Sechele the Regal Missionary

It is 200 years since the birth of David Livingstone, perhaps the most famous of the missionaries to visit Africa in the 19th Century.

It is said that when Christian missionaries made their way to the Ndebele in modern day Zimbabwe in 1859, they were confounded to discover that the ‘heathens’ held regular Christian services.

Now, this was perplexing, given that as far as was known, any missionary hadn’t visited the Ndebele.

The unexpected conversion of the Ndebele was one of the few legacies of one Sechele I a Motswasele, perceived by some to be one of southern Africa’s greatest missionary.

 Sechele, who was the kgosi (ruler) of the Bakwena people in what is now southern Botswana, started the path to missionary work following an encounter with David Livingstone, the Scottish missionary turned explorer who first met him in 1841.

Through a series of interactions, the kgosi taught Livingstone the Tswana language as Livingstone taught him the alphabet and introduced him to Christianity.

The path to Christianity was not an easy one for the ruler, for the new religion was at variance with some customs of the Bakwena. The two greatest points of contention were in regards to rainmaking and polygamy.

Sechele happened to be the kgosi as well as the rainmaker, and Livingstone castigated him vehemently for engaging in rainmaking, as it ran contrary to his religious and scientific reasoning. By some coincidence, it was around this time, when the kgosi had stopped rainmaking, that the Bakwena were hit by their worst drought ever, making Sechele very unpopular.

The kgosi had taken 5 wives, and these marriages all served to cement relations with neighboring tribes; but to be baptized as a Christian, he had to divorce four wives. The tough choice was made in 1848, the same year he became baptized. It wasn’t long before one of his ex-wives became pregnant, and on being questioned, he confessed that he had fallen back to his old ways. Upon repenting, he told Livingstone: “Do not give me up because of this. I shall never give up Jesus. You and I will stand before him together.”

But the relationship between the two became strained, and their last contact was in 1852, the same year in which Sechele I led a coalition of Batswanas into handing the marauding Boers from South Africa a defeat that saw them sue for peace in the following year.

While not much is known of the period after, it is believed that Sechele embarked on spread the Gospel, although it was a syncretized version that was more palatable to soon to be converts.

Because he was very accommodative of Christians fleeing persecution, the kgosi came to rule over 30,000 people at the end of his reign, a 100-times growth from the 300 he had when he first met Livingstone.

Sources: BBC, Dacb, Independent

By Matengo Chwanya

Africa Global News Publication