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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Bad Chiefs and Sub-Tribes: Aspects of Recruitment for the British Army in the Bechuanaland Protectorate, 1941-42
Author:Jackson, AshleyISNI
Year:1996
Periodical:Botswana Notes and Records (ISSN 0525-5090)
Volume:28
Pages:87-96
Language:English
Notes:biblio. refs.
Geographic terms:Botswana
Great Britain
Southern Africa
Subjects:colonialism
traditional rulers
military recruitment
World War II
Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups)
History and Exploration
Military, Defense and Arms
History, Archaeology
Bechuanaland Protectorate
history
political science
Great Britain. Army
External link:https://www.jstor.org/stable/40980135
Abstract:A number of key reasons account for the loyal support given by the 'dikgosi' (chiefs) of Botswana to the British during the Second World War. In the case of the so-called 'bad chiefs' of Bechuanaland, often in trouble with the British administration for ineffectual rule, troublemaking, drunkenness and sexual misconduct, their encounters with the administration provided additional reasons for supporting recruitment among their people, and even led them to join the army themselves. This was the case of Chief Kgari Sechele of the Kwena and Molefi Pilane of the Kgatla. The third 'bad chief', Chief Moremi III of the Tawana, did not serve in the army, though a company of Batawana men was recruited in his Reserve, known as Ngamiland, and the war years witnessed his fall from grace. Recruitment among subject communities, like the Lete of Gabane and the Kalanga of Bokalaka, could lead to conflict, though in none of the recorded cases did this signify resistance to British rule. Notes, ref.
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