Fatshe leno la rona

[5] Despite its popularity, "Fatshe leno la rona" was reportedly not the frontrunner because its composer – Kgalemang Tumediso Motsete,[6][7] who possessed "a music degree from London"[5] – was the co-founder and leader of the opposition Botswana People's Party (BPP),[5][8][9] which at the time was a radical faction.

[7] Instead, the government wanted to maintain "Morena boloka Sechaba sa Etsho" ("Lord protect the nation of the world") as the anthem after independence.

In an interview with the national newspaper Mmegi, fellow BPP co-founder Motsamai Mpho stated that "Fatshe leno la rona" was written in 1962.

Indeed, Mpho asserts that himself, Motsete, and three others affiliated with the BPP were the first people to sing the anthem while returning home on a flight from a Pan-Africanist conference held in Accra that same year.

[8] According to the biographer of Gobe Matenge, a former Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs, he was one of several civil servants – including the future vice president Peter Mmusi – that compelled the Motswana government to adopt "Fatshe leno la rona" as the anthem of the independent nation.

[5] In order to ascertain the opinion of the general public on the matter, the government transmitted all of the contending hymns over Radio Botswana.

[5] However, Matenge's group was able to obtain recordings of these songs for themselves and air them in front of quasi-town hall gatherings held in major settlements like Lobatse, Molepolole, and Mafikeng, in addition to the capital Gaborone.

[10] They strategically played "Fatshe leno la rona" as the last song – which in theory would increase the likelihood that the audience would remember the tune[5] – while having their organisers add words of praise for it in an attempt to sway the crowd's opinion in favour of that hymn.

[5][10] At the end of the exercise, they would circulate a boilerplate form letter articulating the author's viewpoint of "Fatshe leno la rona" being their favourite candidate for national anthem.

He insists that stories about how the government was pressured into ratifying "Fatshe leno la rona" are simply inaccurate, especially in light of the fact that the civil servants who supposedly did this were merely "junior executive officers" at the time.

[6][2] One of the first public occasions where the anthem was played was at the flag hoisting ceremony at midnight on 30 September 1966,[1] marking the end of British rule over Botswana.

[13] The lyrics of "Fatshe leno la rona" alludes to God and his standing as the bestower of the nation's land.