Khama: marriage caused uproar

Press, 14 July 1980, Page 6

Khama: marriage caused uproar

NZPA-Reuter Gaborone,, Botswana.; The President of Bots-| wana, Sir Seretse Khama. aged 59, died early yester-l day- ' He had undergone medical j tests in London but flew; home at the beginning of this; i month after doctors said; I there was nothing more they; could do. | Specialists in London said; the President was suffering; from incurable cancer of a vital body organ. Sir Seretse was born to rule his country, but almost lost his birthright because , of love. The son and grandson of ] chiefs of the Bamangwato ■ tribe, was forced to renounce ( his chieftainship and spend . six years in exile in a Lon-u don suburb after marrying al; white Englishwoman, Ruth-‘ ( Williams, in 1948. [1 They had met at a social!.] evening in a colonial!, students’ hostel while he wasp completing his legal studies) in London. Miss Williams < was a 23-year-old confiden-/ tial clerk to a firm of Lloydsi' underwriters. ! :

, They knew their love : would provoke the anger of I his tribe, which could object I to be ruled eventually by a I chief of mixed blood, and Sir [Seretse only wrote to tel! ;them of his wife-to-be 'after the two had decided to ' marry. The opposition of both the ; tribal elders and of the British Government wasj ; such that they had to marry [ iat a registry office in L-m-l don, because many Anglican churches closed their doits to the ceremony. It took years for the storm clouds to pass. But they did. And 18 years late. Seretse became the first President when the British protectorate of Bechuanaland in Southern I Africa became the indeoend-' ent Renublic of Botswana —i and Africa’s thirty-eigth m-| dependent State—on Septem--ber 30, 1966. Ruth became Lady Khama.< They have al girl and three boys, including! twin sons. On October 20, last year,! Sir Seretse’ was sworn in. f-.irl a fourth term, as President.' Since independence, he'

fought tenaciously to retain! his political leadership, but; he did so through the badotl box. . Sir Seretse prided himself; on being the head of a multi-; party parliamentary democ-i racy despite . the country’s! severe economic difficulties) and frequently warned his; people ;of the turmoil that! coups brought to other Afri-j can nations. Seretse Khama, born on

! J July 1. 1921, was the grand-' Json of Khama 111, known as;, :!Khama the Great, who died, ■in 1923 after being chief lorj j 50 years pf the Bamangwatol/tribe, to which more than) ■ i one-third of the country's! /approximately half a million! ;! population belongs. j, ;i Sir Seretse went to the 'Universities of Fort Hare, [and Witwatersrand in South'j Africa, then to Balliol Col-' lege, Oxford, and later to ■

i the Middle Temple in London to complete his studies; in law. His romance with Ruth Williams, their marriage and [his years of exile followed. ; i. In October, 1956. Seretse! I was finally allowed to re[turn from exile in London I with his family after agree-! ; ing to surrender all claims! I to the chieftainship for him-! (self and his heirs. I For a time, Seretse lived; ! quietly in the Bamangwata 1 i territory, then turned gradu-, (ally to politics. i i His aim was to make Botswana a model of a multi-; \ racial State and work for I peaceful change to southern [Africa. ; At the United Nations he dissociated his country from other African States which' advocated violent confrontation with South Africa. I- He said he believed an escalation and extension of 'violence throughout southern' 'Africa, which some other, African States feel is the; only way to end white rule! iin this part of the continent,! I— would damage the 'African States more than the white regime. i