Look closely, there are 4: Lekgoanyana III; Khama III; Sebele I and Bathoen I.
When I was a naughty Primary School pupil, we were brilliantly indoctrinated of how the three Chiefs, paradoxically, went to Ga-Mmamosadinyana in 1895 to plead for protection from Cecil John Rhodes’ British South Africa Company, where they “asked” for Bechuanaland to be a protectorate under the Queen.
Interestingly, Mansudae Overseas Projects built The Three Dikgosi Monument. They are an international division of the Mansudae Art Studio in Pyongyang, North Korea. It is not only Botswana that have benefited immensely from the North Korea’s biggest exports, but also the likes of Namibia, Cambodia, Zimbabwe, Mali, Angola, Equatorial Guinea and the Democratic Republic of Congo, among others (Salami and Visona 2013).
In addition, the 100 Pula note, bears a portrait of the Three Dikgosi on the obverse, although this time seated. On the reverse side, ’’the picture is an open pit diamond mine and a diamond sorter examining a rough diamond’’ (bankofbotswana.bw).
#dikgositsetharo
#bechuanaland
#threechiefs
#northkorea
Blessing Kgosi e tsile Kgasa 