Battle of Dimawe

Battle of Dimawe
Date August 1852 (1852-08) over the course of 3–7 days Location Dimawe Hill, outside Mmankgodi, Kweneng District, 30 kilometres (19 mi) from Gaborone, Botswana 24°45′43″S 25°37′49″E / 24.76194°S 25.63028°E / -24.76194; 25.63028Coordinates: 24°45′43″S 25°37′49″E / 24.76194°S 25.63028°E / -24.76194; 25.63028 Result Batswana victory
Belligerents
Various Batswana (Bakwena, Batlokwa, Balete, and Bahurutshe) tribal warriors	Voortrekkers
Commanders and leaders
Kgosi Setshele I	Andries Pretorius
Strength
	400 men
Casualties and losses
60 dead	28 dead
Location within Botswana

The Battle of Dimawe was fought between several Batswana tribes and the Boers in August 1852. Under the command of Kgosi Setshele I of the Bakwena tribe, the Batswana defended Dimawe Hill and the Bahurutshe tribe against Boer troops.

At the time, Boer farmers used the Bahurutshe as slaves on their corn fields around Bloemfontein. A group of Bahurutshe, led by Kgosi Manyana Mangope, escaped and fled north to seek help from Setshele I and the Bakwena tribe in Manyana. The Bakwena and other surrounding tribes were recovering from attacks in the 1830s by the Zulu Kingdom as they moved towards present-day Zimbabwe. The Boers followed the Bahurutshe into Bakwena territory and asked for Kgosi Mangope's whereabouts.

According to the grandson of Kgosi Mangope, when a Boer delegation asked about Mangope, Kgosi Setshele said, "I have eaten him and he is right inside me. You have to open me to get him." Setshele then demanded that the Boers take off their shoes when speaking to a kgosi. Once they did, the Bakwena attacked, and since the ground was rough, the Boers had a hard time escaping and were killed.

The Bakwena had knowledge of the surrounding hilltops and used them as watchtowers and hiding places. When the Boers were spotted, Kgosi Setshele ordered the women and children to hide; Setshele's own pregnant wife was hidden in Mmasechele Cave several kilometers away. The Boers stole cattle and wagons, and raided both Bakwena and English homes, including the house of David Livingstone at the Kolobeng Mission. As the Boer troops climbed the hills, Setshele's warriors rolled large stones down the hillside to crush the Boers.

The battle lasted between 3 and 7 days. David Livingstone wrote that the Boers captured hundreds of women and children before the Tswana stopped fighting, but today, historians believe that the Tswana won by using Setshele's large gun stockpile.

After the battle, the Tswana tribes split; the Bakwena travelled to Ditlhakane and Dithubaruba while the Bathurutshe finally settled in the Kolobeng River valley around Dimawe Hill.