08 Nov 2020

 Ms Pabalelo Dintwe knelt down, caressed her newly acquired gift and pampered it with love like a mother would cajole a kid to be a good child in her absence.

On Saturday, President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi donated a ram to  48-year-old Ms Dintwe at her kraal at Dinde lands where he requested her to take a moment before the gate of her kraal and dream about the future she yearned for.

President Masisi said the gesture demonstrated exactly the tenets Botswana was founded on and continued to be.

The President hailed Ms Dintwe for battling through her challenges to become a farmer she was. 

He highlighted that farmers like Ms Dintwe prospered because of the foundation on which Botswana was grounded and the environment provided at the time. He therefore challenged Ms Dintwe to emulate the benevolence of donating a ram to those in need when she finally attained the riches she wished for. 

President Masisi noted that the team identifying possible beneficiaries of his smallstock drive initiative never struggled in singling out Ms Dintwe to benefit since she had ticked all the boxes of a budding farmer. 

Her story, President Masisi said, was inspiring and deserving of the gesture.

 “We all here wish you success and wealth in your endeavor and we are here in numbers to affirm just that,” President Dr Masisi said and reminded all that he was a champion of Vision 2036 that seeks amongst other things to sow seeds of prosperity amongst Batswana.

The President said as a champion of Vision 2036 he was duty bound not only to sing the ideal of the vision, but also to live and act accordingly. 

Immediately after receiving her ram from President Masisi, Ms Dintwe burst into song, “…ke mohlolo-hlolo ha ke ratwa le nna…,” singing a few lines from the famous Sotho song ‘Ha ke le the le ke le mobe.’

She thanked President Masisi for his benevolence of gifting her with a ram whose sole purpose would be improvement of stock. Improved stock, she hoped, would pave way to a successful farming business.

Ms Dintwe is in the process of drilling and equipping her borehole at Dinde lands, a move she said was ideal in her quest for success in smallstock farming. 

The costs of the process had been covered by the proceeds of small stock farming, according to Ms Dintwe.

Standing before her kraal, she showered President Masisi with blessings of good health so he could grow older and see his dreams come to fruition. 

In an interview, the Lentswelemoriti native, said she started farming with only two goats in 1999 and later augmented it by selling clothes whereupon she bought six more goats. 

In what sounded an unfamiliar tale, Ms Dintwe narrated how in 2011 she responded to her brother’s call for a herdboy after the one he had left.  Weird as it was perceived for a woman to choose to look after small stock, Ms Dintwe relished the idea and was rewarded with two ewes at the end. The two added to the goats she already had. 

Quizzed about how she viewed the ram in as far as improving her stock, the mother of five children replied in optimism, ‘I’m rich from now onwards.’

Her neighbours came in numbers after the presidential entourage left to congratulate her and wished her well in her endeavours. 

In support of Ms Dintwe’s riches claim, Minister of Agricultural Development and Food Security, Mr Karabo Gare buttressed rather mathematically. 

He argued that the ram that mated with 25 ewes stood at 80 per cent success rate. 

He also found that a lamb costs around P3 000. In that way, Mr Gare argued, a farmer had already paved a route to a successful farming enterprise. 

To empower the farmer to mature into a successful smallstock mogul, Mr Gare revealed that Ms Dintwe and other beneficiaries would be taken for smallstock training at Lubu farm in Kgalagadi South. 

However, area Member of Parliament, Mr Taolo Lucas expressed fear that livestock thieves from neighbouring Zimbabwe could snatch the ram and other animals that Ms Dintwe owned.

He appealed to the President to act decisively and helping find a solution to crossborder stock theft that his electorate was faced with. Ends