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‘Khama & Co.’ and the Jousse Trouble, 1910–1916

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 January 2009

Q. N. Parsons
Q. N. Parsons
Affiliation:
University of Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland
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Extract

‘Khama & Co.’ was the attempt of an African monarch in colonial east-central Botswana to make his state's internal economy self-reliant through participation in commerce. The company was founded in 1910, and flourished, but the ‘Jousse Trouble’ in 1916 obliged the British imperial administration to dictate its closure. Pressures came from commercial interests well established elsewhere in southern Africa, which wished to subordinate African enterprise to white supremacy, and maybe to incorporate the Bechuanaland Protectorate within Southern Rhodesia or the Union of South Africa.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of African History , Volume 16 , Issue 3 , July 1975 , pp. 383 - 408
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1975

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References

1 For more detailed treatment of the 1844–1930 period, see Parsons, Q. N., ‘The economic history of Khama's Country in southern Africa’, African Social Research, xviii (12 1974), 643–75.Google Scholar

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8 Cf. Phimister, Ian, ‘Rhodes, Rhodesia, and the Rand’ University of London, Institute of Commonwealth Studies, seminar paper SSA/73/10Google Scholar; Denoon, Donald, A Grand Illusion. The Failure of Imperial Policy in the Transvaal Colony During the Period of Reconstruction 1900–05 (London, 1973)Google Scholar; Dachs, Anthony, ‘Rhodes's grasp for Bechuanaland 1880–1896’, Rhodesian History, II (1971), 1–9Google Scholar

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14 Jousse, Paul (pseud. ‘Inquisitor’) in Sunday Times (Johannesburg), 8 03 1914.Google Scholar ‘Khama & Co.’ has no relation to the Khama firm of haulage contractors in London S.E. 27. The firm was named after the original location of its garage in Khama Road, S.W. 17. (Personal communication.) See note 64 below re ‘Jousse Trouble’.

15 Garrett, R. (Serowe) to Acting Resident Commissioner (R.C.), 29 02 1916Google Scholar, File J.978 (old series): Botswana National Archives (B.N.A.), Gaborone. (Files J.978 and J.978A cited in this article have since been amalgamated into S.29/5/1).

16 R.C. to Assistant Resident Magistrate (A.R.M.) Serowe, 9 June 1910, J.978. (B.N.A.)

17 Gaopotlhake, to Liddel, , 5 10 1910 (Khama Papers).Google Scholar

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20 One thinks of the response of the white trading community towards crises in the Ngwato Reserve in the 1930s (the ‘flogging’ of Mackintosh), the 1940s and 1950s (the Seretse marriage dispute), and the early 1960s (the advance to Independence).

21 Saron, Gustav and Hotz, Louis (eds.), The Jews in South Africa: a History (Cape Town, 1955), 250 ff.Google Scholar

22 Parsons, , ‘The economic history of Khama's Country’, 667.Google Scholar

23 See S.29/2 (B.N.A.).

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25 Acting R.C. to H.C., 15 01 and 5 04 1916, J.978A (B.N.A.).Google Scholar

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27 B.T.A. profits ran to £22,146 in 1895–6. Cf. Parsons, , ‘The economic history of Khama's Country’, 658.Google Scholar

28 Statement of Casalis, A. H., 26 02 1903 (Khama Papers)Google Scholar; Ratshosa, Simon, ‘My Book on Bechuanaland Protectorate’ (MSS.), p. 211 (B.N.A.).Google Scholar

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30 S.29/8 (B.N.A.).

31 Khama, to Casalis, , 25 12 1911 (Khama Papers).Google Scholar

32 Khama, to Jousse, , 9 04 1912 (Khama Papers).Google Scholar

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34 Jousse, to Acting R.C., 19 09 1913, J.978 (B.N.A.).Google Scholar

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36 Acting R.C. to Jousse, , 5 11 1913Google Scholar, ibid.

