Three Dikgosi Monument

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Three Dikgosi Monument
3 Kgosis Monument Image in Gaborone1.jpeg
Three Dikgosi Monument
24°38′41″S25°54′26″E / 24.64486°S 25.90735°E / -24.64486; 25.90735
Type Statue
Material Bronze
HeightEach statue is 5.4 meters (18 ft), however the entire monument is 7 meters (23 ft).
Opening date29 September 2005

The Three Dikgosi Monument is a bronze sculpture located in the Central Business District of Gaborone, Botswana. The statues depict three dikgosi, or tribal chiefs: Khama III, Sebele I, and Bathoen I. The three dikgosi played important roles in Botswana's independence. In 1895, the three men traveled to Great Britain to ask Joseph Chamberlain, Secretary of State for the Colonies, and Queen Victoria to separate the Bechuanaland Protectorate from Cecil Rhodes's British South Africa Company and Southern Rhodesia. Permission was then granted which made Botswana under direct British rule until its independence. There are six plinths giving information about Botswana's independence and struggles. A large coat of arms is featured in front of the three statues. A contract was given to North Korean company Mansudae Overseas Projects to build the monument, which resulted in disappointment from local sculptors. Some minority ethnic groups in Botswana see it as a decree of Motswana dominance.

Contents

Background and planning

The three dikgosi were dubbed "Founders of the Nation" by the government-owned Kutlwano Magazine at the time of Botswana's independence in 1966. Over the following decades they were adopted as "icons of unitary nationalism advocating renewed independence". [1] In 1990, the House of Chiefs proposed that they be commemorated in a public monument. Funds were allocated for a statue in the 1997–98 budget and an advisory committee was appointed to determine the statue's location, but construction was delayed due to objections from planning officials. [2]

In 2001, a site in Gaborone's Main Mall was nominated by the advisory committee, but eventually rejected in favour of a site in the new Central Business District to the north-west of the Main Mall. Further funds were allotted in 2003 and a request for tender was published, with four proposals received. An unsuccessful proposal put forward by local sculptor Masilonyana Radinoga showed " the three kings gesticulating and consulting among themselves". [2]

Construction

As an attempt to secure more allies after the Korean War, North Korea was in support of most African nationalist movements during post-World War II. The first president of Botswana, Sir Seretse Khama, visited Pyongyang ten years after the start of diplomatic ties in 1976. The bid of Mansudae Overseas Projects, an international subdivision of a Pyongyang art institute, was accepted for the construction of the monument. [3] Local sculptors expressed disappointment about giving the project to Mansudae. [4] The monument was inaugurated on 29 September 2005 by Festus Mogae, the president of Botswana at the time. [4] The day the monument was opened, 800 visitors came. [4] [5]

Some minority ethnic groups in Botswana saw the construction of this monument as a proclamation of Motswana dominance. [6] Batsani Ndaba, a Kalanga and chair of the Society for Promotion of Ikalanga Language, stated that the journey of the three digkosi was only of significance to their own tribes and there was "nothing for minorities to celebrate about the three chiefs going to England". [2]

Description

Left: Kgosi Sebele I; Center: Kgosi Bathoen I; Right: Kgosi Khama II. The three dikgosi featured on the monument. Dikgosis on the 3 dikgosi monument.jpg
Left: Kgosi Sebele I; Center: Kgosi Bathoen I; Right: Kgosi Khama II. The three dikgosi featured on the monument.

The monument features 5.4-meter (18 ft) tall bronze statues of three dikgosi, or chiefs, who played important roles in Botswana's independence: Khama III, Sebele I, and Bathoen I. [4] However, the entire monument is 7 meters (23 ft) high. [5] The three chiefs traveled to Great Britain in 1895 to ask Joseph Chamberlain, Secretary of State for the Colonies, and Queen Victoria to separate the Bechuanaland Protectorate from Cecil Rhodes 's British South Africa Company and Southern Rhodesia. Permission was granted and meant that Botswana remained under direct British rule until independence in 1965. [7] [8] Botswana's coat of arms is displayed in front of the three statues. [9]

Six inscribed plinths are located at the feet of the statues, each of which describes a different period in the history of Botswana from the early 19th century up until its independence in 1966. The plinths describe a history starting in the Mfecane period, with Batswana kingdoms expanding from an influx of refugees from wars in southern Africa. The subsequent plinths go on to describe a period from the 1830s to 1880s in which the dikgosi resisted invasion from the Ndebele and Boer people, the dikgosi's request to Queen Victoria for protection of the Bechuanaland Protectorate from the British South Africa Company in 1895, the period of extreme poverty suffered by the Protectorate in the first three decades of the 20th century, Botswana's participation in World War II fighting alongside the Allied Powers, and finally Botswana's independence from Britain, declared in 1966. This last plinth is inscribed with the following statements: "[Botswana's] political independence from Britain was achieved in 1966. The process of nation building and development commences." [4]

Despite the monument's existence, according to Phillip Segadika from the Botswana National Museum, there is no specific independence monument. [10]

