Three Dikgosi Monument

The Three Dikgosi Monument stands in the Central Business District as Gaborone's most significant public sculpture. Three bronze figures, each 5.4 metres tall on a 7-metre total structure, represent Khama III of the Bangwato, Sebele I of the Bakwena, and Bathoen I of the Bangwaketse — the three chiefs who travelled to London in 1895 to argue their case directly to the British government.

Six inscribed plinths surrounding the statues chronicle Botswana's history from the 1800s through independence. The monument was inaugurated on 29 September 2005 by President Festus Mogae, and Botswana's coat of arms is displayed prominently at its base. Interestingly, the construction contract was awarded to a North Korean state company, Mansudae Overseas Projects, which drew criticism from local sculptors and from minority ethnic groups who felt the monument celebrated Tswana identity at the expense of other Botswana peoples.

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A story
In 1895, chiefs Khama III, Sebele I, and Bathoen I sailed to Britain on their own initiative to petition Queen Victoria and Colonial Secretary Joseph Chamberlain. They were worried that the Bechuanaland Protectorate would be handed over to Cecil Rhodes and his British South Africa Company. After a remarkable lobbying campaign that included speaking tours across Britain, they succeeded — the territory remained under direct Crown control rather than being absorbed into Rhodes's empire. Without their intervention, modern Botswana would almost certainly have become part of Zimbabwe or South Africa.