37 Jousse, to Acting R.C., 13 11 1913Google Scholar, ibid.

38 Jousse, to Acting R.C., 14 11 1913Google Scholar, ibid.

39 The B.S.A. Company was certainly pressing for the incorporation of the Tati District—the area round Francistown—into Southern Rhodesia at this time, and a subsidiary of the B.S.A. Company was in process of opening up copper mining in Khama's Country. Cf. C.O. 879/No. 1003 (Public Record Office, London). On the 1894–5 incorporation attempt into Rhodesia, see Dachs, ‘Rhodes's grasp for Bechuanaland’; Parsons, Q. N., ‘Khama III, the Bamangwato, and the British’ (Ph.D., University of Edinburgh, 1973), 88–120. (Copies in B.N.A.; S.O.A.S.).Google Scholar

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41 R.C. to Assistant Commissioner (A. C.) Francistown, 27 01 1914Google Scholar, ibid.

42 Eastern Province Herald (Port Elizabeth), 16 04, 1 05 and 6 05 1914Google Scholar; Jennings, A. E., ‘Khama's Country’ Sunday Times (Johannesburg), 16 04 and 3 05 1914Google Scholar. (Reprinted in Diamond Fields Advertiser Weekly edn., 16 04 1914Google Scholar). See also Christian Express (Lovedale), 1 07 1916.Google Scholar

43 Francistown, A. C. to R.C., 4 05 1914Google Scholar; Ag. R.C. to H.C. 17 Nov. 1915, J.978 (B.N.A.).

44 Francistown, A. C. to R.C., 4 05 1914Google Scholar, ibid.

45 R.C. to H.C., 8 05 1914Google Scholar, ibid. In a subsequent letter he added: ‘There has never been a case of friction in Khama's country except in that of the Bechuanaland Trading Association, and all traders are unanimous in their testimony as to the courteous treatment they have received from the Chief and his Council.’ R.C. to H.C., 23 05 1915Google Scholar, ibid.

46 H.C. to R.C., 16 and 18 06 1914Google Scholar; R.C. to Khama, , 31 08 1914.Google Scholar

47 R.C. to H.C., 20 10 1914Google Scholar, ibid.

48 Cape of Good Hope Nos. 15 of 1856, 18 of 1873, 7 of 1875, 30 of 1889—substantively adopted in Laws of the Bechuanaland Protectorate, 1891.

49 Khama, to R.C., 26 02 1915, J.978 (B.N.A.).Google Scholar

50 ibid.

51 R.C. to Acting Resident Magistrate (R.M.), 24 02 1915Google Scholar; Acting R.M. Serowe to R.C., 28 02 1915Google Scholar, ibid.

52 Khama to R.C., 26 02 1915Google Scholar, ibid.

53 R.C. to B.T.A., 20 03 1915Google Scholar, Government Secretary (G.S.) to Jousse, 20 Mar. 1915, ibid.

54 Acting R.M. Serowe to R.C., 6 05 1915Google Scholar; Acting R.C. to H.C., 17 11 1915Google Scholar, ibid.

55 Acting R.C. to H.C., 17 11 1915Google Scholar, ibid.; R.C. to Chappell, , 19 08 1915, J.978A (B.N.A.).Google Scholar

56 Acting R.M. to H.C., 22 07 1915Google Scholar; Chappell, to Panzera, (private), 14 07 1915, S29/5/1 (B.N.A.).Google Scholar

57 Acting R.M. to H.C., 24 July 1915, J.978A (B.N.A.).

58 Khama, to R.C., 22 07 1915Google Scholar, ibid.

59 R.C. to Khama, , 29 07 1915Google Scholar, ibid. A month before, Panzera had written privately to Khama saying that he must ‘make a show of enquiring into things’ that the B.T.A. complained of, and implying that the British South Africa Company hated him (Panzera) for foiling their plans: Panzera, to Khama, , 27 06 1915 (Khama Papers).Google Scholar

60 Chappell, to R.C., 4 08 1915, J.978A (B.N.A.).Google Scholar

61 R.C. to Chappell, , 19 08 1915Google Scholar, ibid.

62 R.C. to H.C., 13 10 1915Google Scholar, ibid.

63 Acting R.C. to Khama, , 13 11 1915Google Scholar; H.C. to Khama, , 11 11 1915Google Scholar; Acting R.C. to H.C., 17 11 1915Google Scholar, ibid.

