01 Feb 2016

As it is the norm in the arts and cultural circles of Botswana, towards the end of every month of the New Year, Batswana celebrate and showcase their cultural heritage amidst an excitement of dance, song and food, and this past weekend Serokolwane Farms was the place to be.

Having started in 2005 in the village of Tlokweng, Son of The Soil (SOTS) has come far, and this year the event celebrated the past 50 years of cultural independence and projecting forward into the next 50 years of cultural awakening in Botswana

Speaking in an interview, Pontsho Pusoetsile, publicity and media relations-Bana ba Mmala Trust, which is a youthful group of individuals and the organisers of Son of The Soil, said the 2016 event seemed to the best they have hosted so far.

“The only minor change to this year’s event was that the Kitsong workshop took place a week earlier than the rest of the festival,” he said.

With the theme for SOTS 2016 being Kwa re go yang-Ke Motswana, it meant that each and every Motswana remembered what makes them special from a cultural point of view and Batswana did heed the call, as they came dressed in traditional wear and drank traditional brews to serenade themselves.

Pusoetsile said celebrations for this year’s event were meant to place in comparison the past 50 years of culture against the next 50 years of cultural evolution, and boy did they go all out.

The culmination of the day was  Batswana sang dikhwaere and it was a sight to behold. 

Literally everyone was dancing and singing and the excitement of Botswana turning 50 years was felt.

Speaking on the venue of the event, he said they will also host the 2017 event at Serokolwane Lawns in Oodi-Matebeleng area, and that this is so because they want to move around venues in Gaborone so as to spread the promotional value of the event.

“We want people to familiarise themselves with the rich history of the different areas as we go on,” he said.

 On Friday before the main event, people were treated to a relaxed session of mainane, maboko, song and dance which was also held at Serokolwane Lawns and the evening session was known as Metswaisong Evening Chillas.

The main event on Saturday entailed a lot of traditional cuisine, traditional games, song, dance, an evening Setswana themed festival and there were also different stalls selling various traditional themed items. 

People braved the hot afternoon weather to cue for the mouth-watering cuisines and they did not even seem bothered by the blazing sun.

Pusoetsile said SOTS is targeted at the young and upwardly mobile urban dweller who wants to keep in touch or reconnect with their culture.

With the entry conditions for Saturday’s main event including strictly no jeans, traditional themed event, cooler boxes left in the cars and use of traditional drinking utensils for all non-traditional drinks, the event was colourful with themed outfits as Batswana showed that they could follow instructions properly without incidence.

The only huddle that had people in a tiff was the fact that the shades were not enough which saw people cramped under one tree and the rest under tents which were not enough to house the multitudes of people who thronged Serokolwane Farms.

The other problem was the long queues of people waiting for food which seemed to sometimes go on forever and other people resorted to tricks to jump queues, but in all fairness, it was a nice event of cultural awareness and celebration. Ends