Kanye is a village in southern
Botswana
Botswana, officially the Republic of Botswana, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory part of the Kalahari Desert. It is bordered by South Africa to the sou ...
, located south-west of the capital,
Gaborone
Gaborone ( , , ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Botswana, largest city of Botswana, with a population of 246,325 based on the 2022 census, about 10% of the total population of Botswana. Its metropolitan area is home to 534, ...
. It is the administrative centre of the
Southern District, and had a population of 48,028 as of the 2022 Population and Housing Census. This is an increase compared to the 45,196 of the
2011 census, making it the ninth-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 semiarid climate, semiarid sandy savanna in Southern Africa covering including much of Botswana as well as parts of Namibia and South Africa.
It is not to be confused with the Angolan, Namibian, and South African ...
. The hills extend into the
Bushveld
The Bushveld (from Afrikaans: ''bosveld'', Afrikaans: ''bos'' 'bush' and ) is a Tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands, sub-tropical woodland ecoregion of Southern Africa. The ecoregion straddles the Tropic of Capricorn ...
region of South Africa.
The most notable hill in Kanye is Kgwakgwe hill.
There are reports of
Manganese
Manganese is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Mn and atomic number 25. It is a hard, brittle, silvery metal, often found in minerals in combination with iron. Manganese was first isolated in the 1770s. It is a transition m ...
mineralization at Kgwakgwe Hill valued at over 3 billion US dollars, and Giyani Metals is expected to begin mining operations by 2026.
There is a deep natural gorge called Pharing Gorge in the village, which was reputedly used as a hiding place for villagers during the
Mfecane
The Mfecane, also known by the Sesotho names Difaqane or Lifaqane (all meaning "crushing," "scattering," "forced dispersal," or "forced migration"), was a historical period of heightened military conflict and migration associated with state fo ...
wars of the 19th century.
Kanye also has two natural dams: Mmamokhasi Dam and Mmakgodumo Dam.
History
Kanye was established in the 1790s by Makaba, the
paramount chief
A paramount chief is the English-language designation for a king or queen or the highest-level political leader in a regional or local polity or country administered politically with a Chiefdom, chief-based system. This term is used occasionally ...
of the
Ngwaketse (a tribe of the larger
Tswana people
The Batswana (, singular ''Motswana'') are a Bantu peoples, Bantu Ethnic groups in South Africa, ethnic group native to Southern Africa that are descendants of King Looe (Lowe) who established the Hurutshi tribe in Southern Africa (linguistic ...
). He moved his tribe to Kanye after losing a battle to the nearby
Kwena tribe, fortifying the existing Kanye Hill with stone walls. In about 1798, Kanye was attacked by an alliance of
Rolong and
Griquas
The Griquas are a subgroup of mixed-race heterogeneous formerly-Xiri-speaking nations in South Africa with a unique origin in the early history of the Dutch Cape Colony. Text was copied from this source, which is available under a Creative Comm ...
, but the Ngwaketse were able to repel 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 semiarid climate, semiarid sandy savanna in Southern Africa covering including much of Botswana as well as parts of Namibia and South Africa.
It is not to be confused with the Angolan, Namibian, and South African ...
from south to north, beginning in Kanye and ending at
Lake Ngami.
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 ( ; ; ) are the descendants of the proto Afrikaans-speaking Free Burghers of the eastern Cape frontier in Southern Africa during the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. From 1652 to 1795, the Dutch East India Company controlled the Dutch ...
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 tradition, Reformed in outlook, with ...
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 in Southern Africa by the United Kingdom. It became the Botswana, Republic of Botswana on 30 September 1966.
History
Scottish missionary ...
in 1885, a small British-run police station was established. In 1899, during the
Second Boer War
The Second Boer War (, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, Transvaal War, Anglo–Boer War, or South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer republics (the South African Republic and ...
, 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. 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 group of naturally occurring, Toxicity, toxic, carcinogenic and fibrous silicate minerals. There are six types, all of which are composed of long and thin fibrous Crystal habit, crystals, each fibre (particulate with length su ...
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 Botswana Defence Force, according to the Constitution. The president is elected by the National A ...
