21 Nov 2016

After working in the famous NO 1 Ladies Detective series known as Mma Ramotswe as third assistant director and as head of logger department in the debut of Big Big Brother Africa, Kgomotso

Keloneilwe has initiated a conflict resolution show named, Lekgotla.

The much-awaited 26 episode talk show is a reality show that encompasses real people with real situations is to be aired on BTV next year.

In an interview, Keloneilwe said the aim of the talk show was to help people resolve their conflicts.

She said Batswana were solitary people who bottle up and sometimes leave their issues unresolved causing tensions, which sometimes led people  to commit crimes such as passion killings, suicide and murder.

Keloneilwe said Batswana do not utilise the aid made available to them such as that of psychologists, social workers and even their immediate families.

Further, she said the aim of the show was also to help fight social ills.  

She said the show also intends to break the secrecy, silence and judgement common amongst Batswana.

“Batswana attack each other on social media but can’t face each other for a more amicable way to solve their differences.

Our show does not scandalise issues and we provide a calmer and safer approach to resolve matters,” Keloneilwe said.

She said they hope the show becomes a household name.

For the production of the show, she said a number of experts were engaged such Tumie Sejoe, who wrote and directed, Awaken Spirit, a film that showcased at France’s De Cannes festival.

She noted that the production team was headed by women to empower them in the male dominated industry.

She said they had engaged a team of four professional counsellors led by the renowned social worker, motivational speaker and author, Kgomotso Jongman, a team of legal experts, financial advisors, dikgosi for common law expertise, pastors for spiritual matters and other stakeholders and organisations such as BOSASNET.

“We appeal to Batswana to help us help them. They should not shy away from dealing with their problems.

We understand it is already hard enough for them to seek help to resolve their issues but we wish they could come forth and learn to express their feelings before it’s too late.
We also want to break the culture of conservativeness,” she said.

Keloneilwe further said they provide pre-counselling, post and set counselling for parties involved and said after the shoot they intend to revisit all their cast.
She said they were aware that not all people would reconcile and make peace immediately, but was positive about the outcomes.

“At the end of the last episode, we are going to make an effort to revisit all the participants.
Realistically others are not going to work out.

However, we still encourage people to talk.

This platform is going to change lives even viewers at home are going to adopt new ways of resolving their conflicts”.

She said it took her a long time to be where she is now after studying film and Video Technology in South Africa years back.

She said she had worked for other people and today she was into film and TV production business as well as concept creation.

“I advise Batswana especially the youth to hold on to their passion.

It might be not instantly rewarding but hold on to it, live for it and make sure you accomplish it,” she said.

For his part, Jongman who is the lead counsellor said he was happy with the concept.

He said the initiative would help break the silence especially in relationships.

He said he was pleased to be part of the show that creates a platform where people were able to watch and learn ways of how people resolve their issues.

Nevertheless, he pointed out that during the shooting of the show, he encountered challenges where people who came forth and were not comfortable with the idea of opening up to the filming part with fear of opening up to the whole nation.

“People have the notion that you can’t wash your dirty laundry in public but they watch international shows such as Date My Family,.

Here at home, people think they are betrayed or belittled should someone go on about such scenes on TV.

What I can say to Batswana is that times have changed and suicide and murder cases escalate because of unresolved conflicts,” he said.

Also, he said the idea was great as time has passed and the social fabric had brokendown .

He said the show would also service people who do not had the guts to come forth and participate in the show. BOPA