The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency

The history and culture of Botswana are integral to the background and themes of The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency. Botswana is a country in southern Africa, sparsely populated outside urban areas, and renowned for its landscape defined by the Kalahari Desert. With a rich history and cultural identity stretching back millennia, Botswana, like all countries in the region, was affected by European colonial influence, occupation, and systems of government from the mid-1800s until the mid-1900s.

The Tswana people are an ethnic group native to southern Africa and who now constitute approximately 79% of the population of Botswana. One of the distinctive features of Botswana’s society is that it preserves relatively strong elements of pre-colonial Tswana culture and continuity, as compared to neighboring countries. Historically, the Tswana people were organized into a series of chiefdoms, each led by a central chief known as a Kgosi. These chiefs played a pivotal role in maintaining social order, resolving disputes, and preserving cultural heritage. In the late 19th century, European colonial powers began to exert influence in southern Africa, leading to the colonization of nearby territories, such as South Africa and Zimbabwe. Botswana avoided direct colonization through negotiations with colonial officials, leading to the establishment of the British Bechuanaland Protectorate in 1885. As a protectorate, rather than a colony, Botswana maintained a relative degree of independence, and the Tswana people officially continued to rule themselves under the leadership of their Kgosi. Although Botswana was a “protectorate” and not a “colony” before independence in 1964, British colonialism did have a significant and problematic effect on Botswana, as on the wider region, effects that are explored in the novel.

Botswana gained full independence from Britain in 1966, under the leadership of its first president, Sir Seretse Khama, the grandson of Kgosi Khama III. The nation’s diamond and mining industries laid the foundation for rapid economic growth through the 20th century. Botswana is largely a thriving nation today: It has a record of uninterrupted democratic elections since independence and has a robust economy when compared to developing nations globally. This national stability is referenced often in the novel as a point of pride.

Botswana law enshrines religious freedoms and a number of world religions are practiced by its citizens. Approximately 70% of Botswanans self-identify as Christian, although traditional Christian observance has fallen in recent decades, reflecting global trends: 20% of Botswanans identify as having no religion. The role of religion and varied views of it as a cultural and moral force are explored in the novel.

The term “medicine murder” refers to the practice of killing individuals in order to obtain their body parts—such as bones, organs, or hair—for ritualistic purposes. Practitioners believe that these body parts enhance the efficacy of traditional medicines, known as muti. In 1994, a 14-year-old schoolgirl named Segametsi Mogomotsi was murdered in Mochudi, Botswana. Her body was found with certain vital organs missing, and the killing was widely assumed to be an instance of medicine murder. When the police investigation failed to identify her killer, students at Mogomotsi’s school organized protests across Mochudi and into the capital, Gaborone, bringing the incident a considerable amount of national and international attention. McCall Smith has identified the murder of Segametsi Mogomotsi as an influence for the muti subplot in The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency. (“The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency”, Marlowes, 2023).

Although medicine murder has been illegal and widely condemned in Botswana prior to Independence, the unresolved case of Segametsi Mogomotsi leaves open the suggestion that the practice occurred at least once in 1990s Botswana. Although McCall Smith makes muti a key plot device in his novel, alleged incidents are in reality extremely rare. Muti practices and the beliefs that underpin them, whether real or fictionalized, are not representative of Botswana’s culture or society today.