14 Jun 2020

Four years after her debut album, local poet, Ditshupo Mosoboloko-Samakabadi, alias Mmangwao has finally dropped her second offering dubbed Mosadi Yole.

The 40-year-old poet revealed in an interview that the single Setswana poem was recorded last year in December and ready to hit the shelves.

“It is a poem about the social challenges that many women go through in our society. I have met women who narrated that they were going through challenges in their lives. I therefore wanted to make the cry of a woman to be heard through this Mosadi Yole. I am appealing to people through this poem to listen to women when they talk about their challenges and stop judging them,” Mmangwao said.

She said women were sometimes harshly judged by the society without listening to their side of the story.

The poet said when women divorce they were judged negatively for failed marriages without people establishing reasons behind the divorce.

“I felt very emotional when writing this poem because of what is happening to women in our society. The poem depicts a woman who is burdened by social challenges and has approached the customary court to ask for assistance,” she explained.

She said women face a myriad of social problems such as gender based violence, marriage problems and many more.

After recording it in December she went through the process of registering it at CIPA and was then delayed by the COVID-19 lockdown to take it to the market. 

“I am ready to deliver the album when someone makes an order, but my intention is to find places where the album will be distributed,” she said.   

A school teacher at Dinatshana Primary School in the Good Hope Sub-district, Mmangwao narrated that her performing arts career started as an actor way back as a pupil at Bothakga Primary School in Lobatse. 

She said in 2000 while studying for a teaching diploma at Lobatse College of Education, she started having an interest in poetry and wrote her first unpublished poem in 2003 after her younger sister got gravely ill of cancer.

“Her situation caused me to pour my emotions on paper by writing some poetry stanzas about how I was feeling concerning her situation until she passed away. I continued writing poems and reciting them in occasions such as school prize giving ceremonies. In 2010, I participated in the President’s Day Poetry Competitions, which motivated me to taking my poetry seriously,” she said.

In 2016, she came fourth in the President’s Day Poetry Competitions through her poem titled Ke bala Buka Ya Ditso, about Batswana women such as Mpule Kwelagobe, Dr Gaositwe Chiepe, the late Lady Ruth Khama and Judith Sefako who have made a difference in the country. 

She was a bit disappointed because she was optimistic about the poem winning the top slot.

She then channelled her disappointment into recording her first poetry album in 2016 titled Mmakgosikgolo O A Goroga, which had six poems, including one about former President Dr Ian Khama Seretse Khama called Tanki Morwa Khama.

She said she was encouraged by the positive reaction to the album, with Dr Chiepe and the late cultural activist Sefako being among the people who encouraged her. 

“I then started marketing myself to the corporate sector and in 2017 I recited a poem for President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi and vice president, Mr Slumber Tsogwane in Orapa. The event was a welcome party for Mr Tsogwane in Boteti,” she said.

She said as her poetry soared to new heights which saw her performing in countries in the region such as Lesotho and South Africa last year, and finally burned her second album in December. ends