02 Nov 2015

Chobe District wants the area’s dance genre to compete independently in the President Day competitions. Residents made the request during President Lt Gen. Seretse Khama Ian Khama during his kgotla meetings in Chobe last week.

They said theirs was a different genre though they had, in the past, competed with groups from the Okavango area. The President agreed that their request was valid and that he would ensure the matter was addressed accordingly.

 “I have noted the differences in the attire and the styles and fully agree that these are different and should not compete under one category in the President’s Day competitions,” he said.

 President Khama said he had realised that the complaint cut across the entire Chobe District with residents argueing that although the dances carried the same name, the style and rhythm were entirely different and therefore could not be made to compete under one category.

 In his report, the Parakarungu Village Development Committee chairperson, Mr Mogomotsi Mozebi, called for the matter to be treated urgently.

Mbalakalungu Seperu group from Parakarungu were this year’s regional winners but they did not fare well at the nationals as they were paired with Okavango groups whose style of dance also went by the name Seperu. 

Chairman of Cisiya Nkulu Trust, Mr Phillimon Zambo made similar complaints in Kasane revealing that some Seperu groups were planning to boycott the President’s Day competitions as an expression of protest.

 “We wrote a letter to the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture who have since acknowledged and promised to correct the mistake, but once again the same thing happened this year,” said Mr Zambo.

He added that because of the mistake, the groups’ morale was low. 

In Kavimba, the issue of their Veekuhane bogosi took centre stage as the residents wanted to know when the conflict would be resolved.

They informed the President that they had long asked for his audience in the matter, which started after the Chobe Enclave villages could not all agree on their paramount chief as both Kgosi Maiba Sinvula of Kavimba and Kgosi Mmualefhe Mmualefhe of Kachikau claimed to be the rightful heirs to the throne.  

 Mr Johnson Mabutha said that they had written countless letters to the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development and the Office of the President without receiving any response.

“We have been waiting for the matter to get resolved yet three years down the line nothing has happened,” he lamented. 

In his response, the Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Mr Slumber Tsogwane, said such matters were complex and needed time to decide on.

 “We also have similar conflicts with Bakgatla and Bayei so it takes some time to go through all the records and give answers,” he added. 

Chobe Member of Parliament, Mr Machana Shamukuni, said he wished for the issue to be dealt with as it was delaying district development to which President Khama requested Minister Tsogwane to have resolved the matter before the end of the year. Ends