21 May 2017

The commemoration of National Culture Day shows that   government is committed to work with ethic groups to safeguard and promote culture.

 Assistant Minister of Youth Empowerment, Sport and Culture Development, Kefentse Mzwinila said this during the commemoration of National Culture Day in Ramotswa on Saturday.

 He said safeguarding and promoting culture helped ethnic groups not to lose their identity.

 “As a result, we have witnessed an increase in the number of cultural festivals across the country,” he said.

 Mzwinila said there have been different instruments aimed at creating a conducive environment for the preservation and promotion of culture.

 Amongst those he cited, the national policy on culture and the ratification of the 2003 UNESCO convention on the safeguarding of the intangible cultural heritage in 2010. He said his ministry implements programmes that were geared towards the participation of all in cultural activities.

He cited the President’s Day and constituency arts competitions, arts and craft exhibitions, national languages day commemoration, constituency sports tournament as well as the ministry grants among those targeting to include all.

Balete paramount chief, Kgosi Mosadi said Balete were one of the tribes that were promoting and preserving their culture.

He cited the resuscitation of bogwera and bojale as an initiative aimed at preserving and promoting the Balete culture.

 Kgosi Mosadi said their culture encouraged people to be hands on through agriculture, and added that the tribe took the lead and bought a ranch in 1925 to address shortage of land in their area.

 However, she regretted that there were forces that were working to dislodge the ranch from the tribe, adding that any move to take the land way from Balete without consultation and compensation would be illegal.

 Furthermore, she commended the government for having reverted Mogobane Irrigation Scheme from the land board back to the tribe.

The area Member of Parliament, Samuel Rantuana encouraged the community to take pride in their culture and be their culture’s ambassadors.

 He said there was need for the community to safeguard their culture from foreign cultures.

He added that there was need to frequently meet and celebrate culture as celebrations helped people to learn something new from each other.

Rantuana further said there was need for the community not to only talk about their culture, but rather to live their culture.

The day was commemorated under the theme: Ngwao ke boikarebelo jwame. ENDS