64 Acting R.C. to H.C. 17 11 1915Google Scholar, ibid. Rev. Willoughby, W. C. (to L.M.S., 25 04 1916)Google Scholar thought Government had closed Garrett, Smith & Co. after private pressure from all traders in the Bamangwato Reserve, who feared being swamped by the Chief's stores—but there is no evidence to this effect in B.P. Government files or elsewhere. Willoughby wrote to his fellow missionary a few days later: ‘The Chartered Company may be behind it… They may be wanting to weaken Khama for some bigger plan of their own after the war is over.’ Willoughby therefore advised that Khama should concede: better to bend before the Company now than be broken later–Willoughby to Lewis, 2 May 1916 (Willoughby Papers No. 742, Selly Oak Colleges Library, Birmingham). An anonymous manuscript, forwarded to the L.M.S. apparently at Khama's request (Lewis, to L.M.S. 12 02 1916Google Scholar), ‘The Jousse Trouble’, dated Serowe 21 June 1915—possibly by John Ratshosa—also concluded that Jousse's ‘main object’ was to replace Imperial rule of the B.P. by Rhodesia or the Union, and added that Jousse had indeed gained some support among Ngwato by flouting Khama's beer laws. Panzera's ominous references to the Union and the B.S.A. Company in his private letter to Khama of 27 June 1915 would have been further fuel to the fire of Khama's suspicions (Khama Papers).

65 H.C. to Acting R.C., 6 01 1916Google Scholar; SirSloley, H. C. to H.C., 10 12 1915Google Scholar; Sloley, Chappell, 7 12 1915, J.978A (B.N.A.).Google Scholar

66 Sloley, to MacGregor, , 24 02 1916Google Scholar, ibid.

67 Sloley, to H.C., 10 12 1915Google Scholar, ibid.

68 H.C. to Acting R.C., 6 01 1916Google Scholar, ibid.

69 Chappell, to H.C., 3 02 1916Google Scholar, ibid.

70 Chappell, to H.C., 7 02 1916Google Scholar, ibid.

71 H.C. to Acting R.C., 18 02 1916Google Scholar; Imperial Secretary to Chappell, , 17 02 1916Google Scholar, ibid.

72 Acting R.C. to H.C., 23 02 1916Google Scholar, ibid.

73 Garrett, R. J. to Acting R.C., 29 02 1916Google Scholar, ibid.

74 Acting R.C. to Garrett, , 3 03 1916Google Scholar; Acting R.C. to Khama, , 3 03 1916Google Scholar, ibid.

75 Acting R.M. Serowe to Acting R.C., 2 03 1916Google Scholar; B.T.A. to Acting R.M. Serowe, 2 03 1916Google Scholar, ibid.

76 A.C. to R.C., 4 05 1916Google Scholar, ibid.

77 Chappell, to H.C., 11 03 1916Google Scholar, ibid.

78 Chappell, to Imperial Secretary, 4 04 1916Google Scholar, ibid. Casalis was transferred from Serowe, to Macloutsie—R.C. to H.C., 18 07 1916Google Scholar, ibid. The B.T.A. sold out its interests in the Ngwato Reserve in 1928, mostly to R. A. Bailey: Mockford, , Seretse Khama, 179Google Scholar; Interview with Minnie Shaw, Palapye, 18 Sept. 1969.

