THE NGWATO OF BECHUANALAND PROTECTORATE 79
t)f repository of wealth apd dispenser of gifts, and so of yet another important sanction for his authority.
In the last resort, the power of the chief rests upon his personal -character. Political life is so organized that effective government can result only from harmonious co-operation between him and his people. l Kgosi ke kgosi ka moraje\ says the proverb ('The chief is chief by grace of the tribe'). Even in the olden days, despite the fact that control over almost every aspect of tribal life was concentrated in his hands, and that his power was in consequence very considerable, he was seldom absolute ruler and autocratic despot. In order to get anything done, he must first gain the support of his advisers and other headmen, who thus played an important part in restraining his more arbitrary impulses. Any attempt to act without them would lead to obstruction, if not to open revolt. A forceful and energetic man like Kgama could succeed in dominating his subjects and ruling in effect as a dictator—but at the cost of some painful disputes with his closest relatives. On the other hand, a weak chief like his son, Sekgoma II, became the virtual puppet of certain royal headmen, whose influence over him created an opposition which led to much subsequent trouble.
Tribal politics is in fact made up to a considerable extent of quarrels between the chief and his near relatives, and of their intrigues against one another to command his favour. As we have seen, they are entitled by custom to advise and assist him in his conduct of public affairs, and they actively resent any failure on his part to give them what they regard as their due. Since the time when Kgama, as a newly converted Christian, incurred the active hostility of his father (Sekgoma I), the tribe has been rent with dissensions in the royal family. Kgama, after expelling his father from the chieftainship, quarrelled successively with his own brother, Kgamane, his half-brothers, Mphoeng and Rradit-ladi, and his son, Sekgoma, all of whom were banished from the Reserve with their followers; while his increasing reliance first upon his son-in-law, Ratshosa, and then upon the latter's sons, John and Simon, alienated other royal headmen. Sekgoma, restored to favour after twenty years, became Chief in 1923; and soon, instigated mainly by the Ratshosa group, banished Phethu, son of Mphoeng. Phethu was pardoned shortly afterwards, and on his return began plotting against the Ratshosas. Tshekedi's accession in February, 1926, gave him his opportunity, and a