Motsamai Keyecwe Mpho was Botswanian politician and the leader of Independence Party of Botswana.
Background
Ethnicity:
His family came from non-Setswana-speaking ethnic group
Motsamai Keyecwe Mpho was born in Botswana (then Bechuanaland). Motsamai Keyecwe Mpho was born to a peasant family in Maun Bechuanaland (now Botswana) on 3 February 1921. His family came from a non-Setswana-speaking ethnic group, the Wayeyi. Mpho attended Moremi Primary School in Maun, and after completion went to further his education in South Africa at Tiger Kloof, Vyrburg, matriculating in 1944.
Education
Mpho attended Moremi Primary School in Maun, and after completion went to further his education in South Africa at Tiger Kloof, Vyrburg, matriculating in 1944.
Career
On his return to South Africa in 1948 to seek work, he found a job in the gold mines and then became a clerk with the Christian Council of South Africa at Roodeport, 15 miles west of Johannesburg. Later he was employed as a messenger clerk at Johannesburg’s College of Accountancy.
Politically, he made his mark first in 1953 as secretary of the ANC branch at Roodeport and as ANC organiser for the West Rand in South Africa. Clashes with the police over the distribution of pamphlets urging the overthrow of the South African government led to his arrest in December 1956 charged with treason. With 153 others on the same charge, he was freed in December 1957. Arrested again in April 1960 under the emergency regulations, he was deported from South Africa to Botswana in August 1960.
Although he helped Matante found the Bechuanaland People's Party and became its secretary-general, differences developed which led to a split 18 months later when he formed his own party. He was expelled from the BPP in July 1962 amid a bitter exchange of charge and counter-charge over his Communist associations and the way he handled the party funds.
His Independence Party gathered enough support for 24 seats to be contested at the elections in March 1965 but not a single seat was won. At the elections in October 1969 the party established itself in Parliament by winning one of the nine seats contested. It was a personal triumph for Mpho who defeated Tsheko Tsheko the Minister of Agriculture at Okovango. His visits to Russia and China have aroused accusations that he has links with the Communists—a charge he denies vehemently.
Membership
Bechuanaland People's Party
,
Botswana
1969
Botswana Independence Party (BIP).
,
Botswana
1969
Parliament for the Okavango Constituency
,
Botswana
1969 - 1979
Connections
While in detention in Pretoria Prison, Mpho married his wife Onalepelo Hannah Macheng on 7 July 1960.