28 Jan 2025

"Where flowers bloom, so does hope,” Claudia Lady Bird Johnson, the former First Lady of the United States of America once said, an apt description of the light shone upon Botswana society by the life of Dr Gaositwe Chiepe. 

Born into a society conversant with the cultural outlook of ‘Ga di etelelwe ke manamagadi pele’ (the flock is not to be led by the female); into a world where Western democracies denied women the vote, she went on to overcome such limits and break barriers for Botswana society. 

She would inspire hope as a ‘woman of many firsts’ and open doors for many others who came after. 

Part of a generation of national pioneers who laid the foundation for Botswana’s democracy and post-independence economic resurgence, Dr Chiepe has engraved her name into the annals of the nation’s political history. 

“Even if she was male, even if she had been born anywhere else in the world, hers would still be an exemplary life,” historian Dr Jeff Ramsay told BOPA. 

“Dr Chiepe broke the mould, and what she achieved, as an honest politician, public servant and diplomat is model for all to aspire to emulate.” 

Born on October 20, 1922 in Serowe, Dr Chiepe was the daughter of a London Missionary Society (LMS) preacher, Moruti Tibe Chiepe and his wife, ST Chiepe, who was from the Sebina family also in Serowe. 

Excelling in education from an early age in Serowe, Dr  Chiepe went on to study at Tiger Kloof in South Africa, having been one of the first commoners from Bechuanaland Protectorate’s Ngwato Reserve (later known as the Central District after Botswana’s independence) to gain a scholarship. 

At Tiger Kloof she became the best student and prefect, then proceeded to Fort Hare University, where she studied for a Bachelor’s Degree of Science in Zoology and Botany and a Post-Graduate Diploma in Education. 

In 1958, she graduated from the University of Bristol in the UK with a Master’s Degree. 

“She became one of the first two indigenous Africans to be appointed to a senior administrative position by the colonial government, and rose to the rank of becoming the Director of Education after independence. 

She laid the foundation for post-colonial education, as the government became more involved in education,” Dr Ramsay revealed. 

She was the only female envoy when she joined the diplomatic service as Botswana’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom from the Commonwealth of Nations based in London in 1970. 

She became a Minister of various portfolios, Commerce and Industry (1974-77) and Mines and Natural Resources (1977-1984), Foreign Affairs (1984-1994) and Education (1994-1999). 

She actively participated in the Lome Convention trade accords with the European Economic Commission (EEC; now European Union) for trade between Africa and Europe, and in discussions on Botswana’s diamond mineral partnership with De Beers. 

As the Minister of Foreign Affairs during the volatile 1980s period where Botswana was one of the Frontline States in the neighbourhood of apartheid South Africa, Dr Chiepe famously went to the United Nations to appeal against the country being terrorised by apartheid South Africa, in the aftermath of the Gaborone raid of June 14, 1985. 

“After the Gaborone raid, which targeted exiled ANC members, and killed 12 people, among them South African exiles and Batswana, Dr Chiepe made a clarion call to the UN to take collective action against the apartheid state. 

She also partook in the UN negotiations for the independence of Namibia, in the late 1980s,” Dr Ramsay noted. 

As the region became more stable with Namibia’s 1990s independence and South Africa emerging as a democracy in 1994, Dr Chiepe became the Minister of Education, coming full circle by completing her half century of civil service in the portfolio where she had started as a civil servant. 

“It was a period of the expansion of the community junior secondary schools and the implementation of parts of the Revised National Policy on Education (RNPE), in the aftermath of the Kedikilwe Commission,” Dr Ramsay recalled. 

“She retired in 1999 having served with distinction, a very polite lady, who nonetheless pushed the boundaries, set her goals and achieved them,” Dr Ramsay reminisced. 

Now aged 102, Dr Chiepe has passed on, and as the nation prepares to bid farewell in the funeral now scheduled for Saturday, Dr Ramsay says the nation could best reflect on how to best honour her memory. 

“We have male figures in our national currency, such as the founding President Sir Seretse Khama and composer of the national anthem, KT Motsete. 

The only lady appears on the P200 note, and is anonymous; perhaps we could have Dr Chiepe there to signify that we have had such an iconic woman contribute to our early nationhood,” Dr Ramsay said.  A devout Christian and member of the United Congregational Church of Southern Africa (UCCSA), Dr Chiepe served her local congregation, Trinity, and the broader UCCSA in various roles over the years; as well as the Girl Guides movement. 

She leaves a lasting legacy as a national hero, one of the independence era pioneers who laid a solid foundation for modern Botswana; the rose among the thorns of that generation, a flower that blossomed to inspire others. ENDS