Khama is probably best remembered for having made three crucial decisions during his tenure as King. First, although he abolished the bogwera ceremony itself, Khama retained the mephato regiments as a source of free labor for a variety of economic and religious purposes. The scope of a mephato's work responsibilities would later expand considerably under the rule of Khama's son
Tshekedi into the building of primary schools, grain silos, water reticulation systems, and even a college named Moeng located on the outskirts of Serowe, which under Khama's reign had become the Bamangwato capital. In concert with the mephato, Khama introduced a host of European technological improvements in Bamangwato territory, including the mogoma, or oxen-drawn moldboard
plow (in place of the hand hoe) and wagons for transport (in place of sledges). Bangwato men and women were required to participate in assigned work projects when their regiments were called to service. Such mephato were literally called upon: an appointed person from the village would climb to the top of Serowe Hill and literally yell out the name of the mephato that was scheduled to begin work. All members of the mephato would drop whatever they were doing and begin their six-month tour of duty, without any material support from the village (in particular without any organized contribution of food). The mephato was generally expected to fend for itself during its work assignment. After Khama became kgosi (king) in 1875, after overthrowing his father
Sekgoma and elbowing away his brother
Kgamane his ascension came at a time of great dangers and opportunities. Ndebele incursions from the north (from what is now
Zimbabwe), Boer and "mixed" trekkers from the south, and
German forces from the West, all hoping to the seize his territory and its hinterlands. He answered these challenges by aligning his state with the administrative aims of the British, which provided him with cover and support, and, relatedly, by energetically expanding his own control over a much wider area than any kgosi before him. Converting to Christianity moved him to criminalize sectarianism and to deprecate the institutions favored by traditionalists. At Khama's request stringent laws were passed against the importation of alcohol. To enforce the alcohol ban whites were banished from his kingdom. The British government itself was of two minds as to what to do with the territory. One faction, supported by a local missionary named
John Mackenzie, advocated the establishment of a protectorate, while another faction, headed by
Cecil Rhodes, adopted a more assertive stance and demanded that the country be opened up to European settlement and economic exploitation. The resolution came in 1885, when the territory south of the
Molopo River became the colony of British Bechuanaland, while the territory north of the river became the
Bechuanaland Protectorate. The colony was eventually incorporated into Britain's
Cape Colony and is now part of
South Africa. Rhodes continued his campaign to pressure his government to annex what remained of Khama's territory. In 1895, with two other chiefs from neighboring tribes,
Bathoen I and
Sebele I, Khama traveled to Britain to lobby the
Queen for protection from the dual pressures of Cecil Rhodes' British South Africa Company – located in what was later to become Rhodesia to the north – and the Afrikaner settlers creeping up from the south. Because the trip was missionary-organized, Khama's Christianity was made the centerpiece of the campaign. The Chiefs traveled widely across Britain speaking to large evangelical audiences. Not only was Khama's biography written at this time, but he received large amounts of other press that cemented his legend as an African Christian. The journey to Britain by the three Tswana kings eventually proved successful following the ill-fated
Jameson Raid of 1896, when Rhodes' reputation was ruined. Had Khama and his compatriots been unable to convince the British authorities of the need to protect the Bamangwato prior to the Jameson Raid fiasco, it is very likely that much of what is today Botswana would have been absorbed into
Rhodesia and
South Africa. Khama III was steadfast in imposing his Christianized will on the tribe. He promoted schools and gave preference to hiring educated Christians. He banned alcohol from tribal lands (with varying success), put moratoriums on the sale of cattle outside the Bamangwato territory and tribal land as concessions to foreign mining and cattle interests, and abolished polygamy. The abolishment of polygamy was perhaps his most controversial move. Some argue that as Christianity later spread among the other tribes of the protectorate and polygamy was universally abolished, the societal 'glue' that kept families together (extended as they were through polygamy) dried up. ==Legacy==