Seepapitso III Bathoen Gaseitsiwe[a] (1884–1916) was the chief, or kgosi, of the Bangwaketse in the Bechuanaland Protectorate (present-day Botswana) from 1910 until his assassination in 1916.
Becoming kgosi upon the death of his father, Bathoen I. Seepapitso implemented legal and economic reforms and began several development projects, giving him a reputation as a moderniser.
He created a more bureaucratic system of government to facilitate his reforms, and he became known for his detailed record keeping of meetings and trials.
Seepapitso implemented several levies to fund his projects and was strict with enforcement of the law, causing discontent with some of the tribe's headmen.
[6] He also had two older half-siblings on his mother's side: a half-brother Baitirile and a half-sister Maserame, children of kgosi Pilane of the Bakgatla.
[3] In the final months of his father's reign, Seepapitso began taking notes on the proceedings of the tribe's formal meetings, the kgotla.
[3] He could fluently speak and read English, allowing him to engage efficiently with the British colonial government of the Bechuanaland Protectorate where the Bangwaketse were located.
[14] When he became kgosi, he faced a religious dispute between the London Missionary Society and the Ngwaketse free school that split from it, led by Mothowagae Motlogelwa.
He sent several wards to settle in areas around the outer edges of the tribe's territory, beginning with Mahubaakgama in 1913, followed by dispatches to Dagawana, Gathwane, Khakhea, and Kokong in 1915.
[16] He was one of several dikgosi to protest the proposal to assimilate the Bechuanaland Protectorate into the Union of South Africa, which had previously been a major issue during his father's reign.
[1][18][5][19] He believed that European technology could work alongside tribal law and traditions to bring prosperity to the Batswana.
[16] He oversaw the construction of the Makgodumo dam in 1913, and through his efforts to sink boreholes, Kanye became the first village with standpipes in the protectorate.
[6] He was the first Motswana kgosi to keep minutes at kgotla meetings,[5] and he personally recorded the happenings of court cases he oversaw.
[22] He hired the trader Richard Montshiwa Rowland to organise his development projects and implement economic reforms.
[33] When the kgotla meeting began that evening, Moepitso and one other tribal leader in attendance spurned Seepapitso by leaving while he was speaking.
[11] Moepitso's displeasure with the allocation of his father's inheritance may have been a factor, or he may have been jealous of his brother's broader success in life.
[25] Some historians, such as Yonah Matemba, propose that Moepitso killed Seepapitso at the behest of Bangwaketse tribal leaders who felt threatened by the kgosi and his modernisation reforms.
[38] Bathoen II became kgosi with the end of the regency on 13 April 1928, and during his reign he revitalised many of Seepapitso's projects and reforms.