Kanye is a village in southern
Botswana
Botswana (, ), officially the Republic of Botswana ( tn, Lefatshe la Botswana, label=Setswana, ), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory being the Kalahar ...
, located south-west of the capital,
Gaborone
Gaborone ( , , ) is the capital and largest city of Botswana with a population of 246,325 based on the 2022 census, about 10% of the total population of Botswana. Its agglomeration is home to 421,907 inhabitants at the 2011 census.
Gaboron ...
. It is the administrative centre of the
Southern District, and had a population of 45,196 at the
2011 census, making it the eighth-largest village in the country. Kanye is the traditional capital of the
Ngwaketse tribe, who first settled in the area in the 1790s. The village is the longest continuously occupied tribal capital in the country.
Geography
Kanye lies on a series of hills which form a natural protective barrier against the sands of the
Kalahari Desert
The Kalahari Desert is a large semi-arid sandy savanna in Southern Africa extending for , covering much of Botswana, and parts of Namibia and South Africa.
It is not to be confused with the Angolan, Namibian, and South African Namib coastal de ...
. The hills extend into the
Bushveld
The Bushveld (from af, bosveld, af, bos 'bush' and af, veld) is a tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands, sub-tropical woodland ecoregion of Southern Africa. It encompasses most of Limpopo Province and a small part of ...
region of South Africa.
There is a deep natural gorge (called Kanye Gorge) close to the village, which was reputedly used as a hiding place for villagers during the various conflicts of the 19th century.
History
Kanye was established in the 1790s by Makaba, the
paramount chief
A paramount chief is the English-language designation for the highest-level political leader in a regional or local polity or country administered politically with a chief-based system. This term is used occasionally in anthropological and arch ...
of the
Ngwaketse (a tribe of the larger
Tswana people
The Tswana ( tn, Batswana, singular ''Motswana'') are a Bantu-speaking ethnic group native to Southern Africa. The Tswana language is a principal member of the Sotho-Tswana language group. Ethnic Tswana made up approximately 85% of the popu ...
). He moved his tribe to Kanye after losing a battle to the nearby
Kwena tribe
The Bakoena or Bakwena ("those who venerate the crocodile") are a large clan in Southern Africa. They form part of the Sotho-Tswana peoples, Sotho-Tswana Bantu people and can be found in different countries such as Lesotho, Botswana, South Africa, ...
, fortifying an existing hill (Kanye Hill) with stone walls. In about 1798, Kanye was attacked by an alliance of
Rolong and
Griquas
The Griquas (; af, Griekwa, often confused with ''!Orana'', which is written as ''Korana'' or ''Koranna'') are a subgroup of heterogeneous former Khoe-speaking nations in Southern Africa with a unique origin in the early history of the Cap ...
, but the Ngwaketse were able to repulse the attack and kill their opponents' leader. European traders and hunters began visiting Kanye in the early 19th century, but it was not until the reign of
Gaseitsiwe (who became chief of the
Ngwaketse in 1845) that they began to actually settle in the area.
[Sillery, p. 138.] In 1852, Joseph McCabe, a British trader, crossed the
Kalahari Desert
The Kalahari Desert is a large semi-arid sandy savanna in Southern Africa extending for , covering much of Botswana, and parts of Namibia and South Africa.
It is not to be confused with the Angolan, Namibian, and South African Namib coastal de ...
from south to north, beginning in Kanye and ending at
Lake Ngami
Lake Ngami is an endorheic lake in Botswana north of the Kalahari Desert. It is seasonally filled by the Taughe River, an effluent of the Okavango River system flowing out of the western side of the Okavango Delta. It is one of the fragmented remn ...
.
In June 1854,
Robert Moffat passed through Kanye on his way north to the lands of the
Matabele. He and his party found the town "completely destroyed as a result of the wars with the
Boer
Boers ( ; af, Boere ()) are the descendants of the Dutch-speaking Free Burghers of the eastern Cape Colony, Cape frontier in Southern Africa during the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. From 1652 to 1795, the Dutch East India Company controll ...
s", with the Ngwaketse living in the ruins. By the 1860s, Kanye had been rebuilt and was prospering as a trading centre for ivory, animal skins, and ostrich feathers.
