13 Nov 2016

For over three decades that he has walked the streets of the mining town of Jwaneng, the now Raphalane deputy customary court president, Mr Basimanebotlhe Kgomotso has remained a point of reference on various subjects.
Commonly known as Kgosi Kgomotso or Malome Kgomotso by both the young and old alike, the Kanye native does not hide his passion for history and culture among a vast knowledge of other things. He has even made it his mandate to pass any kind of information to anybody who cares to listen, be it at formal events or through casual conversations.
Even though he started his career as a bank teller with the then Standard Bank of South Africa in 1968, he still considers himself a self-appointed teacher as  he carries and disseminates information whenever a chance presents itself. The only thing that hindered him from pursuing teaching as a profession back then was the low wages.
“After finishing my Cambridge at St Joseph’s College in 1967, I could not enroll for teaching because then teachers were earning R35 as compared to R75 for bank tellers, so I chose banking,” he reminisces of his early career choice.
Nonetheless, he did not stop being the epitome of informal teaching. He prides himself in having acquired first-hand information during his youthful years when he enjoyed sitting around the fire with his grandfather, Mr Kgomotso Montwedi. It was the former who taught him a lot about history and culture, especially of the people in the Ngwaketse area.
It therefore does not come as a coincidence that Kgosi Kgomotso has over the years been engaged to share information on historical events and cultural aspects of people in this region.
On many occasions he has left his audience in awe as he relates such historical moments like he is reading the palm of his hand.
“From time to time I get invited to share my knowledge with different groups of people in various villages in the Ngwaketse area. And I must admit the kind of information I share is considered credible because I got it from the horse’ mouth and not from books that were written by people who were probably not there when these things occurred,” he explains.
He regrets that some of the information being circulated has been distorted and misrepresent the context in which they were used. This has extended to the village names which have now lost their original meaning.
“If I may give you an example, Ntlhantlhe residents were recently surprised when I explained to them how that name came about. Actually, that village is not even called Ntlhantlhe, but rather Ntlha-e-ntle, meaning a beautiful peak.
It derives its name from a compliment that the hill had a nicely-shaped peak, hence Ntlha-e-ntle.”  
However, it saddens him that school children are subjected to distorted information, and also that they only learn history briefly at school.
To him, three years is not enough to encompass History as a subject at junior school. He wishes more could be done to teach children about Batswana culture, which he believes is diverse and differs from one area to another.
Even though he acknowledges the effort made to engage him relay the knowledge to young people, his wish is for authors and publishers to document it for when he is no more.
“I have so much to share and most of the time I do it randomly, but it could help if such information was written somewhere to continue to be shared in the future. I mean, what will happen if I were to die today,” he asks rhetorically.
His love for information-sharing has made him popular even among the taxi operators around town, whom he usually sits with at the taxi rank and chats for hours on end.
Apart from the fact that he frequents the taxi rank to kill boredom as he stays alone, he also reveals that he likes a cosmopolitan environment because it challenges him. And the taxi business happens to be just that; a multi-cultural environment with so much diversity.
Since he does not drink alcohol, he socialises through sport, particularly football. Being one of the founding members of Township Rollers back in 1965, Kgosi Kgomotso beams with a smile when he talks about the sport and the team that is close to his heart.
He reminisces about the team’s formative years and the good memories he shared with his then team mates, most of whom have passed away. Ends