15 May 2014

As was suggested by the decisive outcome of the 1884 battle at Khutiyabasadi, the pre-colonial emergence of an indigenous gun culture in Botswana was a determining factor in our country’s separate colonial and thus post-colonial destiny.

Possession of guns, accompanied by a rapid adoption of new military tactics for their use, played a key role in the reformation of local merafe during the mid-19th century, which in turn enabled them to resist additional, repeated threats from the Boers as well as the Amandebele.

Defensive state formation in south-east Botswana further resulted in a considerable population influx from the Transvaal, permanently altering the region’s demography. An 1857 visitor to the Bakwena capital Dithubaruba, William Baldwin, thus observed that:

“The Kaffirs bring all sorts of things to the wagon to trade, but charge very high, and principally want powder, lead and (firing) caps. They reckon the Kaffirs here amount to 20 000; and Sechele himself lives on the top of a huge berg, with kraals all around in every direction. They are an independent lot of Kaffirs, and have no end of guns.”

Having never been disarmed, during the colonial era Batswana of the Protectorate, like their Basotho cousins, thus had the distinction of being referred to by Europeans in general as “tribes with guns.”

This heritage of firearms as is well reflected in Setswana praise poetry, where guns often appear as symbolic markers as well as material instruments of power. The following verse celebrates an incident during a 7th of January 1853 engagement at Mosite between Barolong and Boers, where Mococe Marumo aMakgetla wounded Andries Pretorius:

“Mogale wa pitse e tshweu ga bonwe, Moetapele wa masaropo o jele mmu, O phamotswe ke phamole ya ga Marumo, A mo isa bogwera bo iwang ke Masweu le Bantsho. Nnoi o a lele, ere a lela matlho a gagwe a kwano, ebile o futsa nkwe ya losika loo Makgetla, O futsa phamole e testsweng ke Marumo, A re setlhodi sele se re jetsa banna, sa tlhoga sa re baya ka boswagadi.” [“The hero of the white horse is nowhere to be seen, the leader of the white troops has licked the dust; He has been snatched by the eagle of Marumo and is initiated into colour-blind mysteries. His lady is in tears, but her eyes look away, as she curses the tiger of the Makgetla breed, curses the eagle that is born of Marumo, says that monster has eaten up our husbands, and condemned us to dismal widowhood.”]

Popular legend of Mococo’s shot is supported by the fact that the already ailing Pretorius passed away on 23rd July 1853; albeit the cause of his death was not attributed to gunshot.

Local praise poems also underscore the fact that the story of guns has been as much about their quality as quantity. Khama III is thus been remembered: “Keene mogale yoosanneng isong, yoerileng tshaba diphuthegile, diphuthegile diya kgonnye, asale asekaseka ditlhobolo; atlhopha tsedimafulo athata, atlhopha  bobjane le bobautu[He is the hero who does not sit by the fire, who when the tribes came together, came together and went to fetch wood, remained behind and examined the rifles; he picked out those for shooting far, he picked out carbines [i.e. bojane - “short ones”] and breechloaders [bautu - “with bolts”].”

In July 1876, just a decade after their battlefield superiority over muzzleloaders was demonstrated by Bismarck’s forces at the Battle of Koniggratz (Sadowa); the acquisition of breechloaders by Sechele is credited with enabling Bakwena to gain the upper hand in a battle on the outskirts of Molepolole against a combined force of Linchwe’s Bakgatla bagaKgafela and Gaborone’s Batlokwa.

Thereafter, possession of breechloaders was a common and critical factor in subsequent Batswana success against the Boers and Amandebele.  Among Linchwe’s own praise poems one thus finds reference to the use of Martini-Henry rifles against the Boers in 1899:

“Mekgakwana borranko-emoriti ntona tsaga Makopye aLekgoa; obafudile kamartini, mokgatla kamartini, Mokgatla wagaKgafela.” [“Red faced people with jutting noses, lieutenants of the white man (Harklass Malan); the Bakgatla fired on them with Martini, with Martini, the Mokgatla of Kgafela.]
 

Batswana were also quick to incorporate armed cavalry into their military formations, such as Moremi’s horsemen at Khutiyabasadi.    But, even before the introduction of breechloaders, Botswana was transformed by the introduction of improved rifles and shot.  Sechele also acquired a ‘6 pounder’ cannon, which was deployed against the Boers in 1852, 1883 and 1899.

The military and consequent political significance of firearms to the evolution of nineteenth-century Botswana is paralleled by the social and environmental impact of their use in hunting.

The acquisition of guns was both a cause and consequence of a surge in the region’s hunting trade from the 1840s; involving the export of ivory, caresses and ostrich feathers from hunting grounds largely falling under the effective control of the Dikgosi of Kweneng, Gammangwato, Gangewaketse and Gatawana. (to be continued). Ends