The Heritage media house has released the long awaited Documentary on the late former President Sir Seretse Khama, following a two year production period.

The star studded film recently completed post production at Online Post, one of London’s premier editing facilities, a press statement from the Heritage Media House in Gaborone has confirmed.

“The fast paced, visually captivating musically astounding, emotionally fulfilling insightful and educational documentary creatively chronicles the lives of Sir Seretse Khama and Lady Ruth Khama from their world famous love story,” the statement explained.

Sir Seretse Khama was Botswana’s first President who died in 1980. Born into one of the powerful royal families in the country, Bangwato royalty, in 1921 of what was then a British Protectorate. He was educated abroad in the United Kingdom and returned home with a white bride, Ruth Williams whom he met in 1947 during his studies in London.

Lady Khama was a former "Women's Auxiliary Air Force" WAAF ambulance driver from Blackheath, London. She met the then Prince Seretse Khama while he was attending law school in England and she was working as a clerk at Lloyd's of London.

The interracial marriage in 1948 sparked a rift of contempt among both the apartheid government of the neighbouring South Africa government and the royal Bangwato clan. On learning about the marriage of “abomination”, his uncle, then the Bangwato chief regent, called Seretse home and annulled the marriage.

Khama and his wife, the mother to the current Botswana President, Lieutenant General, Seretse Khama Ian Khama, were exiled to England in 1951. The exile was lifted in 1957 and Sir Seretse Khama became the country’s first President when it gained independence from Britain in 1966.

According to the Heritage Media House the research on the late couple, shows that, the couple also encountered incidents of racism from some members of the British public and had a widely publicized marriage up until their lives as Botswana’s founding President and first lady.

 “The sixty minute film carries a stellar cast including Sir Seretse‘s friend and former British cabinet minister  Tony Benn  who  lead  the campaign  for the couple’s release from  exile  by voicing it out in the House Of Commons and  mobilizing  support from the British  public,”  the Heritage Media House has further revealed.

According to the statement, the documentary carries an exclusive no holds barred interview filmed before Tony Benn’s untimely death. Benn takes the viewer through his contribution to the Khama’s release as he was the first to raise the matter in the House of Commons and later formed the Seretse Khama Defense Council.

“Within the film, he reminisces about his close friendship with the Khama’s and how the eloquent Seretse used to impress the British public when he spoke at campaign gatherings. Tony Benn’s comments are complemented by rare archival footage of the young fire brand MP in the House of Commons,” the statement reads in part.

Tony supported Sir Khama in the 1940s when both British and South African political figures opposed his marriage to the then young Englishwoman Ruth Williams.

In honor of Tony, one of Seretse’s twin sons, Anthony Khama was named after him.

Another high profile contribution according to Heritage Media House is made by Lord Jones of Cheltenham who gives a detailed often entertaining account of events that led to what he refers to as the Khama’s creation of a democratic peaceful prosperous country called Botswana. Lord Jones is a life peer of the British House of Lords.

Further giving the public what to look forward to, Heritage Media House mentioned that, Former South African president Thabo Mbeki’s commentary encourages Batswana to follow the example of Sir Seretse Khama, describing him as one of Africa’s greatest leaders who will always be respected and loved across the world.

“Lady Khama takes the lead role in this documentary.  Her rare, exclusive, informative commentary fuse together with other interviews including that of her sister, Muriel Sanderson, the Khama twins, Anthony and Tshekedi who speak passionately of their mother’s charity work. More research concerning the film has shown that she will talk about president’s thoughts and vision for the country, his wishes for the future of its peoples and that of his own family,” the previewer further suggested.

The Khama twins, Anthony and Tshekedi express their feelings passionately about their parent’s lives, their mother’s charity work and share their childhood experiences as part of the First Family.

Apparently the filming locations include famous Trafalgar Square, the flat where the couple stayed at Nottinghill, London, the church where they got married, situated in the same area, and the suburb of Croydon where they spent their five years in exile. Back home, it consists of government enclave near Gaborone’s Main Mall and Serowe.

Meanwhile the film producer, Billy Kokorwe, who is the son to the Speaker of Parliament, Gladys Kokorwe has been said to have carried out Positive Africa Image Campaign in the United States of America and through the docu-drama, titled Black King-White queen, Kokorwe says he wanted to bridge the gap.

Famous quote
"We were taught, sometimes in a very positive way, to despise ourselves and our ways of life. We were made to believe that we had no past to speak of, no history to boast of. The past, so far as we were concerned, was just a blank and nothing more. Only the present mattered, and we had very little control over it. It should now be our intention to try and retrieve what we can of our past. We should write our own history books, to prove that we did have a past; and that it was a past that was just as worth writing about as any other. We must do this for the simple reason that a nation without a past is a lost nation, and a people without a past are a people without a soul." These words were said by Sir Seretse Khama back in 1970 and have been used by the nation to remember the kind of president Botswana had.