Shashe Bridge � The epitome of serenity
Patricia Edwin | Friday May 9, 2014 14:33
It is not easy to spot homestead because most of the yards are surrounded by vegetation, especially bananas, mangoes, flowers, indigenous and exotic trees.
The panoramic view of the village is complemented by rich loamy soils that carpet the landscape, unlike rocks and stones that characterise most villages in Botswana. On the outskirts of the village is the Shashe River, which glitters peacefully in the distance. The reeds, lining the riverbanks, like maidens out to impress a king, sway from side-to-side in the cool breeze that wafts through the area. The effects of the heavy rains that fell about two months ago can still be seen, as the water is way past the riverbanks. Where there is no water there is mud with animal spoors. The whole area, a rather large expanse is still sodden. Evidence that people find this place relaxing and are drawn to the river is apparent, as there is heavy vehicular traffic to and from Shashe Bridge.
Shashe Bridge is a village with its own rich history as told by Kgosi Moipolai Abram Kgaje. Kgaje, a welcoming man with a wide smile, explained the simple history as far as he knows it. His forebears settled there around 1937, before he was born.
“A long time ago before I was even born, people in this village broke away from the village of Matsiloje to settle here. They were trying to get away from the issues of Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) in order to save their livestock,” he said. He said that at the time cattle crossing into Ramokgwebana from Matsiloje area would be killed, hence in their quest to save their livestock, people moved and settle in the area. He said that makes the people of Shashe Bridge mostly Barolong who came from Matsiloje. He added that when they settled there, the village was not called Shashe, but as time its name was changed.
“The village at first was called TC after Tati Company, which controlled the land, but after some time the villagers sought to rename the village. After a debate concerning three suggested names, Shashe was picked. “At that time the bridge was the only way for people of this village to access food from the next village,” he said.
He said that the village had no shops or access to food and the people had to cross the bridge to go to the other side to buy food. So they chose the name because the bridge had become like their source of life.
He said a man called Matshidiso Chake led the village when the people first arrived in Shashe, and that after his death, Lucas Kgaje who is Moipolai’s father, took over and became the village headman.
When Kgaje passed away, his uncle, Kalayamore Mabale was appointed to the throne. “When my father’s uncle died he had a right hand man who was of Ndebele origin. He had appointed this man to be the policeman and messenger of the Kgotla.
“He enforced order in the village because at that time, young boys were very naughty and when my father’s uncle died, people deliberated and decided that since he, James Keletsi was the one who managed the people, he should be the headman,” he said.
Keletsi took over in the late ‘70s until he passed the baton to Kgaje in 2006. He stated that in the 1980s Shashe Bridge was gazetted to become a village.
Kgaje said that sources of income have changed with the times, but that in the olden days the people of Shashe Bridge made a living by selling artifacts at the railway station to people who were on transit, especially the whites.
“That was their source of income and means of living because almost everyone in the village was doing it. Now times have changed and most of our youth who are not in school for further education work in the numerous poultry farms surrounding our village,” he said. He said that other means of living are arable farming and rearing of livestock even though they have a problem of land.
“Our village is moving towards Tati Siding and this is now an area called greater Francistown,” he said. About the advantage of being near the Shashe River, Kgaje said that the river is a blessing in their village because they have plentiful water and that they have one of the biggest water plants that supplies even Francistown and Selebi-Phikwe. He said that people come from far and wide to gaze at the river and take pictures.
He said that the flipside of their good story is that people who come from outside Shashe Bridge often drown in the river trying to fish or do some things there.
“We have problems with our children because they grew up around the water,” he said. He added that Shashe Bridge is not a village struck by poverty because people are making a living and many work in town. He said that for the past five years crime has gone down.
“Ever since the situation seemed to have improved in Zimbabwe, the crime rate has gone down. Our village is relatively safe from criminal activities,” he said.