13 July 1980 - Death of Sir Seretse Khama

Sir Seretse Khama, president of Botswana, died in office of pancreatic cancer on 13 July 1980.

Khama, whose first name means "the clay that binds together", was the first president of an independent Republic of Botswana (30 September 1966), and was re-elected twice. As a highly regarded nationalist leader, Khama used his influence with the country's various ethnic groups and traditional chiefs to create a strong, democratic government.

During his rule Botswana had the most rapidly growing economy of the world (remember it started very low) and the discovery of diamond deposits allowed the government to finance the creation of a new social infrastructure.

"We stand virtually alone in our belief that a non-racial society can work now, but there are those .. who will be only too delighted to see our experiment fail."

Find out more about Sir Seretse Kahama.