08 Mar 2020

Minister of Youth Empowerment, Sport and Culture Development, Tumiso Rakgare says the Seperu folkdance and associated practices play a vital role in the lives of the Chobe community, particularly the Veekuhane ethnic group.

Launching the Seperu folkdance and associated practices in Satau recently, Rakgare said the practices provided the community with a sense of identity, social cohesion and pride.

He implored the Chobe community to take advantage of the opportunities presented by the convention on the safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage, which was adopted in 2003 and ratified by Botswana in 2010 to ensure viability and visibility of the element.

He called for projects that would benefit both individuals and the community in order to diversify the economy of the district, adding that the implementation of the safeguarding plan would create jobs, particularly for the youth who could be engaged as researchers to update the Chobe intangible cultural heritage inventory.

Minister Rakgare said Chobe was well known for its diverse wildlife, which attracted tourists and urged the community to use their culture to diversify tourism packages by developing cultural tourism activities and projects.
He also stated that there was an opportunity for dress makers and fashion designers to use mushishi (dress) as their inspiration to come up with a unique fashion line.
He also implored the business community and other stakeholders in the district to participate in the safeguarding of the heritage by availing resources, technical expertise and cultural spaces for the enactment of the living heritage of the community.

“Kindly note that we have well trained youth in Chobe who can adequately guide all processes of intangible cultural heritage in the district. I humbly request you to engage them in all activities on the intangible cultural heritage to ensure transmission of your cultural practices,” he added.

The minister said intangible cultural heritage means the expression, practices, knowledge skills, objects artefacts and cultural spaces that individuals and communities recognise as their cultural heritage.

He said state party to the convention have a number of benefits in both financial and technical assistance for many purposes.

One, he said, was the safeguarding of the heritage inscribed on the UNESCO list of intangible cultural heritage in need of urgent safeguarding, representative list of humanity and best practices, the preparation of intangible cultural heritage inventories as well as support for programmes.

He explained that Botswana as a state party to the convention has benefited, adding that in 2010 Botswana received financial support towards a pilot project in community based intangible cultural heritage inventorying at grassroots level which was undertaken in Kgatleng District.

Minister Rakgare further stated that in 2014 Botswana was funded to undertake the training of trainers on the 2003 convention. He said the Kgatleng community also received over P700 000 from the intangible cultural heritage fund for the implementation of the safeguarding plan of the earthenware pottery making skills of the Bakgatla.

The project, he said, has four phases being research, capacity building, production of educational material and exhibition.

Minister Rakgare explained that his ministry has a number of programmes and projects that promoted the transmission of intangible cultural heritage from generation to generation. He said they included the national culture day commemoration, President’s day competition, arts and crafts exhibitions, national language day commemoration and constituency arts competitions.

He said several Chobe groups that participated in the 2019 President’s day competitions won at different levels and they included Chakochanko Seperu group which got position one, followed by Nandavwe Seperu occupying position two, Vakwala Seperu group on position three, while Intenge Seperu group settled for position four.

The groups were paid prize monies amounting to P30 000, P25 000, P22 000 and P20 000 respectively.

In his welcome remarks, Kgosi Richwell Nkokwena thanked the ministry for having chosen Satau as the venue for the launch.

He said Chobe District has diverse cultures and it was a welcome development to have the Seperu folkdance and associated practices inscribed by the UNESCO.

Chobe Member of Parliament, Machana Shamukuni underscored the need for the preservation of culture, especially the Seperu folkdance and associated practices. ENDS