30 Nov 2016

 Batawana have been encouraged to uphold the spirit of volunteerism which was visible in their forefathers’ way of life.
The deputy paramount chief of Batawana, Kgosi Bringle Dithapo, said the spirit, which had existed among the tribe for many years, was now showing a decline. For instance, he said the spirit of volunteerism led the tribe to build grain storages at the main Kgotla in 1947.
By then, he said the Batawana community volunteered to build the storages and ploughed at the tribal lands which were at Sexaxa along the Thamalakane River.
He said grains like maize, sorghum and beans among others were kept in storages and were given to the most drought stricken communities during times of famine. Kgosi Dithapo encouraged the current generation to emulate their forefather as this could reduce poverty among the affected communities.
Today, he said these storages came in handy as they were used for storing tribal equipment, which were used in the past to plough tribal land. He said the initiative was the idea of the late kgosi Elizabeth Moremi III with the aim of helping the less privileged
 The initiative stopped in 1978 when the river stopped flowing as they had nowhere to get water because they relied on the moisture from the river and also as rainfall was unreliable. Kgosi Dithapo said during the time when they were not successful at the fields, they used to buy food from the individuals in other settlements who managed to plough especially in areas around Sehithwa, who were ploughing around the Lake Ngami. ENDS