Thebe ya Sechaba: A History of the Botswana Defence Force, c. 1977-2007
Date
2021-01-11
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Abstract
The protracted liberation struggles of Southern Africa that began in the 1960s, particularly in Rhodesia (Zimbabwe today) eventually prompted the Botswana government to establish its own defence force in 1977. Due to budgetary constraints and relative internal political stability, Botswana had relied on a small paramilitary force called the Police Mobile Unit (PMU) since the early 1960s for all defence – related issues. By the late 1970s, the sharp escalation of the struggle for Zimbabwe resulted in cross-border incursions by Rhodesian security forces who were pursuing armed freedom fighters. In these numerous violations of Botswana’s territorial integrity, many Batswana who lived in towns and villages adjacent to the Rhodesian border lost their lives while other were abducted, women raped, children maimed, and houses set ablaze by Rhodesian forces. This study explores the circumstances around the establishment of the Botswana Defence Force (BDF) in April 1977 in reaction to the Rhodesian war. This study also traces the development of the defence force into a professional military between the time it was established and the early 2000s taking into account internal and external factors that determined this evolution. Internally, the lack of funds during the BDF’s formative years meant that the government could only acquire limited equipment and manpower but the discovery of diamonds and economic stabilization beginning in the 1980s resulted in more expansive budgets and the acquisition of lethal hardware. Externally, it was regional contentions in the 1980s, mainly aggression from apartheid South Africa, that largely shaped the development of the BDF. After the end of apartheid, the BDF adopted a more aggressive expansion policy that was supported by the strong diamond – based economy of Botswana. It was in this period that the BDF started to participate in international peacekeeping operations which not only taught valuable lessons to it personnel but highlighted Botswana as a democratic country that helped restore peace and stability in fellow African nations. The decisions to professionalise its officer corps in the late 1990s and early 2000s as well as the recruitment of women into the force were important indicators of growth. These represented necessary steps that the leaders of the BDF took to mould it into a professional apolitical military.
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Keywords
Botswana Defence Force, BDF, History of the Botswana Defence Force
Citation
Mocheregwa, B. (2021). Thebe ya Sechaba: A History of the Botswana Defence Force, c. 1977-2007 (Doctoral thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.