Although Kanye had received semi-regular visits from missionaries, a formal mission was not established until 1871, when the
London Missionary Society
The London Missionary Society was an interdenominational evangelical missionary society formed in England in 1795 at the instigation of Welsh Congregationalist minister Edward Williams. It was largely Reformed in outlook, with Congregational miss ...
sent a representative.
In 1887, following the establishment of the
Bechuanaland Protectorate
The Bechuanaland Protectorate () was a British protectorate, protectorate established on 31 March 1885, by the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (later the United Kingdom, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland) in So ...
in 1885, a small British-run police station was established. In 1899, during the
Second Boer War
The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the Sout ...
, the Ngwaketse allied with the British, with Kanye at one stage hosting a 500-strong
column
A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression member. ...
under the command of Colonel
Herbert Plumer
Field Marshal Herbert Charles Onslow Plumer, 1st Viscount Plumer, (13 March 1857 – 16 July 1932) was a senior British Army officer of the First World War. After commanding V Corps at the Second Battle of Ypres in April 1915, he took command o ...
. In the early 20th century, Kanye became the first village in the Bechuanaland Protectorate to introduce irrigation projects and public
standpipes. An
asbestos
Asbestos () is a naturally occurring fibrous silicate mineral. There are six types, all of which are composed of long and thin fibrous crystals, each fibre being composed of many microscopic "fibrils" that can be released into the atmosphere b ...
mine opened in the 1920s.
Former Vice-President and 2nd
President of Botswana
The president of the Republic of Botswana is the head of state and the head of government of Botswana, as well as the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, according to the Constitution of Botswana.
The president is elected to a five-year t ...
,
Quett Masire
'Ketumile Quett Joni Masire'', GCMG (24 July 1926 – 22 June 2017) was the second and longest-serving President of Botswana, in office from 1980 to 1998. He was honored with the Knighthood of the Grand Cross of Saint Michael and Saint Ge ...
was born in Kanye on 24 July 1926 and was buried in his home village after his death on 22 June 2017.
Kanye Wards
![Kgotla Kgolo ya Bangwaketse 20200721](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/09/Kgotla_Kgolo_ya_Bangwaketse_20200721.jpg)
The village is divided into several wards. Each ward has a kgosana which is responsible for the cultural administration of the ward. The wards are further divided into small divisions that have headsmen. The following are some of the wards found in Kanye which are further divided into small wards
* Ntsweng
* Tloung
* Kgwatlheng
* Mongala
* Goolobeko
* Gasebako
* Kgatleng
* Sebego
* Gooruele
* Gookgano
Major facilities
* National Food Technology Researc
Centre* Mmakgodumo Dam
* Kanye education Centre
* Kanye Bridge
* Seepapitso Senior Secondary School
* Kanye Seventh Day Adventist Hospital
Government
Kanye and the surrounding area are divided into
two parliamentary constituencies, Kanye North and Kanye South, both of which elect a single member to the
National Assembly
In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repre ...
. During the general elections held in on 23 October 2019 to elect Member of Parliament and local government councillors, Hon. Thapelo H. Letsholo was elected as a member of parliament for Kanye North while Hon. Dr. L. Kwape was elected as member of parliament for Kanye Sout
The MPs are both for the Botswana Democratic Party. At the
Botswana general election, 2014, 2014 general election, Kanye North was won by
Patrick Ralotsia of the
Botswana Democratic Party
The Botswana Democratic Party ( abbr. BDP) is the governing party in Botswana. Its chairman is the Vice-President of Botswana, Slumber Tsogwane, and its symbol is a lift jack. The party has ruled Botswana continuously since gaining independenc ...
and Kanye South was won by
Abram Kesupile of the
Umbrella for Democratic Change
The Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) is an political alliance, alliance of centre-left to left-wing political parties in Botswana.
History
The UDC was founded in November 2012 by members from various opposition parties, including the Bot ...
.
