# Three Dikgosi Monument

The Three Dikgosi Monument is a bronze sculpture located in the Central Business District of Gaborone, Botswana. The statues depict three dikgosi, or tribal chiefs: Khama III, Sebele I, and Bathoen I. The three dikgosi played important roles in Botswana's independence. In 1895, the three men traveled to Great Britain to ask Joseph Chamberlain, Secretary of State for the Colonies, and Queen Victoria to separate the Bechuanaland Protectorate from Cecil Rhodes's British South Africa Company and Southern Rhodesia. Permission was then granted which made Botswana under direct British rule until its independence. There are six plinths giving information about Botswana's independence and struggles. A large coat of arms is featured in front of the three statues. A contract was given to North Korean company Mansudae Overseas Projects to build the monument, which resulted in disappointment from local sculptors. Some minority ethnic groups in Botswana see it as a decree of Tswana dominance.

## Background and planning

The three dikgosi were dubbed "Founders of the Nation" by the government-owned Kutlwano Magazine at the time of Botswana's independence in 1966. Over the following decades they were adopted as "icons of unitary nationalism advocating renewed independence". In 1990, the House of Chiefs proposed that they be commemorated in a public monument. Funds were allocated for a statue in the 1997–98 budget and an advisory committee was appointed to determine the statue's location, but construction was delayed due to objections from planning officials.
In 2001, a site in Gaborone's Main Mall was nominated by the advisory committee, but eventually rejected in favour of a site in the new Central Business District to the north-west of the Main Mall. Further funds were allotted in 2003 and a request for tender was published, with four proposals received. An unsuccessful proposal put forward by local sculptor Masilonyana Radinoga showed "the three kings gesticulating and consulting among themselves".

## Construction

As an attempt to secure more allies after the Korean War, North Korea was in support of most African nationalist movements during post-World War II. The first president of Botswana, Sir Seretse Khama, visited Pyongyang ten years after the start of diplomatic ties in 1976. The bid of Mansudae Overseas Projects, an international subdivision of a Pyongyang art institute, was accepted for the construction of the monument. Local sculptors expressed disappointment about giving the project to Mansudae. The monument was inaugurated on 29 September 2005 by Festus Mogae, the president of Botswana at the time. The day the monument was opened, 800 visitors came.
Some minority ethnic groups in Botswana saw the construction of this monument as a proclamation of Tswana dominance. Batsani Ndaba, a Kalanga and chair of the Society for Promotion of Ikalanga Language, stated that the journey of the three digkosi was only of significance to their own tribes and there was "nothing for minorities to celebrate about the three chiefs going to England".

## Description

The monument features 5.4-meter (18 ft) tall bronze statues of three dikgosi, or chiefs, who played important roles in Botswana's independence: Khama III, Sebele I, and Bathoen I. However, the entire monument is 7 meters (23 ft) high. The three chiefs traveled to Great Britain in 1895 to ask Joseph Chamberlain, Secretary of State for the Colonies, and Queen Victoria to separate the Bechuanaland Protectorate from Cecil Rhodes's British South Africa Company and Southern Rhodesia. Permission was granted and meant that Botswana remained under direct British rule until independence in 1965. Botswana's coat of arms is displayed in front of the three statues.
Six inscribed plinths are located at the feet of the statues, each of which describes a different period in the history of Botswana from the early 19th century up until its independence in 1966. The plinths describe a history starting in the Mfecane period, with Batswana kingdoms expanding from an influx of refugees from wars in southern Africa. The subsequent plinths go on to describe a period from the 1830s to 1880s in which the dikgosi resisted invasion from the Ndebele and Boer people, the dikgosi's request to Queen Victoria for protection of the Bechuanaland Protectorate from the British South Africa Company in 1895, the period of extreme poverty suffered by the Protectorate in the first three decades of the 20th century, Botswana's participation in World War II fighting alongside the Allied Powers, and finally Botswana's independence from Britain, declared in 1966. This last plinth is inscribed with the following statements: "[Botswana's] political independence from Britain was achieved in 1966. The process of nation building and development commences."
Despite the monument's existence, according to Phillip Segadika from the Botswana National Museum, there is no specific independence monument.