Toteng: A village of many lives

GALEFELE MAOKENG
Correspondent | Friday May 15, 2009 00:00

Unless you have something specific to do there you would not care to stop. You probably would not even notice the tiny village as you whiz past it on your way to Sehithwa or Shakawe beyond.

That is because Toteng today represents the very picture of desolation. With rampant unemployment and no economic opportunities whatsoever, the best a young person can do here is escape to the cattle post or else migrate to Maun where there might be a chance for some piece work or even permanent employment if one is lucky.

Nengwa Mokgwathi, 27, says he moved to Maun in 2006 when he realised there were no employment prospects in Toteng. And since his arrival in Maun he has been able to make ends meet by using his van to transport goods for those who buy materials from a Maun hardware store. He is now able to support his family back in Toteng.

Councillor Kgolagano Motsamai says that to address the unemployment issue, especially amongst the youth, he has been encouraging them to take advantage of the out-of-school youth grants offered by the Department of Youth and Culture. And he seems to be making headway as already three youth groups have been funded in the livestock sector. Motsamai however bemoans the tendency of residents to migrate to Maun.

He argues that even though the practice is necessitated by economic hardships, it is detrimental to the development of Toteng as these same people could help develop the village by building houses there.

Their migration also reduces the village population which then disqualifies it from certain government developments, thus condemning it to perpetual underdevelopment.

But Toteng is a village that has weathered many a storm. And she is a village that has lived many lives. Rre Daniel Nkakobang, 88, says when he first settled here as a young man in 1939 there was no village because there were just a few households and cattle posts scattered here and there. These households mostly relied on the river to water their livestock. And for their own sustenance they ploughed various crops and also sold some of their cattle to the Ngamiland Trading Centre (NTC) in Sehithwa. These early settlers, he says, were almost bound together by Kgosi Letsholathebe I's grave, which served as a reminder to the historical village that once flourished on the same spot. But by 1950 they began to agitate for a village as Sehithwa, from which they accessed all services, was too far. So they sent representation to Kgosi Montsho Mogalakwe who was then ruling in Sehithwa.

This process does not seem to have borne much fruit because Rre Selehilwe Paulo, 90, who became Toteng's first chief in 1972, says when he assumed responsibility around 1956 there was no village at all. However, there were signs pointing to the possibility of a village in the future. In those days big lorries ferried people and goods between Maun and the rest of the district. And on their way to the north the lorries would stop over in Toteng for a few hours and sometimes even spend a night there on account of the bad roads. These lorries, called 'Albions', parked at a particular mogotlho tree, which still stands in Toteng today though it is now dry. It was always a hive of activity as locals sold their wares to the travellers.

They sold fresh milk, madila, watermelons and green maize.  They even peddled some guinea fowl and francolin meat, which proved a favourite with the travellers. Guinea fowl and francolin are still favourite delicacies in Toteng, especially during winter. And by 1960 a certain Molapisi Kadimo, who had just retired from the colonial service set up a tuckshop by the mogotlho tree, selling groceries to both travellers and the locals.

Toteng was to gain village status soon after independence in 1966 as councillor James Molatole and Member of Parliament (MP) Gaerolwe Kwerepe (1965-1994) took up the matter. And by then the local population had become substantial. Indeed the 1964 population census recorded 18 households in Toteng with a total population of 143.

Cattle rearing was the occupation listed by most respondents. In early 1968 the residents were advised to elect a village development committee (VDC) that would spearhead the development of their newly declared village. Selehilwe Paulo was elected chairman and Daniel Nkakobang his deputy. And Kgosi Gabobintshe Dithapo, then ruling in Sehithwa appointed Mokgojwa Rantung village headman.

However, Rantung, a member of the Tawana royal house, soon fell out with his superiors as Kgosi Letsholathebe II (1964-1980) ordered Dithapo to depose him. Apparently Rantung earned the ire of his fellow royals by constructing his new Kgotla without consulting either Dithapo in Sehithwa or Letsholathebe II in Maun.

Dithapo accordingly deposed Rantung and even razed the Kgotla he had built. And the new village of Toteng was to go on without a kgosi until 1972 when Letsholathebe II came to Toteng and invited the community to elect somebody to be their chief. Selehilwe Paulo won ahead of Segole Segole and Tsogwane Kahimue. He was to remain kgosi until 2002 when he retired and was replaced by Kemang Nkakobang, the current Kgosi.  A new VDC was elected in 1973 to go with the appointment of a new Kgosi. Daniel Nkakobang became chairman, Tsogwane Kahimue (vice chair) and Etsogile Rantung, secretary. Other members included Gaosotwe Mokgedi and Gadiitsiwe Mohubitswane. Etsogile Rantung was to later become village councillor from 1994 to 2004.

However, the lack of a kgosi did not affect the determination of the new villagers to attract important developments to their village. Under mounting pressure from Councillor Molatole and the VDC, the northwest district council granted Toteng a primary school in 1971. To make their case for the school the enterprising VDC had recorded the names of all children of school-going age in Toteng and her environs and submitted the details to the authorities.

That seems to have done the trick because soon after submission of the details construction of the school was approved. Rre Paulo remembers the first teachers at the school as Gaboitatolwe Mothibakgomo and Kaome.

The fledgling village was to experience an upheaval in 1992 when the Kgotla was relocated east of the river. The old Kgotla was abandoned due to its closeness to the river and lack of grounds for further development. Subsequently the majority of the residents also had to relocate.

In spite of the sterling performance posted by Kgosi Paulo and his VDC in establishing the new village, this had not the first time the village of Toteng was built from scratch. Nor was it the first time it had risen from the ashes, like the proverbial phoenix.

The first time this village was built was in fact in around 1820 when Kgosi Moremi I moved the Tawana capital from the Kgwebe hills to settle it here at the mouth of the then flourishing Lake Ngami.

That village was to last for only about a decade, for somewhere around 1830 Sebetwan' s Makololo ransacked it, completely crushing the Tawana army and then burning down houses and capturing many men and livestock. But the village rose from the ashes in 1840 when Regent Mogalakwe rebuilt it, returning it to its former glory.

his reconstruction continued under Letsholathebe I (1847-1874) under whom the village of Toteng saw perhaps its most glorious days. European travellers and traders first came to Ngamiland in this time and Toteng became a major trading centre. These exchanged many important items such as guns and ammunition, horses, clothes, cattle wagons, knives, beads, steel chains, tobacco, etc with the Batawana for cattle hides, ostrich feathers and elephant tusks (Mutero Chirenje 1977). As Lake Ngami was the biggest centre for all elephant hunters, Toteng became a major trading centre for ivory.

That glorious Toteng lasted until around 1885 when the capital was relocated to Digogwaneng, just outside present day Nokaneng.

This relocation came about on account of Toteng's apparent vulnerability to attacks from belligerent tribes such as the Matebele, Makololo and Bangwato.

The site of the old town remained deserted until reconstruction of the new village after 1966. And now there is a copper mine project just to the south of the village, on the foot of the historical Kgwebe Hill.

The mine, developed by Discovery Metals Limited is scheduled to start production in early 2011. Councillor Motsamai says of that mine: 'It holds our biggest hope for the development of this village.

It will offer employment to many of our young people and will attract lots of development here as many companies will want to set up here in order to provide services to the mine'.

So perhaps there is a chance that Toteng may yet regain her former glory.