Table Of ContentBECH UANALAN D
PAN-AFRICAN OUTPOST OR
BANTU HOMELAND?
r$ OF RACE BELATICINS
'
Q UNIVERSITY PRESS
,
The Institute of Race Relations is an unoficial and
non-political body, founded in 1958 to encourage and
facilitate the study of the relations between races. The
Institute is precluded by the Memorandum and Articles
of its incorporation from expressing an opinion on any
aspect of the relations between races. Any opinions ex-
pressed in this work are therefore not those $ the Institute.
Pan-African Ouyost or
Bantu Homeland?
Issued under the auspices of the
Institute of Race Relations, London
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
LONDON NEW YORK
19 65
Oxford Unioersity Press, Amen ddouse, London E.C.4
CLASGOW hXW YORK TOROhTO MELBOURNE WELLINGTON
BOMBAY CALCUTTA MADRAS KARACHI LAHORE DACCA
CAPE TOWN SALISBURY NAIROBI DADAN ACCRA
KUALA LUMPUR BONG KONG
@ Institute of Race Relations 1965
Printed in Great Britain by R. J. Agoford Ltd., Chichester
CONTENTS
AUTHOR'S PREFACE . . . . . . . . vii
INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . I
I. PEOPLE AND COUNTRYSIDE . . . . 3
TI. GESTATION OF A NATION . . . . . . 10
III. ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT . . . . .. 37
IV. BECHUANALN\JD9SE XTERNAL RELATIONS 76
V. CONCLUSION . . ." . . . . 112
MAP: Bechuanaland . . . ~ . , ." x
CHARTS r
I. Sources of Bechuanaland Govesn-
ment Income . . . . ".
a. Adi-ican Education . . . .
3. Value of Bechuanaland Imports at end
and Exports . . . . . . of book
4. Bechuanas Employed 1950-1g60
5. Bechuanaland Beef and Cattle
'Exports . . . . . . . .
AUTHOR" PREFACE
THEf ield work for this brief account of a corner of modern
Africa was possible only through the assistance of the
Rockefeller Foundation. The writer is also indebted to the
Ford Foundation, the Carnegie Corporation, the Fulbright
Program, the Institute of Current World Affairs, and
the American Universities Field Staff, for directly and
indirectly supporting a dozen previous African field seasons.
Much talk is heard of the truly enormous sums of money
to be dispensed by American 'philanthropoids'. But the
sums they have available to spend are puny beside the
elephantine research tasks and educational programmes
to be undertaken. It is only through hard work, unusual
insight, and courage to risk misjudgment that foundations
are collectively able to be a catalytic force far beyond their
financial resources. Their substantial grants to Mrican
countries, particularly in the field of higher education, are
often in close collaboration with British foundations and
governmental departments; when guided by local African
leadership foundations offer some of the brightest hopes
for a sturdy, economically healthy, and democratic Africa.
The writer is also grateful for the cordial reception and
constructive criticisms he received from Her Majesty's
Commissioner, Mr. Peter Fawcus, and members of his staff
in Bechuanaland. Captain Herbert Bartaune's flights across
the country were of immense value. The friendliness of the
Bechuana people and of their leaders is much appreciated.
Professor I. Schapera, who is without peer in the study of
the African life and history of Bechuanaland, made a
number of cogent and helpful criticisms. The assistance of
Mrs. Gerda Chambers in the preparation and Mrs. Lucille
Lozoya in the typing of this manuscript is gratefully
acknowledged.
v5
Finally, the opinions expressed in this publication are
solely the responsibility of the writer, and are not to be taken
as refiecting the views of the Rockefeller Foundation, the
Institute of Race Relations, or of any Government.
EDWINS . NUNGER
California Institute of Technology.
Pasadena, California
June 1964.
INTRODUCTION
BECHUANALANDon,e of the United Kingdom" three High
Commission Territories in southern Africa, is not only being
born as a nation-it is also becoming a battleground between
the ideology and the armed forces of Pan-Africanism on the
north, and the racial thinking and military establishment of
the Republic of South Africa on the south. Through early
1964, the primary political focus was upon refugees fleeing
the Republic; in most instances, simply passing through the
Protectorate on their way to Dar es Salaam and points
north. But one rather different event to be discussed in
detail in this book is the kidnapping of Kenneth Abrahams,
a Coloured doctor, inside Bechuanaland, and his stab-
sequent release by the South African Government.
The B.P. (as it is known locally) has r,qoo miles of com-
mon frontier with South West Africa. Depending upon
World Court decisions and actions in the United Nations,
this border is a potentially explosive factor in world politics.
Another source of possible political dispute, and of military
action, is the proximity of Bechuanaland to southern Angola,
separated from it only by the eastern half of the thirty-
mile-wide Caprivi Zipfel.
The political future of the three High Commission Terri-
tories is a question mark. Only recently did Great Britain
cease to have her High Commissioner in Pretoria doubling
as the Ambassador to South Africa, and responsible for
Basutoland, Swaziland, and Bechuanaland. In addition,
Prime Minister Vemoerd9s proposal fbr a referendum
in the three territories about association with South &iea
hangs in politically-charged air.
We will discuss the Protectorates and South Africa later,
because they are far more integral a part of South African
Bantu policy than generally realised. A senior South
Mrican oEcia%p ut it candidly to the writer: W em ust show
1 BECHUANALAND
that we can work with the emer.ging AdEican states. If we
were to take over Bechuanaland physically, it would make
a farce of our whole Bantustan policy.'
Judging from the international and continental pressures
involved, the B.P. could simply become a pawn on the
African chessboard or, in another common metaphor,
ground between the stones of black and white nationalism.
But the gestation of a Bechuanaland nation raises the
possibility of the people of that country evolving a policy of
their own, and of playing a significant role in the affairs of
the major African powers.
The words of Seretse Khama to the writer in Lobatsi,
B.P., forecast such a development: 'Our role is not one of
violence. We will achieve our independence without it. Our
mission for Africa will be to demonstrate for our neighbour
South Africa tllat we have a stable African government in
which no man is discriminated against on racial grounds
and in which the living standards of all are being raised.'
Before expanding 011 some of the issues just raised, this
study sketches the demographic and physical background
of Bechuanaland, and traces the significant historical
threads leading to contemporary nation-building. It then
analyses the attitudes of the diverse inhabitants towards
their country and outlines the present and potential eco-
nomic development. Relations between Bechuanaland and
other countries then become meaningful, and lead to some
conclusions.
Description:Bechuar~aland takes its name from many closely-related. Bantu tribes . wards
across the Kalahari from Lobatsi to Ghanzi, the land becomes the t s a m a
melon. It contains .. A second event from which to date an inci~ient Bechuana-.
