Murder in Nata: Landscapes of colonial justice and authority in colonial Bechuanaland

In October 1944 two RAF pilots landed in a sparsely populated area of Botswana and disappeared. The ensuing murder investigation highlighted the British colonial states’ efforts to centralize authority to meet wartime labor needs. The murder trial meant to showcase the colonial state’s adherence to rule of law served only to demonstrate the limits of the state’s local knowledge and dependence on the Bamangwato. While the court ultimately acquitted the accused Tyua men, colonial development in the form of forced settlement and expanded cattle production brought the Tyua more firmly under the authority of both the British colonial and Bamangwato state.