Record Details

Botswana-Bophuthatswana relations in the context of Lucas Mangope’s quest for international diplomatic recognition, 1977-1994

New Contree

 
 
Field Value
 
Title Botswana-Bophuthatswana relations in the context of Lucas Mangope’s quest for international diplomatic recognition, 1977-1994
 
Creator Makgala, Christian J.
 
Subject — International diplomacy; Botswana; Bophuthatswana; Lucas Mangope; Relations
Description This article is an account of the relations between independent Botswana and her South African Black homeland neighbour of Bophuthatswana, whom Botswana steadfastly refused to recognise as a sovereign state. Bophuthatswana was used by South Africa to punish Botswana for assisting liberation movement groups such as the African National Congress (ANC) in their struggle against apartheid. Lucas Mangope, president of Bophuthatswana, tried to pressurize Botswana into recognising Bophuthatswana through diplomatic relations. Initially, he tried to capitalise on the common Tswana cultural heritage between Botswana and Bophuthatswana and their long common border to achieve his objective. The paper also looks at how Mangope sought to use PanTswana links and soft power on the main opposition party, Botswana National Front (BNF), to get the international recognition for Bophuthatswana. The focus then shifts to how a failed military coup that sought to oust Mangope in 1988 further strained the relations between Botswana and Bophuthatswana. Finally, the article discusses Botswana’s response to the demise of apartheid and Bophuthatswana in 1994. The paper adds to the corpus of literature on the contribution of Botswana to the liberation of South Africa and the Southern African region generally which President Mokgweetsi Masisi of Botswana rather mistakenly lamented in late June 2021 that it has been neglected in terms of documentation. This points to the need for teaching of the history of Botswana in the country’s education system which is currently very limited.
 
Publisher AOSIS Publishing
 
Contributor
Date 2021-07-30
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion — —
Format application/pdf
Identifier 10.4102/nc.v86i0.26
 
Source New Contree; Vol 86 (2021); 21 2959-510X 0379-9867
 
Language eng
 
Relation
The following web links (URLs) may trigger a file download or direct you to an alternative webpage to gain access to a publication file format of the published article:

https://newcontree.org.za/index.php/nc/article/view/26/26
 
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Rights Copyright (c) 2023 Christian J. Makgala https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
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