The State and the Social. Ørnulf Gulbrandsen
apparent expressions of civic order was the centrality of the kgotla in the structuring of social life and the settlement pattern, conspicuously manifested in the compact, well-organized royal towns of thousands of people with the royal house at the core (see Gulbrandsen 2007, cf. 1993b). The evangelizing missionaries had already impacted upon these orders for decades before the establishment of the colonial state in 1885. To their engagement with the dikgosi – and the dikgosi with them – we now turn in order to come to terms with their significance.
Strengthening Royal Ancestorhood, Receiving Evangelizing Missionaries and Establishing State Churches
Although the Bakwena, the Bangwaketse and the Bangwato were, at times, riddled by internal conflicts, they succeeded in taking control of many smaller and larger communities, either conquered or hosted. Their respective dynasties had occasionally proved their ability both to stand up to external threats and to force, if necessary, foreign groups into submission. In Tswana thought, royal authority is not only a matter of ascription by virtue of descent: it has to be asserted by a demonstration of strength and the fruits of good governance in the form of welfare, health and prosperity of the population – all proofs being supported by the royal ancestorhood (see Gulbrandsen 1995).
The authority of the ruling dynasty is cosmologically linked to a hierarchy of forces. In the Tswana imagination, this hierarchy is, in brief, projected into the realm of the ancestors (badimo). In this mode of thought, the ancestors of the ruling line (badimo ya dikgosi) constitute the supreme source of power, wisdom and morality, exclusively available to the living ruler. Furthermore, a kgosi is ideally in possession of the most powerful charms to protect himself and the bogosi against internal enemies and guard the morafe against threatening external forces. In addition the kgosi should ideally be in control of the most powerful productive medicines, e.g. for providing rain (see Chapter 8 below; Gulbrandsen 1995). A kgosi who acts in relation to external forces with strength and sustains internal control is spoken of as a kgosi who relates well to his ancestors and asserts his command of productive and protective ‘medicines’.
The notion of a Tswana ruler's authority was dependent not only on descent but also on his personal strength and ability to act upon ever changing historical contexts to the benefit of his people. This is a notion – capacity and engagement – which is intrinsic to the cultural construction of the kgosi as a ruler with, as we shall see, considerable authority to initiate major transformations. This dimension of pragmatic assessment of a ruler's strength and ability is perfectly expressed by the mythological origin of the ruling lines of the Bakwena and Bangwaketse. As for the latter, I was told more than once, in the words of one man, that:
Long ago, there were two brothers, Kuto and Kutoyane, who were the sons of Moleta, one of the ancient dikgosi of the Bangwaketse. Kuto was the eldest one [as indicated by the diminutive form Kutoyane given to the younger brother]. However, although Kuto was the one who according to our custom [mokgwa] should succeed his father, this did not happen. The reason is that Kuto, in the opinion of the people at that time, was found to be too weak. They wanted Kutoyane, who they thought would be a much more forceful kgosi. I think they were very right, because ever since the Bangwaketse have been ruled by people descending from Kutoyane and they have proved to be very strong and wise, like Makaba II, Gaseitisiwe, Bathoen I, Seepapitso III and Bathoen II. The people of Kuto still live here in Kanye and much respect is paid to them, especially their seniors – although they do not have sufficient force to rule people. Their head has a very senior position in the royal kgotla, placed at the right-hand side of the kgosi among his paternal uncles and principal advisors. At the time the Bangwaketse adhered properly to the ritual practice of go loma ngwaka [‘to bite the new year’ – the first fruit ceremony], the head of the Kuto people was the one to bite the pumpkin first, even before the kgosi.
The LMS missionary Willoughby relates a similar myth about a ‘junior’ line constituting the ruling dynasty among the Bakwena (Willoughby 1928: 229). The central notion here, of strength being attributed to a genealogical line of rulers, comes out of the Tswana cultural construction of kgosi authority. Ideally, the kgosi is a motswadintle (‘one from whom good things come’; see Gulbrandsen 1995: 421), ensuring societal order and thus social harmony (kagiso). As I shall elaborate in Chapter 4, kagiso is imperative to health, fertility, prosperity and welfare. In popular imagination, a powerful kgosi is a kgosi who provides kagiso for the morafe at large because he is perceived as being on good terms with the principal custodians of the morafe's moral order, the royal ancestorhood (badimo ya kgosi). A kgosi's authority – as the incumbent of the bogosi – thus springs to a significant extent from his exclusive access to the royal ancestorhood. Yet, I reiterate, it also depends on his actual ability to act with strength and determination to the benefit of the morafe as proof of ancestral support. In terms of Tswana cosmology, if he does well, he will, at his death and subsequent inclusion in the royal ancestorhood, add to the popular perceived strength of the ruling dynasty (see Gulbrandsen 1993b: 566ff.).
The preceding section illuminates how Tswana dikgosi attempted to amalgamate the expanding networks of power that enabled them to prevail as forceful rulers of a morafe that expanded in strength and scale. For example, the Bangwaketse extraordinarily powerful hero-king Makaba II features, even today, prominently in popular consciousness about the force vested in the ruling dynasty's ancestorhood. His great significance is currently most apparent in the symbolism in the royal kgotla of the hierarchical order of bogosi: the senior living descendants of the senior male line descending from each of his wives are, in ranked order according to the ranking of the wives, situated on the right-hand side of the kgosi in the royal kgotla, with the most senior descendant next to the kgosi.
Tswana dikgosi are not to be classified as ‘sacred kings’ (e.g. of the kind analyzed by de Heusch (1982) in Central African contexts). But their responsibility for their people's overall health, prosperity and welfare instilled them with major tasks that could not easily be taken care of solely through the stratagems of amalgamating and expanding networks of power. Their spiritual leadership is required for providing rain and preventing the influx of pests and plagues, depending on a range of ritual practices. That is, practices which are, on the one hand, directed towards satisfaction of the royal ancestorhood (see Chapter 4) and, on the other hand, involving deployment of powerful ‘medicine’, ideally provided by the strongest doctors/diviners (dingaka, singl. ngaka) available. They are often of foreign origin, reflecting a belief in their capacity to convey constructively highly potent, potentially dangerous spiritual forces prevailing beyond the limits of the morafe.
It is in the light of this obsession with empowerment and fortification by spiritual means as well as more tangible forces that we should understand why a number of Tswana dikgosi were, unlike many other African rulers, amongst the first to be baptized, engaging extensively with evangelizing missionaries who were often attracted to establish a church in the royal town and subsequently in outlying villages.8 David Livingstone of the London Missionary Society was the first to be stationed in what would become the Bechuanaland Protectorate. The Bakwena (see Map 1), amongst whom he worked and lived for about ten years from 1842, were at that time under repeated attack by the Boers, and missionaries were ostensibly helpful both with strategic information and arms (Sillery 1954: 110).
On the other hand, missionary requirements that the dikgosi impose radical changes in several important ritual and social practices9 gave raise to major conflicts at the royal centres (see Gulbrandsen 1993a: 50 ff). For example the missionaries obliged the dikgosi to abandon all but one of their wives, famously illuminated by the aftermath of Livingston's baptism of Kgosi Sechele I of Bakwena (r. 1831–92, see front cover of this book) in 1848 involving major conflicts with some of his senior dikgosana (see Livingstone 1857: 13ff.; Schapera 1960: 298ff.). Amongst the Bangwato, tension and conflicts emerged