,
Quett Masire was born in Kanye on 24 July 1926 and was buried in his home village after his death on 22 June 2017.
Subdivisions

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 Research Centre
* Mmakgodumo Dam
* Kanye Education Centre
* Kanye Brigade
* Seepapitso Senior Secondary School
* Kanye Seventh Day Adventist Hospital
*Maranatha Academy of Excellence
Government
Kanye and the surrounding area are divided into
two parliamentary constituencies,
Kanye East and
Kanye West
Ye ( ; born Kanye Omari West ; June 8, 1977) is an American rapper, singer and record producer. One of the most prominent figures in hip-hop, he is known for his varying musical style and polarizing cultural and political commentary. After ...
, 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 repr ...
. These constituencies were renamed from their original names of Kanye North and Kanye South in 2024 following boundary changes. During the
2019 general election,
Thapelo Letsholo was elected as a member of parliament for Kanye North while
Lemogang Kwape was elected as member of parliament for Kanye South. They are both members of the
Botswana Democratic Party
The Botswana Democratic Party (Abbreviation, abbr. BDP, colloquially known as Domkrag) is a centre-right politics, centre-right political party in Botswana. From the country's 1965 Bechuanaland general election, inaugural election in 1965 until th ...
. At the
2014 general election, Kanye North was won by
Patrick Ralotsia of the
Botswana Democratic Party
The Botswana Democratic Party (Abbreviation, abbr. BDP, colloquially known as Domkrag) is a centre-right politics, centre-right political party in Botswana. From the country's 1965 Bechuanaland general election, inaugural election in 1965 until th ...
and Kanye South was won by
Abram Kesupile of the
Umbrella for Democratic Change. At the
2024 general election, both constituencies returned members of the
Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC), respectively Mogorosi Mosanana and Victor Phologolo.
Economy
Kanye is classified as an urban village due to its population size and the definition of a village as defined in the 2011 Population and Housing Census Report. A village is a settlement officially designated as such and has a Tribal Administration, a District Administration and a District Council. The village also has a tribal authority (a Chief, a Tribal Authority, and two Chief’s Representative or Headman) and availability of certain facilities such as schools, clinics or health centres, police offices, water reticulation, etc.
Transportation
The main method of transport in and out of Kanye is via
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 the port of Walvis Bay and Windhoek in central Namibia, through Botswana, to Pretoria in Gauteng province in South Africa. It initially cost approximately 8 ...
, linking
Walvis Bay
Walvis Bay (; ; ) is a city in Namibia and the name of the bay on which it lies. It is the List of cities in Namibia, second largest city in Namibia and the largest coastal city in the country. The city covers an area of of land.
The bay is a ...
,
Namibia
Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country on the west coast of Southern Africa. Its borders include the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south; in the no ...
, with
Pretoria
Pretoria ( ; ) is the Capital of South Africa, administrative capital of South Africa, serving as the seat of the Executive (government), executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to the country.
Pretoria strad ...
,
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...
. Kanye is additionally served by
Kanye Airport , which is one of only two airports in Southern District (along with the private
Jwaneng Airport, which services the
Jwaneng diamond mine).
Notable people
*
Quett Masire, 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 Botswana Defence Force, according to the Constitution. The president is elected by the National A ...
from 1980 to 1998
*
Archibald Mogwe, former
Foreign Minister of Botswana from 1974 to 1985
*
Banjo Mosele, singer-songwriter who has toured with
Hugh Masekela
*
'Makabelo Mosothoane, cabinet minister in
Lesotho
Lesotho, formally the Kingdom of Lesotho and formerly known as Basutoland, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Entirely surrounded by South Africa, it is the largest of only three sovereign enclave and exclave, enclaves in the world, t ...
*
Barolong Seboni, poet and columnist for the ''
Botswana Guardian''
Barolong Seboni's CV
BAROLONG SEBONI. Retrieved 15 October 2016.
* Kgotso Tshenyego, author and television host
* Letsile Tebogo, sprinter, Olympic Gold medal 200 m, Paris 2024.
References
{{Authority control
District capitals in Botswana
Southern District (Botswana)
1790s establishments in Africa