20 Apr 2017

Tomorrow Botswana Defence Force (BDF) and Batswana from all walks of life will take time off to observe the establishment, growth and accomplishment of an institution that has come to be regarded by international scholars as one of Africa’s success stories.

The BDF Day celebrations, as is the norm, are expected to attract a good crowd to the National Stadium in Gaborone, the Francistown Sports Complex and the Selibe Phikwe Stadium, and offer the men and women in uniform an opportunity to mirror on their rich history of four decades.

Without any shadow of doubt the track record of the BDF speaks volumes about its ambitions of maintaining professional standards. Eleven years after independence the BDF was formed from the Botswana Police Mobile Unit (PMU) and had the late Lt Gen. Mompati Merafhe as its first commander.

President Lt Gen. Dr Seretse Khama Ian Khama, then a 24-year-old Brigadier in the army ranks, became its deputy commander.

For a military establishment that had to start from scratch unlike some of its sister military establishments in the region which were founded on existing and well advanced military structures, the BDF takes pride from its humble beginnings to become one of the professional military establishments that is purely home grown.

As one scholar, Professor Dan Henk of the United States War College noted in his online essay “The Botswana Defence Force: Evolution of a professional African Military” ……despite the potential problems and challenges Botswana deserves considerable credit for fielding a capable military with high standards of professional expertise and professional behaviour.

The country has demonstrated consistency and perseverance in developing the institution, and has avoided the mistake of attempting to construct a capability that it could not afford. The BDF is a credit to its country and has the potential to play very productive roles in the region as a whole.”

Perhaps one of the key features in the evolution of the BDF was the infamous Lesoma Ambush of 1978 in which 15 soldiers were ambushed and killed by Rhodesian Forces, and the 1985 raid in Gaborone by then apartheid South African Defence Force commandos in which 12 people perished.

The two incidents were a tragedy and a harsh lesson for the young force. The Lesoma incident is still recalled and commemorated as Fallen Heroes Day.

Just this past week, President Khama who is Commander-in-Chief of the BDF, awarded the historic and posthumous Thebe Ya Sechaba (TYS) medals to beneficiaries of the deceased victims of the Lesoma raid. The award has never been awarded since the BDF’s inception.

The desire to see peace prevail regionally and across Africa has made the BDF serve in places where they exposed themselves to life threatening situations.

The BDF has been a regular contributor to the United Nations missions. In 1992 and 1993 a BDF contingent participated in ‘Operation Restore Hope,’ a United States led coalition of forces to restore peace in war torn Somalia. From 1993 to 1994 a team of BDF officers participated in a UN peacekeeping mission in Rwanda as observers.

The same year, BDF troops participated in a UN peacekeeping operation in Mozambique. BDF also participated in Operation BOLESA, a SADC military intervention in Lesotho in 1998.

The operation was the first step in a retraining programme for the Lesotho Defence Force members.

Since then, the BDF has conducted exercises with defence forces of neighbouring countries and other friendly forces.

The popular Exercise Thokgamo was such exercise conducted in 2005 which SADC member states took part. They also participated in Exercise Golfinho hosted by the South African Defence Force in 2009.

Another notable achievement was the commissioning of the first female cadet officers. The intake of 30 female cadets was sent to Tanzania for a year long training after a rigorious recruitment exercise.

A significant milestone in the history of the BDF occured in 1989 when the founding Commander, Lt Gen. Merafhe retired into politics and Lt Gen. Khama took over. The establishment of the Thebephatshwa airbase  was amongst Lt Gen.

Khama’s new endevours, a multi million Pula project to house BDF’s fast growing inventory of military aircraft and commando squadron.

Tomorrow’s celebrations affords the force and the nation an opportunity to reflect on the forces past operations and future plans.

Through numerous displays like mock battles, dog displays and obstacles BDF demonstrates that they are not spared from ravages of illicit regimes in some war torn nations.  Thousands of Batswana throng the National Stadium annually during the last week of April to witness this.

Part of the mouthwatering activities lined up for tomorrow’s celebrations include synchronised drill where members of the public are encouraged to take part, band display and colour guard accompanied by the military band with their soulful repertoire of traditional military songs such as Grenadier’s slow march.

The guard of honour is a ceremonial practice to honour domestic or foreign dignitaries. It’s mounted on occasions such as the BDF Day as a mark of respect. The BDF band plays ceremonial and marching music during events such as BDF Day commemorations.

The band maintains the troop’s morale by marching with sweet melodies being churned out.BOPA