Semane Setlhoko Khama

Semane Setlhoko Khama (1881-1937) was the mohumagadi (queen or queen mother) of the BaNgwato of the Bechuanaland Protectorate, now Botswana, and the fourth and final wife of king Khama III. She married him in 1900. She had five children, three of whom died young, and one of whom, Tshekedi, was regent of the BaNgwato from 1925 to 1950. She was a Christian and a member of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, to which in 1933 she brought in the highest number of recruits. She also created a branch of the WCTU called the Women's Regiment of Beer. She preached to women and men in the central village meeting place, which until then had been a male political place. She increased women's activism and membership in the church, and conducted church-related classes and taught women how to conduct their own classes. She also promoted modern medicine and midwifery.