21 Nov 2017

Out of curiosity and desire to know his own roots and those of his fellow tribesmen, Sphamandla Maema took five years to jot down a book to document the history and the origins of Baphuting Ba Goo-Seleka.

In Botswana the Baphuting ba Goo-Seleka reside in Seleka,part of the four villages forming Tumasera in the Central District.

They are also spread across the Tswapong area and are heard of in Mathangwane,Kalamare, Mmadinare,Shakwe,Ngwapa and among the Rolong tribe.

Written with the intention to take Baphuting’s culture and history to the people, the book digs deep into the Baphuting linage to trace their roots from war torn Sudan.

According to the author, it is the same tribal wars in Sudan that drove Baphuting ba Goo-Seleka to migrate across Africa down to Southern Africa in the late 1950s.

He reveals to the reader the relations between several tribes which makes up the Baphuting ba Goo-Seleka like the Baphuting ba Nawa, the Barolong and ba ga Seleka as one of them.

In an age when hundreds of young people would rather learn slang and move away from one’s mother tongue, it is without doubt the author’s command of the tswana vernacular is of top notch.

Maema expresses himself well with his deep tswana proverbs and lingo to show how passionate he is of his language and culture.

One will think they are reading a Bible passage of biblical lineages when he narrates to the reader the descendants of the Goo-Seleka tribe from head to toe without failure.

Expressing how the chieftainship was held from father to son and to the uncles and back to the rightful heirs, Maema reveals how some Baphuting ba Goo-Seleka chiefs were good, rulling the people in love and in peace, whilst some were bad and misused their powers and always caught up in bad deeds.

Even though the book is in Setswana in overall one is able to understand the novel and bring it to live as well as narrate it with ease to those that do not speak the mother tongue.

The author also used photographs of some ‘Baphuting boo Seleka’s historic places like some old buildings,the great Limpopo river which separates the Baphuting ba Goo-Seleka in Botswana and South Africa. ENDS