All presidents and VPs were/are southerners.

The ignorance often displayed by supposedly well informed people in Botswana can be quite astounding. I am not a regular follower of events surrounding the ruling Botswana Democratic Party's (BDP's) current leadership succession battle, but I occassionally come across the debate in the press. Some "prominent" BDP leaders have suggested that Vice President Mokgweetsi Masisi deserves to succeed President Ian Khama because unlike Khama, Masisi is a southerner.

I have no interest in which BDP leader succeeds Ian Khama. What I am concerned about is that all presidents, starting from Seretse Khama to the current president, his son Ian Khama, were/are southerners. While Masisi may be coming from a place that is more "South" than Khama's place of origin, the two men nevertheless both come from the Southern half of our republic. Cynics may even characterise them as both coming from the infamous South-East quadrant of the republic.
The 22 degrees South latitude cuts Botswana into roughly two HALVES, one to the north, and the other to the south. For clarity, we are talking about the line of latitude that passes just south of Bobonong, Selibe Phikwe, Serule, Xara, Khwee, Gyom/Molapo, and forms our country's "elbow" that nudges Namibia on our western border with that country.

The 22 degrees latitude not only divides our country into halves, but has a huge historical significance. I had occassion to live with my grandfather who was a politically concious young man in 1885, when the British colonisers established that line of latitude as the Northern boundary of Bechuanaland Protectorate. Grandfather maintained, right up to his death in the sixties, that the boundary between Kalangas and Tswanas was around Serule/Motloutse rivers. I was never able to verify the truth or otherwise of Grandfather's assertion during his lifetime. However I have since come across a map showing British possessions in South Africa in 1885. You can "google" it. That map clearly shows that the said 22 degrees latitude was the northern boundary of Bechuanaland Protectorate in 1885.

A few conclusions can be drawn from the said map.

• In 1885 there was no Bamangwato authority north of  Serule, because the Bamangwato Chief Khama iii was by then a British subject, and yet there was no British possession north of Serule. This is not to say there were no Bangwato north of Serule. Bangwato north of Serule, just like the other Kalanga tribes, had their own leaders who owed allegience to  the supreme Kalanga Mambo. 
• The establishment of the "Bamangwato tribal Territory" was entirely a British imposed action upon the Babirwa, whose territory, according to the said map, is clearly marked as "Matebeleland; Makalaka country".
• There were no tribal territories. A tribal IDENTITY was no more than a work-group designation inherited from the Anunnaki. It had no territorial significance whatsoever.

The language we Kalangas call Tjirwa, now called Setswana, was among the many languages spoken by the Mambo's subjects. There were other equaly and even more widespread languages: Venda; Khwee; Subiya; TjiYeyi; Mbukushu; Nambdza; Lilima; Shona; Nguni. The British imposed Setswana chiefs, and NOT Setswana language, on non-Setswana speaking peoples. It was Seretse Khama who imposed Setswana language on non-Setswana speaking peoples, after the British granted us "Independence".

The bottom line is that all Botswana's presidents and Vice presidents since Independence, including Seretse Khama have been from the SOUTH of the Republic. The irony of it is that these presidents and their VPs led a party whose electoral strength lies mostly in the NORTH of the Republic. Talk of brain-washing!