, p. 1.

54. BNARS, Botswana National Biographies 632 Bechuanaland Protectorate, Legislative Council: Report of the Select Committee on racial Discrimination, p. 1; the Committee met nine times, starting on 26 July 1962. It met for the second time on 23 November 1962 to hear oral evidence on discrimination from the local residents of the protectorate.

55. BNARS, Botswana National Biographies 632 Bechuanaland Protectorate, Legislative Council: Report of the Select Committee on racial Discrimination, p. 1; the Committee met nine times, starting on 26 July 1962. It met for the second time on 23 November 1962 to hear oral evidence on discrimination from the local residents of the protectorate, p.3.

56. BNARS, Botswana National Biographies 632 Bechuanaland Protectorate, Legislative Council: Report of the Select Committee on racial Discrimination, p. 1; the Committee met nine times, starting on 26 July 1962. It met for the second time on 23 November 1962 to hear oral evidence on discrimination from the local residents of the protectorate, p.2.

57. BNARS, Botswana National Biographies 632 Bechuanaland Protectorate, Legislative Council: Report of the Select Committee on racial Discrimination, p. 1; the Committee met nine times, starting on 26 July 1962. It met for the second time on 23 November 1962 to hear oral evidence on discrimination from the local residents of the protectorate, p.2.

58. BNARS, Botswana National Biographies 632 Bechuanaland Protectorate, Legislative Council: Report of the Select Committee on racial Discrimination, p. 1; the Committee met nine times, starting on 26 July 1962. It met for the second time on 23 November 1962 to hear oral evidence on discrimination from the local residents of the protectorate, p.2.

59. BNAR S260/1 Color Bar.

60. BNARS Botswana National Biographies 632 Report of the Select Committee of the Legislative Council, p. 6.

61. BNARS Botswana National Biographies 632 Report of the Select Committee of the Legislative Council, p. 6.

62. BNARS Botswana National Biographies 632 Report of the Select Committee of the Legislative Council, p. 6. The Committee tried to justify the preferential treatment in the hospitals by arguing that there was a shortage of doctors and that those that were available were overwhelmed by the numbers of the people they had to serve.

63. BNARS Botswana National Biographies 632 Report of the Select Committee of the Legislative Council, p. 9.

64. BNARS Botswana National Biographies 632 Report of the Select Committee of the Legislative Council, p. 10.

65. For the Structure and Operations of the Northern Rhodesia Board see BNARS CAP. 223: Northern Rhodesia: Race Relations (Advisory and Conciliation) Chapter 223 of the Laws, Lusaka, Government Printer, 1957.

66. BNARS, Racial Discrimination, Select Committee, provision of Reserved Powers Against Racial Discrimination, 9th March, 1964.

67. BNARS, Racial Discrimination, Select Committee, provision of Reserved Powers Against Racial Discrimination, 9th March, 1964.

68. BNARS, Racial Discrimination, Select Committee, provision of Reserved Powers Against Racial Discrimination, 9th March, 1964.

69. BNARS, Racial Discrimination, Select Committee, provision of Reserved Powers Against Racial Discrimination, 9th March, 1964. The fear that Mr Allison talked about was not altogether without merit; Europeans genuinely feared victimisation if such a legislation was in place.

70. BNARS, Racial Discrimination, Select Committee, provision of Reserved Powers Against Racial Discrimination, 9th March, 1964. The fear that Mr Allison talked about was not altogether without merit; Europeans genuinely feared victimisation if such a legislation was in place. Masire speaking to the Legco and conceding to the position of the Europeans who did not want such a Bill to be passed.