09 May 2016

Food, drink, dance and stunning traditional attire were the order of the day this past weekend as Botswanacraft and Orange Botswana hosted their much anticipated and loved cultural event dubbed Orange Letlhafula which is now in its 16^th year running.

With Botswana set to celebrate its 50 years of independence, it was apparent that Botswanacraft and Orange Botswana would go all out with this year’s festivities of Orange Letlhafula and they did not disappoint one bit.

With most people tipping it to be the most anticipated cultural event in the country, Orange Letlhafula Day has been synonymous with Botswacraft for a long time and the variety of traditional indigenous food that was cooked was amazing and people had their cultural pallets blown away. 

The theme for this year’s event was Tshomarelo Ngwao Go Ya Dikokomaneng and it spoke to the preservation of Setswana culture for future generations. 

Sponsorship coordinator at Orange Botswana Mosarwa Molema had earlier alluded in an interview that it is imperative that Batswana do not lose that which defines them and their future generations deserve to grow up knowing and appreciating the culture that defines Batswana, thus their participation in this event.

He indicated that it is critical for Botswana to teach its young people about culture as this would go a long way in Botswana not losing its identity.

He further indicated that Orange Letlhafula is aimed at celebrating Botswana’s culture through the showcasing of the different local cultures through music, dance, food and traditional games and each year Batswana come dressed up in their best traditional outfits and spend a day out enjoying the diverse Botswana culture.

“This is what the essence of being a Motswana is,” he chipped in.

“I want to urge people to keep supporting Orange Letlhafula every year as this goes a long way in safe guarding our culture,” he said, further adding that as Orange Botswana, they are happy to have hosted Orange Letlhafula at Botswanacraft and happy with the response they have had from people over the years.

“We feel the venue is top notch and central for all people to access and the level of professionalism they exhibit is something out of this world,” said Molema, indicating that the response this year was not that great looking at the previous years.

People enjoyed traditional games; traditional cuisine and local brew and also got to see Mafitlhakgosi, one of Botswana’s amazing traditional talents.

“Mafitlhakgosi is one of the traditional groups that we choose them because we like what they stand for; which is youth empowerment. Kids who could be roaming the streets and contributing to some of this country’s social ills are given a chance to make something of themselves and this is an initiative we totally support,” he said.

“People should also note that since this year is a special year for Botswana, we had over 50+ of our traditional cuisines and 50+ of Botswana’s artists doing their thing. We also had  Lebo Merafhe who helped with the look and feel of how one should be presented in local attire etc and most people were amazed and grateful for her tips,” he continued.

With Orange Botswana having sponsored the event with P130 000 and the sponsorship being in such in a way that it is renewed every three (3) years and this year coming to end,  Molema said they would be going to the table to negotiate another sponsorship so as to increase their brand association and brand Orange Letlhafula globally.

Speaking on plans going forward, Molema said they are looking to invite other tribes from the rest of the country to come with their traditional dishes so as to get the opportunity to feature other dishes that people have not had.

He also said Orange Letlhafula is using technology to promote local cuisines and teach people how to make such.

“For example one will get the chance to see a video of how ginger (gemere) is made, how to cook bogobe jwa lerotse, how to make and preserve jam and we want to make this possible through digital marketing,” he said, also adding that Orange Letlhafula will in future hold regional dance off competitions with winners competing at Orange Letlhafula.

For her part, Botswanacraft representative Sibongile Macale said the food that was cooked at Orange Letlhafula was courtesy of Botswanacraft. ENDS