03 Oct 2024

After singing the national anthem at around 930am, inside the village meeting point, about 70 congregants knelt down to pray the St Engenas Zion Christian Church-style.

About 30 children, 22 women and 15 men gathered at the village centre.

Startling for newbies in the village would be the absence of kgosi and probably the no-show by police officers and some government vehicles during the celebration of Botswana Day.

To those versed with the village, it is a common occurrence. It is a way of life. The village is situated inside St Engenas farm.

Actually, Lentswelemoriti is a private farm where fewer government services are provided.

This does not in any way startle veteran church members like head priest Jebe Mogotsi, one of the first settlers at Lentswelemoriti.

Although he could not recollect the number of St Engenas church members who arrived at the farm with him back in 1953, head priest Mogotsi spent all the 71 years observing sluggish to no development at the farm.

Understandably so because it is a shrine for the St Engenas church members.

It was never meant to blossom into a town or agro village, says the 86-year-old Mr Mogotsi.

Inside the shelter is a ‘top table’ draped in blue, black and white linen and balloons of the same colour hoisted.

This is a meeting place for the about 242 inhabitants of the village as per the 2022 population census. The shelter can take a maximum of 50 people seated.

Children from the primary school bearing some ‘usher’ tags lead a few adults to their seats before distributing snacks. No one scrambles for food.

Here, almost everyone knows the other by name.

Complete silence reigned when the leader of the village extension team read a message from President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi.

Only about two babies made some variegated babbling, which together with some rustling of dry mophane leaves, were virtually insignificant noise to consider.

The village is without electricity, save for a solar panel plant that powers the primary school facilities and the village clinic.

To top it up, there is almost no cellphone network coverage for two of the three local cellphone network providers.

The village is accessed through a battering gravel road although some motorists still dare it with their non-off-road vehicles.

Such challenges have become the villagers’ way of life, according to the head priest, who observed that they basically led the cattle post way of life, where luxurious lifestyle was a rare imagination.

It is the 48km gravel road from Mathathane to Lentswelemoriti that gives village leadership sleepless nights.

Mr Mogotsi says, in an interview, that although he did not expect a lot of developments in the area, he called on the government to consider constructing a tarred road to their farm, with all factors considered.

“There was completely nothing here when we arrived in 1953. You could only spot animal tracks, hoof prints and droppings,” said Mr Mogotsi, who fled from Ramotswa together with some St Engenas ZCC members from Mochudi seeking refuge in Lentswelemoriti so they could worship freely.

“Life here, from a distant past, has never been smooth for us because we have never had a proper road to travel on.

Even up to now, we still struggle with the same painful road,” he said.

Also, the head priest decried lack of reliable public transport, saying people were forced to leave Lentswelemoriti early morning, (on a lucky day) to spend the whole day away only to arrive back at the farm at around 8pm.

However, it is not all gloomy for the village, according to the head priest.

He said that the 58^th independence celebrations bore some positive signs towards the betterment of their lives.

“We’ve always celebrated our independence in this country and how heart-warming it is today that we get to enjoy snacks during our celebrations here. This could be a sign,” he said.

Reiterating Mr Mogotsi’s views, the village development committee chairperson, Mr Nonofo Seretse, said their annual key message to the members during Independence Day celebrations was continued adherence to the high standards of conduct expected of them.

However, he said although members benefitted from Ipelegeng, they hardly benefitted from other programmes such as Thuo Letlotlo.

Apart from being in a private land, Mr Seretse said information regarding some of the programmes seldom reached them on time and sometimes came when they were already in full swing.

He was also chiefly concerned about the bad state of the road and unreliableness of public transport, saying, ‘on a lucky day you can hitch a hike from a private vehicle from the neighbouring farms’. Ends