A 50 year snap shot � maobo and masaka
Sandy Grant | Wednesday December 9, 2015 15:58
We have no idea therefore about the variation of design and choice of materials that may then have used. Curiously perhaps, we appear to be not much better off today. A Schapera photo does help us to know that the all wood leobo in Mochudi remained unchanged from at least the mid-1930s until the mid-1970s when it was realised, quite by chance, that the wood had rotted and was now unsafe. It was pulled down and a replacement quickly put in its place.
It was my impression then that it was this change which helped to trigger similar changes in all the major traditional settlements although the new found availability of ready cash must have been an even more important factor. Noone, however, likes to be left behind and within a short time, Mochudi’s modest new leobo was left far behind as new, larger, more costly, more prestigious maobo came into being in, not least, Molepolole, Serowe, Tlokweng. Ramotswa, Moshupa, and Kanye even, most wonderfully, in Old Naledi. It seems to have been generally agreed at each place that a treated thatch roof with timber supports represents the most suitable model. Sadly, however, there have been problems.
From memory, I seem to recall that the impressive Moshupa lobo has been somehow damaged. Sadly too, the now partly unsafe Old Naledi leobo also illustrates the problems that can arise. Thatch, particularly wet thatch, is tremendously heavy. If the supports were not designed to take this weight, they will crack or split. And then there are other problems. Whilst still without need of electrical fittings, fires such as occurred at the Gaborone Golf Club are unlikely to happen. It may be, however, that some maobo already boast such fittings. Lightning, however, is a different matter and costly protection as at Chobe Mowana is almost an unavoidable necessity. In almost every village, it seems that the maobo has been transformed. Many have followed the model chosen by the larger settlements but some will have found that they had no choice but to opt for a tiled roof instead of grass. Apart from any other factor, grass, if it can only now be obtained from South Africa, is incredibly expensive. The situation in respect of the masaka is different and of great interest.
Once an essential element of the kgotla, the cattle kraal (lesaka) is virtually obsolete in all the larger traditional settlements. In the smaller villages, however, it has not only been retained but has been upgraded invariably with stone. In village after village, the kgotla has been wonderfully transformed although I am puzzled to read on the internet about the Dutch company’s insistence that traditionally the dikgotla are without tables and chairs. Are there any dikgotla which can do without such essential furnishings, not least for court cases?