14 Sep 2016

A group of people putting on predominantly blue apparels gathered at Sengaparile junction, in the outskirts of Mmankgodi on a windy Sunday (September 11) morning.

As soon as a police vehicle whirling lasers appeared, the crowd bust into joyful euphoria and for a moment it became uncontrollable.

“Le nna ke batla go o bona molelo o, kana gatwe o tsisa lesego,”a middle aged woman said while whisking through a dense crowd to get a full beam of the roving torch.

Even before the torch could be carried out of its transporter, many were lining themselves to take pictures and they had already brought traffic to a complete halt.

As the transmissible euphoria spread among the crowd, it took the intervention of police officers and the use of the public address system to bring the crowd to a needful yet short-lived order.

Ever since leaving the capital city last year, the roving torch has been inflaming joy from village to another and Mmankgodi was not an exception on Sunday.

Churches’ congregants, students, villagers and other admires swamped the usually uneventful Sengaparile junction to bear testimony.

From the junction, the roving torch was treated to a grand procession of three horses leading the parade, only to surrender to a donkey cart a few meters to the village kgotla.

“We have set a high standard, I am not sure the remaining villages will be able to match our standards,” said Kgosi States Thobega of Mmankgodi.

“This torch will light our village, we want to shine, we want developments in our village,” said Kgosi Thobega to a crowd whose attention was clued to the torch.

The torch took a tour around the village monuments such as the old school, where the school’s former leaner, Ms Eldah Dintwe said the school, which is now a dilapidated one block structure was built by the village regiments.

However, the school, which enrolled Sub-A learners to standard four learners would later relocate to the current Mmonye Primary School because it was surrounded by hills therefore there was not enough space for further expansion.

Another intriguing feature which was visited was the old village, commonly known as Matlotla situated at Mmankgodi hill.

According to one of the village elders, Mr Kobedi Seribe, the village settled there under Kgosi Dipheko after retreating from Magagarape due to thirst during the leadership of Kgosi Sechele.

The village would later move to the current Mmankgodi to move closer to their source of water, which was Kolobeng River.

From Matlotla, where there were no visible structures other than the tombs of Bahurutshe royals, the entourage visited Dimawe where Kgosi Sechele reportedly defeated the Boers of Transvaal.

Dimawe, which is now a desolate heritage site, was where Kgosi Sechele and allied Batswana groups defeated the Boers of Transvaal in 1852.

According to a heardman of records from Mogonye, Kgosi Robert Mangope only Bahurutshe remained behind when other tribes moved on after the famous victory.

Other places visited included Mmankgodi clinic which started as a missionary clinic, Mmonye Primary School, Mmankgodi Hill and Thobega Junior Secondary School.

And when the torch left the village, the crowd was left beaming with smiles, embracing each other and chanting praises as the entourage whisked it away. ENDS