14 Apr 2016

Matsosa Ngwao regiment is a strong supporter of Kgosi Sechele I Museum, one of the major points of interest in Molepolole that provide a unique understanding of connecting to historical variables and relive past memories.

Established in 1992 and located at the centre of Molepolole, Kgosi Sechele I Museum preserves the history and culture of Bakwena. The museum plays a critical role in preserving the history for Kweneng.

Speaking in an interview recently, the curator of the museum, Power Kawina explained that the museum was working with a voluntary regiment made of mainly women born in the 1930s called Matsosa Ngwao.

Kawina said the museum was playing a significant role in preserving, conserving, promoting, researching, educating as well as communicating ideas that enhance the people of Kweneng understanding and appreciation of their natural and cultural heritage for sustainable use.

The museum curator said the regiment started its duties at the Molepolole main kgotla before moving to the museum after its establishment. He stated that the museum provides opportunities for community enrolment in the museum work, naming Matsosa Ngwao as a living testimony.

A member of Matsosa Ngwao regiment, Mosarwa Modise said that it was in the 1980s when a group of men and women in Molepolole formed a regiment called Matsosa Ngwao.
Modise said Matsosa Ngwao’s main aim was to help conserve and preserve the history and culture of Bakwena.

Modise said the main role of the regiment was to teach others on how to prepare traditional meals and to conduct cultural educational sessions and construction and refurbishing huts at the museum.

She further revealed that some huts found at the museum were built by Matsosa Ngwao. She said every dry season the regiment renovates cultural structures as they get washed away every rainy season.

Modise said some cultural educational sessions that Matsosa Ngwao conduct include teaching people the customs and beliefs of Bakwena such as conducting weddings, funerals and others.

Remarking on teaching people on traditional meal preparations, Modise stated that such teachings were practiced during cultural festivals such as the annual Dithubaruba cultural festival.

 

She said the regiment prides itself for being guests at the inauguration ceremony of President Lt. Gen Dr Ian Khama Seretse Khama in 2014. Today, the regiment is made up of women only, as men left the regiment in the late 1980s. Commenting on the duties that men performed, Kawina pointed out that they had the responsibility to take care of the Ntsweng heritage site and cleaning royal graves at the site.

Matsosa Ngwao regiment is now a group of 19 members who are hardworking and determined to preserve the culture of Bakwena. Modise noted that when the group was established it had over 300 members.

When asked if women born in the 1930s were still active in the regiment, Modise explained that most of the torch bearers have died while others have retired because of old age.

“Today Matsosa Ngwao is a group of women who are descendants of the 1930s regiment and are joined by other Bakwena women,” she said.

Another member of the regiment, Tlotlang Tumisang shared the same sentiments, saying Matsosa Ngwao was one of the pioneers who contributed in preserving the culture of Bakwena, adding that the regiment’s significance and dignity remains as a new group has inherited the regiment.

She further said culture was slowly disappearing with its only loyalists being the elderly.

Tumisang said the Kweneng community was blessed to have Matsosa Ngwao who were the heartbeat of Molepolole in terms of history and cultural preservation.

However, the museum curator explained that the museum offers educational programmes, craft exhibitions and provide guided tours to places of historical and natural interest in and around Molepolole.

In his view, the museum’s responsibility does not lie with the department of museum only, but with the Kweneng community as it was the property of the community. ENDS