08 Dec 2016

Increased numbers of participants in the Chobe constituency competitions this year made the competition slightly tighter compared to the previous year as almost every village around Chobe had participants.

Speaking in an interview with BOPA, a Ministry of Youth Empowerment, Sport and Culture Development official, Walter Desire said this year they had 100 more participants compared to last year as groups from outside Kasane came through.

He further stated that although some of the groups may be hindered by long distance as some groups travel from as far as Parakarungu, Pandamatenga, Kachikau and other surrounding areas, this year, they did not let that hinder them.

These competitions are held to prepare them for the President’s Day competitions, competing in their wards first, with the winners further competing with participants from other wards to make the mark.

The Seboba Nature and Recreational Park hosted all the competitors for all the categories being poetry, traditional dance, choir and drama popularly known as theatre.

Matsosa Ngwao took part under the traditional dance category where they scooped the first position with 82 per cent and walked away with P5 000.

The drama performances also took to the stage. Although there were only two groups in the category, they left the audience asking for more, as they performed educative and entertaining plays.

Tjiviri Theatre Works performed a play about poaching, which earned them the second position, while the first position went to Chobe Arts who performed a play about government social welfare programmes.

“There should be more drama groups to increase competition,” said performer, Thato Mosokobanje.

Although they walked away with a large sum of money being P5 000, Mosokobanje said he wishes the responsible ministry could increase the money won by groups, as the money they get is not enough for group members to buy outfits and props for performances.

Despite all that, he stated that even though their category had only two groups, in other categories the competition was measurably high as the participants showed seriousness towards their performances.

The judges were also impressed by the works portrayed by the participants, although there were a few places where they felt the participants needed to correct themselves.

In poetry, the judges emphasised that they should be creative and also be free on the stage as well as have confidence in their work.

They further stated that as for choirs, the songs they perform should have a message, because if the message is loud and clear, chances of winning become high.

“If you are poor in singing, master the arts of your instrument, because most of you, your rhythm and harmony did not match,” emphasised one of the judges under the instrumentals category.

They further advised the traditional dancers to not only focus on Seperu, but rather combine with other dances as it becomes difficult for them to judge traditional groups not dancing the same traditional dance under one category. ENDS