Bakgatla women go on bojale tomorrow

MONKAGEDI GAOTLHOBOGWE
Staff Writer | Friday May 29, 2009 00:00

 

The traditional Tswana initiation school ended 20 years ago in Kgatleng.

The women initiates - or maswaile, as they are called in Setswana - will be headed by the wife of Kgosi Kgafela II, Mohumagadi Mma Matshego, and the wife of Kgosi Sekai Pilane, Mma Disang.

The initiates will gather at the Kgotla in Mochudi where Kgosi Kgafela will address them before dispatching them at 5pm.

The high points of the 'expedition' are the opening ceremony and its conclusion. But, as Kgosi Kgafela explained, the conclusion is more important in Kgatla culture. The women will spend their last night of bojale around a hearth at a field called Dikgalaope on June 19/20. Infact, they will gather in knots, each around a fire, in accordance with their dikgoro (wards).

Whence the women will enter the Kgotla on the morning of Saturday June 20 when Kgosi Kgafela II will bestow upon them their regimental name. The name remains a highly guarded secret until it is revealed upon conferment. The last such ceremony was in 1989 when the Kgosi Kgafela's father, late Kgosi Lincwe II, received 'Mathukwi.'

Kgosi Kgafela says he and Bakgatla are ready to launch the 'expedition' tomorrow.

'We expect about 1, 200 initiates,' he says. 'Past groups have been around these numbers. The procedure for enrolment and registration has not changed; each initiate is registered by her batsadi (parents) at her ward.

'Self-registration is not allowed,' Kgafela says. While bojale is open to all women, it is strictly out of bounds to expectant mothers, but they may enrol at another time.

But bojale is not exclusive to single women. 'My wife is also going,' Kgafela says, and explains that bojale is about making people consciously aware of the fundamental values of humanity which have defined Bakgatla and other Batswana as a people.

'These values are often referred as 'botho' or 'ubuntu',' Kgafela says. 'Education in these values is preserved in the songs and other things about bojale.

Some of these values are respect for oneself and for others, the centrality of the family and its hierarchical order, the place of the kgoro or ward, and respect for the regimented order of leadership beginning with Kgosikgolo as the ultimate custodian of all things Kgatla or Tswana, including the future of the nation.

'We emphasise the point that the survival and unity of any nation depends on these things,' Kgafela says before lunging into idioms for emphasis: 'Ngwana yo o sa utlweng molao wa batsadi o utlwa wa manong;' Thota e senang khudutlou bolobete ba ipha naga.'

'Our anthem, as Bakgatla, is a song called 'Tlotlang Kgosi e Kgolo Banna,'' he says.

Bojale also inducts women into collective responsibility in the economic, social and political spheres of their community: 'One for all, all for one,' Kgafela explains.' These values are as valid today as they were a hundred years ago. They are eternal for the common good. For the modern woman, these values have never been more urgent.'

'The present group of initiates is expected to be our torchbearers against modern threats. The group includes highly educated women. Some academics have registered. A film crew will document this year's bogwera and bojale. Ownership of the end product will vest in morafe wa Bakgatla and will be available to anyone for a fee.'