28 Sep 2015

Communities and several key stakeholders in the North East district are busy at work carrying out several activities lined up to take place before this year’s Independence Day celebrations.

Over the weekend, people from several villages within the district descended on the two villages of Zwenshambe and Gulubane for some of the activities that had been scheduled to take place before the day Botswana is due to celebrate her 49th independence.

The Zwenshambe kgotla was on Saturday night (September 26) a beehive of activity as the village had been chosen to host a cultural night to provide residents with the opportunity to reminisce about the Bakalanga culture.

This saw historical and cultural synopses by the elderly, traditional games, traditional song and dance, drama and poetry take centre-stage, much to the pleasure of the audience that had thronged the kgotla; itself being a place whose cultural significance cannot be over-emphasized.

Thanking the organizers of the event, Zwenshambe's tribal leader Kgosi Moses Mabutho said culture would always be a key aspect of identity of the different tribes that make up the nation of Botswana.

He noted that it was crucial to understand that culture was indeed dynamic; a situation that he said was born out of the intense rate at which tribes interacted.

Nonetheless, Kgosi Mabutho noted with concern that Batswana continued to allow important aspects of their tribes’ cultures that they should guard closely to get eroded with time.

On Sunday, different churches, with their different church uniform colours turned the Gulubane kgotla into a coat of many colours; their differences as seen by the naked eye not inhibiting the ease at which they could gel into one spiritual entity.

 The lively church service, that served both to mark the end of the prayers that are held during the month of September countrywide, as well as to pray for protection as the country enters into a period of celebration, saw the call for unity and tolerance ring clear.

Speaking at the event, North East Deputy District CommissionerCollen Tubego implored those in attendance to lay aside their membership and affiliation to different churches and strive towards helping build a tight-knit society as espoused in the ideals of Vision 2016. Ends