Bush Train BW taps on Lobatse's unexplored rich heritage
Thalefang Charles | Friday January 15, 2021 17:06
The great folklore legend George Swabi in his timeless hit Baga Mmangwato Baga Mabiletsa describes the uniqueness of train ride in Lobatse when he said “O se bone seporo go namalala ko Lobatse se boa se ikgarile”. Although some believe Swabi’s lyrics are just a metaphor that describes something that could not be written here, there is actually a picturesque railway line curves that probably inspired the lyric.
The railway enters the town from the south meandering between the foothills along the Peleng River. The most scenic curves are from Peg-706 near the dam and Peg-705 as the railway approaches the station that is opposite Crescent School.
Crescent, which is one of the oldest private schools in the country, was the supposed venue for the Bush Train event. The organisers had planned that the festivalgoers would board the train in Gaborone and party all the way to Bandleng, as the streets call Lobatse. They would have gotten off the train and walked across the station into a hype of activities at Crescent School.
However, due to strict COVID-19 protocols and a ban on entertainment, the organisers invited select media personalities for a tour that was a little glimpse of what could have been an epic gig and most importantly to present the unexplored rich heritage of the town.
From Gaborone the media entourage was taken to Lobatse on a bus and the first stop was at The Freak Show. This was where those journalists who love speed got some adrenaline up by racing with go-carts. Managed by Binn Matengu, The Freak Show located near the High Court, provides the sport tourism in Lobatse with go-carts. Matengu explained that their aim is to improve the quality of life in the beef town so that residents and visitors could have some safe fun in town.
From the racing, the entourage was taken to the old Bechuanaland Legislative Council buildings. Located on the old European part of Lobatse, the Legislative Council was the birthplace of modern Botswana. It was here that the Bechuanaland Protectorate Advisory councils laid the foundation of the country before independence. But these important heritage buildings are in a sorry state as they have been vandalised and vulgar graffiti is all over the walls. The guide stationed at the site, Basimanebotlhe Sedidi from the Museum Department, revealed that there are plans in place to refurbish the monument to make it more appealing.
Lobatse was in contest for the sites chosen to be the country’s capital in the 1950s when the Bechuanaland decided to quit the bizarre arrangement where the territory’s headquarters were located in another country in Mafikeng, South Africa.
According to University of Botswana’s Prof. Part Themba Mgadla, African and European Advisory Councils had previously argued for Lobatse to be the future headquarters of the territory but it was found unsuitable for several reasons.
“Although endowed with relatively good climate and beautiful scenery, Lobatse’s failure to qualify as the future capital of Botswana stemmed from its inadequacy of water supplies and the fact that it was not seen as central in relation to the rest of Bechuanaland. Furthermore, the availability of crown land or state land for expansion was found to be limited with most of the land around it being owned by individual farmers,” Mgadla explained.
But as Gaborone Central legislator, Tumisang Healy pointed out when he bid the media farewell in Gaborone, Botswana’s school curriculum does not adequately teach the history of Botswana and most Batswana do not value their heritage because they simply do not know anything about it.
The next stop was the African side of Lobatse where the media toured the historic Peleng location. At the height of the South African liberation struggle, Peleng provided safe houses for freedom fighters on transit to the rest of frontline states. One of the safe-houses was Fish Keitseng’s place that has since been turned into a monument. Dichaba Seleka, the guide at the monument, explained that the house was a busy underground transit for South African freedom fighters. Although there is nothing tangible to show it, except for the Museum board, Seleka said many African National Congress comrades slept at Keitseng’s house including icons like the late Nelson Mandela when he was leading the Umkhonto We Sizwe underground. Apparently, there are plans to develop the monument.
The only monument that has been fortunate with development is the Samora Machel Monument still in Peleng. Funded by the Mozambican state in honour of their former president, a state-of-the art building has been built around the old safe house of Kgosi Kgaboesele’s place where Machel sought refuge in 1969. Boitumelo Mosepidi said the construction was not yet complete, saying that once completed the monument will have galleries and permanent installations that tell the journey of one of southern Africa’s liberation icons and their relations with Lobatse.
Lobatse is also regarded as the home of Botswana beef because the Botswana Meat Commission (BMC) is located at the tiny town. BMC has for many years been one of Africa’s best beef processing plant that served the European Union. Target Meat Industries, a family business of the Mbaakanyis located at Woodhall Industrial has taken the baton to keep Lobatse’s status as the meat capital of Botswana with a dedicated butchery that aims to serve the best meat from Lobatse. During the media tour, assistant general manager, Bangu Mbaakanyi explained that they have the “country’s best meat cuts as well as processed meats like our famous cabannossi”.
The southwest of Lobatse, along the Ramatlabana exit was the Indian part of town. The Crescent school, which was the supposed venue for the Bush Train festival, is located on that side of town. Opened in 1961, the school used to be a European Only school and has legendary names on their alumni. The Bush Train concept has a great potential to not only improve the economy of Lobatse but to also provide much needed heritage education from the ‘Mother City’ of Botswana.