Tribal Values in Botswana

Abstract

HERE ARE EIGHT TRIBES in Botswana, nine if you count the Bakalagadi, who have been considered rather second-rate citizens, but are now on the up. If you count the northern tribes who were conquered by the powerful Bamangwato, there are still more. But the eight main tribes are the real Batswana, though some have been detribalized and live rather unhappily in the towns and villages along the railway line. But remember, not all urban Batswana are non-tribal. Going to Gaberones, the administrative capital, I constantly meet my fellow tribes-people in all kinds of places, from domestic service to top administration, and one starts ten up in trust and friendship. I myself am a Mokgatla; I would like to make it clear that I have talked over my conclusions, first of all with my Chief, but also with others of the tribe, both young and old; my knowledge of proverbs comes entirely from Amos Kgamanyane Pilane, who has made so much else clear to me. My own tribe has for long taken the lead in many matters; our level of literacy is about twice the national average. But we are a comparatively small tribe (about 32,000); this is because the boundary between Botswana and the Republic of South Africa cuts right across the Bakgatla, separating families, who are now, as Mr. Vorster draws his net tighter, finding it increasingly difficult to see one another or to help one another in sudden emergencies. Nor have we any outlet to the west where, lately, there has been rather better grazing. What I have to say about tribal structure applies mostly to my own tribe, but in principle to others. The Batswana are essentially a peaceful people, some say too peacefulthey were driven out of better lands both by Mzilikazi and by the Boers; but when they had to, they fought with vigor and intelligence. But so many of the proverbs, the diane which express Tswana custom and feeling, say explicitly that argument and discussion is better than fighting and quarreling; it is only in self-defense that you have to take action.