Botswana Administrative System and Governance. The British established a protectorate in the southern part of Tswana territory in 1884 (British Bechuanaland) and over the northern territories (Bechuanaland Protectorate) in 1885. In the Protectorate, at first missionaries were appointed as Assistant Commissioners, but later on English-speaking South Africans with police or clerical experience were appointed, and called Resident Magistrates. The reigning theory of "parallel rule" meant two separate administrations. In the first, the British would protect the Tswana chiefs from German and Boer (that is, Afrikaner) threats as well as govern European traders working in the protectorate