16 Sep 2018

President Mokgweetsi Masisi on September 14 joined Bakgatla-ba-ga-Mmanaana during a traditional thanksgiving ceremony best known as dikgafela, to thank God for the last harvest, good rains and pray for the next season.

The event also saw Kgosi Kgabosetso Mosielele present a document to the Assistant Minister of Youth Empowerment, Sport and Culture Development Dikgang Makgalemele.

The document, kgosi hinted, was an expression of a desire to have Dikgafela-tsa-Bakgatla-ba-ga Mmanaana listed with UNESCO.

Receiving the document, Makgalemele challenged Ba-ga Mmanaana to turn Moshupa into a hub of culture, highlighting that the ministry was desirous to have a village where culture ‘could be seen walking’.

He said Moshupa stood a chance to become that place through dikgafela.

He said culture entailed language, food and traditions.

He therefore encouraged Ba-ga Mmanaana to view it in a broad spectrum in order to reap more benefits from it.

He also promised to relay the document to Minister Thapelo Olopeng and give residents feedback.

Makgalemele, also Member of Parliament for Shoshong, shared that his constituency also had a special traditional dish for men called Mokoto-wa-Lesoso, which they would love to share with other Batswana and the rest of the world.

On other issues, Makgalemele advised farmers to manage their fields rather than visit them as a weekend pastime.

He said without proper management farming would not take Batswana far enough.

Kgosi Mosielele had earlier on explained that the idea was to document their culture and traditions for posterity and expressed delight that the event, which was on its ninth season, was growing in leaps and bounds.

Kgosi Mosielele also used the event to launch the new ploughing season, where he encouraged tribesmen to produce food for the nation.

He said they invited John Stegling from the Weather Bureau to advise farmers on the weather forecasts for the next ploughing season.

He said the view was to equip Bakgatla-ba-ga Mmanaana with information as to which crops to plant for the next season based on weather forecasts.

Meanwhile, district agricultural coordinator, Monia Mfolwe advised farmers to plough more sorghum and beans and less maize in view of low rainfall expected for the next season because the former has a better resistance to drought.

For his part, social anthropologist Dr Leslie Nthoi described dikgafela as a ritual that reminded Batswana of what to do to feed themselves, families and the nation.

He said the ceremony also reminded Batswana to be tillers of the land and food producers.

He said they could only have dignity if they produced their own food.

He reiterated that dikgafela was intended to pray for rain.

He explained that men carrying empty buckets ahead of women with buckets full of traditional brews in a procession was an expression of hope that the next season would also be good such that the buckets would be filled again.

Dr Nthoi said the event also celebrated the role of women in the society, adding without the latter there could never be dikgafela. ENDS