I am greatly impressed by the way in which Tshekedi
Khama, the young Bechuana chief who was temporarily suspended from his functions in 1933 on the charge of. flogging a white man, has made out his case against the transfer of the Bechuanaland Protectorate to the Union- of South Africa. His document, which is addressed " To the Parliament and People of Great Britain," was. written, I am told, with the exception of one sentence, entirely by himself. It is a really masterly statement,„ simple, dignified and restrained in its style, logical and. strictly to the point in its argument. Tshekedi quotes the relevant authorities which show that the British never claimed that the Protectorate deprived the people of Bechuanaland of the ownership of the-soil or the chiefs. of their rights of jurisdiction over natives, and makes out a convincing case against any transference of the. Protec, torate to the Union, at /east till such time as the tribes have been able to state their position before an impartial Commission. (The full text of the document may be read in a sixpenny pamphlet issued by the Anti-Slavery. and Aborigines Protection Society.)
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