SERETSE CASE

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 70, Issue 124, 10 March 1950, Page 3

SERETSE CASE

NEGROES MEET IN LONDON FIGHTING COMMITTEE FORMED (N.Z.P. A..—Copyright) (Rec. 10.25 a.m.) LONDONI', 1 ', March 9. Representatives of 20,000 negroes met behind closed doors in London to-day to protest against the exiling of Seretse Khama, chief-designate of the Bamangwato tribe of Bechuanaland. Reporters were barred from the meeting, which represented every negro organisation in Britain. It was summoned by Mr Joseph Mitchell, secretary of the League of Coloured Peoples. After the meeting the cricketer, Learie Constantine, said he had been appointed chairman of what was to be called the “Seretse Khama Fighting Committee,” which was determined to see that Seretse was returned to his home. A petition would be made to the King. Seretse said to-night that he had applied to the Commonwealth Relations Office - for permission to return to Bamangwato territory. Meanwhile Seretse Khama consulted his legal advisers as the first step in the challenge to the Government’s decision. They are expected to complete their plans in the next two days. Reuter’s Serowe correspondent reports that 14 sub-chiefs of the Bamangwato tribe declared to-day that they would fight the British Government oil Seretse’s return through the highest courts in Britain. They said they would go to the United Nations, if necessaryThese headmen, many of them uncles and cousins of Seretse, are considered the aristocracy of Bamangwato. Some of them hinted that if Britain did not reverse her decision, the tribe might seek the protection of “some other Power.” The sub-chiefs felt that British policy had been influenced by pressure from South Africa and Southern Rhodesia.