Philip Parcel Goanwe Matante (25 December 1912 – 25 October 1979) was a Motswana nationalist and founder of the Botswana People's Party.
He served with the African Auxiliary Pioneer Corps in World War II, in which he was one of the few people in the British army outside of nobility to hold the rank of sergeant.
With the party, he railed against the British protectorate over the region, describing it as racist and attributing the people's problems to its structure.
[3] When this did not occur, he concluded that "the Protectorate will not be able to attain independence by any save revolutionary means", and he allegedly built a small guerrilla force to carry this out.
[2] Once elected to parliament, Matante and the BPP reversed their position on full independence, arguing that the process should take place gradually so as not to cause civil unrest.
[citation needed] Matante is associated with his use of West African imagery, such as robes from the region and the symbol of a Ghanaian black star.