Mafikeng and Mmabatho travel guide

Background

Mafikeng was founded as a British administrative centre in 1885, when Sir Charles Warren was sent with a military force to occupy and bring peace to this frontier territory. Only 20 km away was the Goshen Republic, an independent state created by a group of European mercenaries who had been given farms by the local Rolong tribe. The name of the new settlement came from the Tswana maFikeng, ‘place of boulders’. The surrounding territory became known as British Bechuanaland, with Mafikeng as the centre for the local farmers, traders and hunters. At the time this was still very much frontier territory, occupied by a rough crowd and policed by the tough Bechuanaland Border Police.

On 14 October 1899, a Boer force under the command of General JP Snyman besieged the town, and so started the period of events that was to put the town on the map. The Siege of Mafeking lasted 217 days until 17 May 1900, when the town was relieved by a combined force of Rhodesian troops from the north and Imperial troops from the south. At the time, the siege captured the imagination of the British public in England – the Anglo-Boer War was the first war to be reported in such detail, with pictures, cartoons and newspaper articles. It was during the siege that the British commander, Colonel RSS Baden-Powell, made his name and conceived the idea for the Boy Scout movement .

Baden-Powell proved himself to be very competent in organizing the defences, but in later years was criticized for his treatment of the black troops. One of his well-documented ideas was to place life-size dummies in observation posts around the town. The Boer commander, General Cronje believed that he was pinning down a large British force planned for the invasion of the Western Transvaal. Mafeking was, in fact, an insignificant centre but it became an important focal point and when the siege had been lifted, the Boer resolve seemed to weaken and the towns of Ladysmith and Kimberley were relieved soon after.

After the war, Mafikeng returned to the life of a sleepy border town. Up until 1965 it was the centre for the British administration of the Bechuanaland Protectorate. This was a fairly unusual set-up where the government for one state, Bechuanaland, was in fact located in a foreign country, South Africa. In 1965 the government moved to Gaborone and on 30 September 1966 Botswana became an independent republic, led by Sir Seretse Khama. Today the town is the centre for the local cattle industry. Although the relics from the Boer War are interesting, the town does not attract many tourists and is well off the beaten track.

Getting around

There are regular minibus taxis running between Mafikeng railway station and Mega City shopping centre in Mmabatho.