Background
Moleleki Didwell MOKAMA was born on February 2, 1933, son of a peasant farmer at Maunatlala, a small village 90 miles east of Serowe.
Moleleki Didwell MOKAMA was born on February 2, 1933, son of a peasant farmer at Maunatlala, a small village 90 miles east of Serowe.
Educated at a local primary school then Moeng College until 1952 when he went to Tiger Kloof Institution, Vriburg, South Africa.
He represented Botswana in France, Germany, Norway, Denmark and Sweden. He developed his government’s legal services in the finest traditions of the law, building up the Attorney-General’s department from a staff of four to 50.
His negotiation of a minerals exploitation agreement for the Shashe Project on March 7, 1972, assured the development of Botswana’s wealth. For five months he took on the challenge of international company lawyers and successfully secured the best terms.
In 1955 he began working as a government clerk at Serowe while waiting for a scholarship. Although he wanted to study law he had to take English in order to get a government grant since the main priority was finding more teachers. After obtaining his BA in 1958, he was barred from teaching and resumed work as a clerk at £10 a month while other graduates were being recruited for teaching at £100 a month.
An Oppenheimer scholarship for £300 to study law at Witwatersrand University was blocked by the South African government refusing an entry permit. The foundation raised it to £3,000 to send him to England but the Protectorate government intervened and put up the money.
Admitted to the Inner Temple, London in April 1959 he was called to the Bar in December 1962 and worked in chambers with Sir Dingle Foot. He spent 12 months at the Old Bailey on criminal cases then he went home to establish himself as the first Botswana Crown Counsellor at Mafeking.
In 1965 he moved to Gaborone and after independence on September 30, 1966, he was sent to organise the main diplomatic mission as High Commissioner to London. Returning home to become Attorney-General on July 1, 1969, he began to build up a strong government legal department. He made his mark at Commonwealth Law conferences—in New Delhi in January 1971 and in London in January 1973.
Tall and intense sometimes becoming wound up by the pressure of work—he relaxes by going off to the Kalahari desert to shoot wild animals.
From the farmer family.