See also

Related Research Articles

The history of Botswana encompasses the region's ancient and tribal history, its colonisation as the Bechuanaland Protectorate, and the present-day Republic of Botswana. The first modern humans to inhabit Botswana were the San people, and agriculture first developed approximately 2,300 years ago. The first Bantu peoples arrived c. 200 CE, and the first Tswana people arrived about 200 years later. The Tswana people split into various tribes over the following thousand years as migrations within the region continued, culminating in the Difaqane in the late 18th century. European contact first occurred in 1816, which led to the Christianization of the region.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Politics of Botswana</span>

Botswana is a parliamentary republic in which the President of Botswana is both head of state and head of government. The nation's politics are based heavily on British parliamentary politics and on traditional Batswana chiefdom. The legislature is made up of the unicameral National Assembly and the advisory body of tribal chiefs, the Ntlo ya Dikgosi. The National Assembly chooses the president, but once in office the president has significant authority over the legislature with only limited separation of powers. The Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) rules as a dominant party; while elections are considered free and fair by observers, the BDP has controlled the National Assembly since independence. Political opposition often exists between factions in the BDP rather than through separate parties, though several opposition parties exist and regularly hold a small number of seats in the National Assembly.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gaborone</span> Capital and the largest city of Botswana

Gaborone is the capital and largest city of Botswana with a population of 246,325 based on the 2022 census, about 10% of the total population of Botswana. Its agglomeration is home to 421,907 inhabitants at the 2011 census. Gaborone has per capita income of US$32,000 (PPP), the highest in Africa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Khama III</span> King (Kgosi) of the Bangwato people of central Botswana (r. 1875–1923)

Khama III, referred to by missionaries as Khama the Good also called Khama the Great, was the Kgosi of the Bangwato people.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Seretse Khama</span> First President of Botswana (1921–1980)

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bechuanaland Protectorate</span> British protectorate in southern Africa; became Botswana in 1966

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sebele I</span> King (kgosi) of the Tswana Kwena tribe (r. 1892–1911)

Sebele I was a chief (kgosi) of the Kwena —a major Tswana tribe (morafe) in modern-day Botswana— who ruled from 1892 until his death in 1911. During his lifetime, he resisted the 1885 Bechuanaland Protectorate as well as the control of his domains by Cecil Rhodes' British South African Company, which was administering, by a royal charter signed in October 1889, his homeland in the Bechuanaland Protectorate and other regions of Central Africa.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bathoen I</span> Kgosi of the Bangwaketse

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The following lists events that happened during the 1960s in Botswana, beginning with its independence on 30 September 1966.

References

  1. ↑ Parsons, Neil (2007). "Unravelling History and Cultural Heritage in Botswana". Journal of Southern African Studies. 32 (4): 679. doi:10.1080/03057070600995350.
  2. 1 2 3 Parsons 2006, p. 680.
  3. ↑ Breuker, Remco; van Gardingen, Imke (2018). "North Korean Forced Labour on a Global Scale" (PDF). People for Profit. Contributors: Blinka, Jan. Blom, Britt. Boonen, Marte. Boonstra, Klara. Brandse, Rosa. van den Herik, Larissa. van der Hoog, Tycho. Meurs, Marieke. Ryngaert, Cedric. Stewart, Shannon. van der Veere, Anoma. Leiden, Netherlands: 86–89. ISBN   978-90-826167-1-2. OCLC   1051240896. Archived (PDF) from the original on 10 February 2024.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Seretse, Gasebalwe (17 October 2008). "Monuments worth visiting". Mmegi . Archived from the original on 20 November 2011. Retrieved 2 July 2024.
  5. 1 2 Segwai, Keto (28 July 2006). "Botswana: Three Dikgosi in Waiting" . Mmegi . Archived from the original on 3 July 2018. Retrieved 2 July 2024– via allAfrica.
  6. ↑ Gulbrandsen, Ørnulf (March 2012). "Chapter 1: The Development of Tswana Merafe and the Arrival of Christianity and Colonialism". The State and the Social: State Formation in Botswana and Its Pre-Colonial and Colonial Genealogies. New York City: Berghahn Books. p. 29. ISBN   9780857452979. LCCN   2011037469 . Retrieved 22 June 2012– via Google Books.
  7. ↑ Parsons, Neil (1998). King Khama, Emperor Joe and the Great White Queen: Victorian Britain through African Eyes . University of Chicago Press. p. Back cover. ISBN   9780226647456 – via archive.org.
  8. ↑ "Botswana country profile". BBC. 11 April 2011. Archived from the original on 7 March 2021. Retrieved 5 July 2024.
  9. ↑ Gaotlhobogwe, Monkagedi (3 October 2005). "Botswana: 'Dikgosi' Monument Becomes Instant Attraction". Mmegi . Archived from the original on 3 July 2024. Retrieved 3 July 2024– via allAfrica.
  10. ↑ Charles, Thalefang (8 October 2021). "#BOT55 in search of the Independence Monument" . Mmegi . Archived from the original on 27 October 2021. Retrieved 2 July 2024.
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