HC Deb 25 July 1951 vol 491 cc67-8W
94. Mr. J. Hynd

asked the Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations whether permission has now been given to Tshekedi Khama to return to Bamangwato territory; and why, when he does so with official permission, it will be necessary to present him with a notice of expulsion on his arrival.

Mr. Gordon-Walker

As I explained in reply to the hon. Member for Blackpool, North (Mr. Low) on 12th July, arrangements for the kgotla that the Government will invite the Bamangwato people to hold, including the question of Tshekedi Khama's entry into the Reserve and attendance at the kgotla, will be discussed with tribal representatives as soon as the observers from the United Kingdom have arrived in the Reserve. The observers left the United Kingdom yesterday by air. The exclusion order will be served to preserve thestatus quo pending the arrangements to hold the proposed kgotla. This is particularly necessary in present conditions in the Reserve in the interests of peace and good order as well as in Tshekedi Khama's own interests.

But as I have, on several occasions, made clear in the House, the order will not operate as a bar to his entry into the Reserve to attend the proposed kgotla. I have informed Tshekedi Khama that when arrangements have been made for holding the proposed kgotla the exclusion order will be waived to enable him to enter the Reserve for the period before the kgotla and for the kgotla itself. I have also suggested to Tshekedi Khama that, to avoid subsequent delay, he would be well advised to be in the Protectorate about the same time as the observers arrived. I made an airplane booking to enable him to do so.