Lenyeletse Seretse

Mpetwane Lenyeletse Seretse (born June 25, 1920 - January 3, 1983 ) was a Botswana politician of the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP).

Life

Seretse came from an influential Bamangwato family and had been a close friend and political ally of his cousin Seretse Khama since his youth . During Khama's exile in London , he led a group of young, well-educated Bamangwato who campaigned for his return. In addition, he was committed to liberal issues such as the ban on reservations and the end of the religious monopoly of the London Missionary Society (LMS). He was also a supporter of the trade unions and organizer of the Bechuanaland Protectorate Worker's Union (BPWU) in Serowe . In addition, he organized sports and social clubs, which often served as forums for political debates. He was a co-founder of the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) and was Khama's key figure in Serowe.

In 1964 Seretse was elected tribal secretary of the Bamangwato and in 1969 for the BDP for the first time a member of the National Assembly, of which he belonged until his death in 1983. In 1974 he was accepted into the government of President Seretse Khama, where he was minister of health, minister of agriculture and minister of local government and land. After Khama's death on July 13, 1980, he took over the office of Vice-President of Botswana from the current President Quett Masire and held this position until his death on January 3, 1983, whereupon Peter Mmusi succeeded him.

Web links

• Fred Morton, Jeff Ramsay, Part Themba Mgadla: Historical Dictionary of Botswana , Scarecrow Press, Lanham, Maryland / Oxford 2008, p. 190, ISBN 0-8108-6404-5 .