Motswasele II (died ) was the ''

kgosi A (; ) is the title for a hereditary leader of a Batswana and South Africa peoples tribe. Usage The word "kgosi" is a Setswana term for "king" or "chief". Various affixes can be added to the word to change its meaning: adding the prefix ''di- ...

'' of the Kwena tribe from until his death . Motswasele was one of three sons of ''kgosi''

Legwale Legwale was a ''kgosi'' of the Kwena tribe in the late 18th century. He was preceded by his father Seitlhamo and succeeded by his brother Maleke as regent. Gary Okihiro has contested the idea that Legwale is a single individual, saying that ...

, along with Segokotlo and Molese. Legwale died before Motswasele came of age, so Legwale's brother Maleke became regent, and then his brother

Tshosa Tshosa was a regent of the Kwena tribe from 1803 to 1807. He became regent following the death of his brother Maleke, who was also a regent, and he held the position until he passed it to the Kwena heir, his nephew Motswasele II. After Motswas ...

became regent after Maleke's death. Motswasele became ''kgosi'' when Tshosa passed the role to him . Motswasele faced attacks from the Ngwaketse shortly after he became ''kgosi'', prompting him to form an alliance with the Kgafela-Kgatl. When the Kwena came into conflict with the Birwa, Motswasele aligned with the Seletlo, and he married the daughter of the Seletlo chief. With her, he had his son Kgosidintsi. The first contact between the Kwena tribe and Europeans reportedly took place under Motswasele's rule. He received the expedition led by Goddard Edward Donovan and Andrew Cowan in 1808. They gifted him European dishes and mugs, which he could use as proof that he had interacted with Europeans. The Kwena people were not familiar with European craftsmanship, so Motswasele's possession of the items caused him to be seen as ''Modimowage'' (). Motswasele's rule was characterised by conflict within the Kwena tribe. Throughout his rule, he seized the crops, cattle, and wives of his subjects, and he made frequent use of

capital punishment Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence (law), sentence ordering that an offender b ...

. A dispute with Motswasele caused the Maoto ward to leave the Kwena tribe and join the Ngwaketse tribe. The traditional understanding is that Motswasele gave preferential treatment to the Maoto ward head, Motshebe, so Motshebe's opponents chose not to inform Motshebe when he had been summoned. Motswasele responded to Motshebe's absence by sending mercenaries to his home, and Motshebe led his people away from the tribe. Moruakgomo, the son of Tshosa, resented that his father made Motswasele ''kgosi''. He responded by turning Motswasele against his supporters, convincing him to penalise them, and then gaining their trust for himself. After gaining support within the tribe, Moruakgomo plotted with Motswasele's brother Segokotlo to assassinate Motswasele. In his pride, Motswasele ignored warnings of the plot. As he left the meeting in Shokwane where he was set to be assassinated, he was followed and killed by a man wielding an axe. He was buried on the spot where he was killed. Following Motswasele's death, the Kwena tribe underwent a schism as both Moruakgomo and Segokotlo ruled their own factions. This was followed by the conflicts of the '' Difaqane'' before the Kwena were reunified under Sechele I.

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* * {{Cite journal , last=Schapera , first=I , year=1980 , title=Notes on the Early History of the Kwena (Bakwena-bagaSechele) , url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40980796 , journal=Botswana Notes and Records , volume=12 , pages=83–87 , jstor=40980796 , issn=0525-5090 1820s deaths Year of birth missing Year of death uncertain 19th-century murdered monarchs Assassinated Botswana people Kwena chiefs