Kanye Economy
Kanye is an urban village due to its population size and the definitions of a village as defined in the 2011 Population and Housing Census Report. A village is a settlement officially designated as such and has the Tribal Administration, the district Administration and the District Council. The village also has a tribal authority (a Chief, a Tribal Authority, ii Chief’s Representative or Headman) and availability of certain facilities such as schools, clinics or health centres, Police offices, water reticulation, et
Transportation
The main method of transport in and out of Kanye is via
Transport in Botswana, the highway system. Kanye is directly connected to Gaborone through the
A10 road, and the
A2 highway also passes through the village. The A2 forms part of the
Trans-Kalahari Corridor
The Trans-Kalahari Corridor is a paved highway corridor that provides a direct route from Walvis Bay and Windhoek in central Namibia, through Botswana, to Pretoria in Gauteng province in South Africa. It initially cost approximately 850 million Nam ...
, linking
Walvis Bay
Walvis Bay ( en, lit. Whale Bay; af, Walvisbaai; ger, Walfischbucht or Walfischbai) is a city in Namibia and the name of the bay on which it lies. It is the second largest city in Namibia and the largest coastal city in the country. The c ...
,
Namibia
Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...
, with
Pretoria
Pretoria () is South Africa's administrative capital, serving as the seat of the Executive (government), executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to South Africa.
Pretoria straddles the Apies River and extends ...
,
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...
. Kanye is additionally served by
Kanye Airport
Kanye Airport is an airport serving the town of Kanye, Botswana. The runway is south of the town.
See also
*
* Transport in Botswana
*List of airports in Botswana
This is a list of airports in Botswana, sorted by location.
Note: Only airp ...
, which is one of only two airports in Southern District (along with the private
Jwaneng Airport
Jwaneng Airport is an airport serving Jwaneng, a town in the Southern District of Botswana. It is owned by Debswana, which also owns the Jwaneng diamond mine. There is no scheduled airline service.
The Jwaneng non-directional beacon (Ident: JW ...
, which services the
Jwaneng diamond mine
The Jwaneng diamond mine is the richest diamond mine in the world and is located in south-central Botswana about west of the city of Gaborone, in the Naledi river valley of the Kalahari. Jwaneng, meaning "a place of small stones", is owned by ...
).
Notable people
*
Quett Masire
'Ketumile Quett Joni Masire'', GCMG (24 July 1926 – 22 June 2017) was the second and longest-serving President of Botswana, in office from 1980 to 1998. He was honored with the Knighthood of the Grand Cross of Saint Michael and Saint Ge ...
, former
President of Botswana
The president of the Republic of Botswana is the head of state and the head of government of Botswana, as well as the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, according to the Constitution of Botswana.
The president is elected to a five-year t ...
from 1980 to 1998
*
Archibald Mogwe
Archibald Mooketsa Mogwe (29 August 1921 – 25 February 2021) was a politician and diplomat in Botswana. A member of parliament from Kanye, Mogwe served as the Foreign Minister from 1974 to 1984, and as the Minister of Mineral Resources and W ...
, former
Foreign Minister of Botswana
Botswana's Ministry of Foreign Affairs is a department of the government of Botswana responsible for managing the country's diplomatic relations with other countries and international organizations. This mandate includes political, economic, an ...
from 1974 to 1985
*
Banjo Mosele, singer-songwriter who has toured with
Hugh Masekela
Hugh Ramapolo Masekela (4 April 1939 – 23 January 2018) was a South African trumpeter, flugelhornist, cornetist, singer and composer who was described as "the father of South African jazz". Masekela was known for his jazz compositions and for ...
*
'Makabelo Mosothoane, cabinet minister in
Lesotho
Lesotho ( ), officially the Kingdom of Lesotho, is a country landlocked country, landlocked as an Enclave and exclave, enclave in South Africa. It is situated in the Maloti Mountains and contains the Thabana Ntlenyana, highest mountains in Sou ...
*
Barolong Seboni, poet and columnist for the ''
Botswana Guardian
The ''Botswana Guardian'' is an English language weekly newspaper published in Gaborone.The paper was started in 1982. It is published by CBET Ltd. on Thursdays.
See also
* ''Azhizhi''
* '' The Voice Botswana''
* ''Mmegi''
* ''The Botswana Ga ...
''
Barolong Seboni's CV
BAROLONG SEBONI. Retrieved 15 October 2016.
* Kgotso Tshenyego, author and television host
References
{{Authority control
Populated places in Botswana
District capitals in Botswana
Southern District (Botswana)
1790s establishments in Africa