Ntebogang Ratshosa

Ntebogang Ratshosa (1882–1979) was motshwareledi (regent) of the BaNgwaketse, one of the eight clans of present-day Botswana, from 1924 to 1928. She was the first woman to serve on the Native Advisory Council of Botswana.

Biography Ntebogang was born in 1882. Her parents were Gagoangwe and Bathoen I. Her parents eloped together in 1875 and married in a Christian church in 1890. Raised as a Christian, Ntebogang also received a formal education. Her siblings included future king Seepapitso II, who was murdered by their brother Moepapitso in 1916. As a result, their mother Gagoangwe had Moepapitso put to death, and Gagoangwe assumed the regency whilst Seepapitso II's son Bathoen II was underage. This brought stability to the kingdom after three rulers in seven years. She enforced public codes of conduct, including banning the sale of fermented sorghum liquor. She organised an extensive well-digging programme, which provided water which could dilute insecticides, as well as water for the oxen that pulled the wagons of the anti-locust teams.

Politics Ntebogang was the first woman to serve on the Native Advisory Council. She was outspoken there, particularly against the threat that her land in Bechuanaland might be subsumed into the Union of South Africa.

Resistance to the British Protectorate Alongside other chiefs, Ntebogang stood up to the Resident Magistrate, appointed by the British. In 1927 she protested alongside other chiefs against the Native Marriage Proclamation, which decreed that for those married under the Christian faith or British law it was the magistrate, not the chief, who had jurisdiction over the division of property in the case of divorce or death.

Ntebogang died in 1979. She had continued to advise Bathoen II throughout his rule and had remained a staunch member of the Seventh Day Adventist Church.

Personal life Ntebogang was the second wife of Ratshosa Motswetle, with whom she had three children. After he died in 1917, she returned to GaNgwaketse, to support her mother and nephew.

Ntebogang joined the Seventh-day Adventist Church in 1923, having been brought up in a different denomination.