79 Khama, to H.C., 28 03 1916Google Scholar, J.978A (B.N.A.); Lewis, to L.M.S., 4 04 1916 (L.M.S.A.)Google Scholar; Lewis, to Willoughby, , 25 04 1916 (Willoughby Papers).Google Scholar

80 Even the missionary Haydon Lewis, who forwarded a copy to the L.M.S., did not grasp its full significance: cf. Lewis, to L.M.S., 15 08 1916.Google Scholar

81 Acting R.C. to H.C., 5 and 8 04 1916Google Scholar; H.C. to Acting H.C., 14 04 1916, J.978A (B.N.A.).Google Scholar

82 H.C. to Khama, , 13 04 1916Google Scholar, ibid.

83 H.C. to C.O., 13 05 1916Google Scholar; C.O. to H.C., 29 05 1916Google Scholar; H.C. to R.C., 31 07 1916Google Scholar, ibid; R.C. to Khama, , 9 08 1916 (Khama Papers).Google Scholar

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85 Lewis, to L.M.S., 2 06 1916 (L.M.S.A.)Google Scholar; Khama, to Jas. Haskins, 17 01 1916 (Khama Papers).Google Scholar

86 R.C. to H.C., 18 07 1916, J.978A (B.N.A.).Google Scholar See also Lewis, to L.M.S., 2 06 1916 (L.M.S.A.).Google Scholar

87 Ratshosa, , ‘My Book’, 201–3 (B.N.A.).Google Scholar

88 Declaration of Khama, witnessed by Ratshosa, Obeditse and Fosdisch, E., 7 01 1922 (copy), S.29/5/2 (B.N.A.).Google Scholar

89 Garrett, Simth, & Co. to Standard Bank, Mafeking, 6 02 1922Google Scholar; Serowe, A.R.M. to G.S., 7 04 1922Google Scholar; Ellenberger, J. to Michin & Kelly, 23 06 1922Google Scholar; R.C. to H.C., 14 01 1927, S.29/5/2 (B.N.A.).Google Scholar

90 Harris, John Charles, Khama the Great African Chief (London, 1922), 104Google Scholar, confirmed by Lewis to L.M.S., 20 Jan. 1923 (L.M.S.A.); Ratshosa, , ‘My Book’, 201–3 (B.N.A.).Google Scholar

91 Minchin, & Kelly to G.S., 13 12 1926Google Scholar; Francistown, A. C. to R.C., 11 01 1927Google Scholar; H.C. to R.C., 3 02 1927, S.29/5/2 (B.N.A.).Google Scholar

92 See note II above.

93 See protest of Ngwato headmen to R.C., 23 Aug. 1924, against the government's ‘new system of protecting traders to monopolise’—when it overruled Ngwato permission to new traders to set up stores. They asserted that ‘competition is a good thing’ to raise prices given for agricultural produce ‘in support to Tribal revenue’ and for Hut Tax; S.7/1/2 (B.N.A.).

94 Cf. Tordoff, W., ‘Local administration in Botswana’, Journal of Administration Overseas, XII 4 (10 1973), 179–80.Google Scholar

95 Schapera, Isaac, Tribal Innovators. Tswana Chiefs and Social Change 1795–1940 (London, 1970), 80–1.Google Scholar

96 Benson, Mary, Tshekedi Khama (London, 1960), 70–9.Google Scholar See also Parsons, Q. N., ‘Shots for a black republic? Simon Ratshosa and Botswana nationalism’, African Affairs, LXXIII, 293 (10 1974), 451.Google Scholar

97 Francistown, A. C. to R.C., 11 01 1927.Google Scholar

98 Willoughby, to L.M.S., 25 04 1916 (L.M.S.A.).Google Scholar

99 Cmd. 4368 of 1933, 17–18 (British Parliamentary Papers). The Native Advisory Council (officially 9th Session, in fact 10th) of 1929 was highly critical of the decision.

100 H.C. to Colonial Office, received 28 Apr. 1913—C.O. 879/No. 1003, 8 (P.R.O.).