Kgosi Sechele set to introduce wife

BASHI LETSIDIDI
Correspondent | Thursday March 19, 2009 00:00

 

'We wish other tribes will join us to celebrate Kgosi Kgari's wedding. Visitors will be taken very good care of because Bakwena are a generous and kind-hearted people,' says Kgari's deputy and chief wedding organiser, Kgosi Keineetse Sebele.

Legally, Kgari is already married - the marriage was solemnised in August last year - but there was no ceremony befitting a royal couple as his wife had to leave for Australia where she is on study leave until 2011. She will be home on vacation in July and that has provided opportunity to hold the wedding.

Sebele, who is Kgari's paternal uncle, says that preparations for the big day are already underway. To the extent possible, Sebele says that they will ensure that everyone in the Kweneng district is part of the big day and to this end, he has personally been to every ward and church in Molepolole to deliver the good news. In some instances, Kgari himself and some royal uncles accompanied him. As regards notifying other villages, Sebele says that he plans to undertake a district-wide tour in May.

A kgosi's wedding necessarily has to be a big event and the expectation is that subjects should help in this endeavour. Sebele says that some old men 'who know our culture' have already donated cattle and horses. Some of the donations made will be used for the festivities while others (like animals) will become Kgari's personal property. Possibly some of that property may go towards payment of the bridal price, which has not yet been made.

For anybody else, the bridal price would be determined by the woman's family but in Kgari's case, that is a decision to be made by the Bakwena royal family. Sebele says that every 'self-respecting' member of this family has never paid bridal price fewer than 10 head of cattle.

'So in Kgosi Kgari's case, no less than 10 cattle will be paid as bridal price,' he says.

The last time the Bakwena had a whip-round to finance a tribal event starring Kgari, there followed controversy with regard to whether every thebe was accounted for. When he was installed, Kgari was given a brand new car as a present but rumours later surfaced that the car was bought credit and that the young kgosi himself was saddled with the balance.

Quizzed on the possibility of history repeating itself, Sebele said that while he did not want 'to open old wounds', he was confident that all donations would go to the intended beneficiary.

'Each group of fundraisers will have a receipt book and every single donation will be accounted for,' he says.

Kgari's wedding celebrations will mark the fourth time in 90 years that Bakwena have been treated to a royal wedding at the Kgotla. The first time was in 1918 when Kgosi Sebele II married Tlhalefang Sekgoma in a ceremony that was attended by the Anglican Church's Bishop of Kimberly.

Says Sebele: 'That wedding was attended by all tribes, all churches and all traditional leaders in Botswana. Hopefully, cabinet ministers, including President Ian Khama, as well as all members of Ntlo ya Dikgosi will be able to attend Kgosi Kgari's wedding ceremony'
The second was in 1932 when Kgari II tied the knot with Gagoumakwe Magogwe from Maribana ward in Molepolole.

The third was in 1972 when Kgari's father, Bonewamang, married Kwenayagae Sekgoma, herself a royal, from Serowe. Bonewamang died in 1978 in a road accident and from then until 2002 when Kgari took over, the Bakwena tribal administration was run by regents.

Kgari's wedding comes a year after one of his subjects complained about his bachelorhood at a Kgotla meeting. Julius Bodigelo said Kgari should get married, produce an heir and prevent the possibility of a battle over the Bakwena chieftaincy in the future.

Bodigelo's suggestion was greeted with rapturous cheering, applause and ululating.

At the time Keineetse said that while Bodigelo may have a right as a tribesman to express his concern, he had chosen the wrong forum.

It so happened that the process was underway at the time of Bodigelo's complaint because two months later, an announcement of Kgari's marriage plans was made at the Kgotla.

On the day that he became chief in August 2002, it became clear that Kgari was not going to have full control over his private life. An army of young women from Molepolole and beyond attended his investiture ceremony. Getting a glimpse of him for the first time, one young woman was heard to gush rhapsodically about how 'handsome' Kgari was.

From her vantage point at the high table, Mohumagadi Gagoumakwe Sechele, the now deceased Bakwena royal matriarch, surveyed the young female faces and became very suspicious.

When she got to publicly counsel Kgari, Mohumagadi Gagoumakwe warned him that the dolled-up girls had romantic designs on his young royal heart. 'O ba gane, Kgari,' Mohumagadi Gagoumakwe implored the new chief, meaning that he should spurn the extra-verbal advances of the young women.

It is not clear how well he was able to heed that advice.