Leteisi gets under threat
Thalefang Charles | Friday February 5, 2016 16:18
Is there even such a thing as Botswana dress? Well, this question has been asked many times and local fashionistas and cultural activists have tried with some success, or otherwise, to answer it. Many have adopted leteise - the so-called German Print - as Botswana cloth.
The British might have given us the protection before we claimed our independence, but the Germans undoubtedly gave us the traditional dress.
In 2012 cultural activist, Rogers Molefhi, tried to explain why the Motswana woman adopted the German print as a traditional dress instead of her coloniser’s dress.
Molefhi said since the Germans arrived before the British in East and South-West Africa their heavy material dress won the hearts of Africans.
The adopted German print did not feature any unique pattern that is exclusively Botswana. There are plenty of patterns that are uniquely found in Botswana for instance, patterns made by women when decorating their mud houses with cow dung called lekgapho.
The Bakgatla Ba Ga Kgafela Museum in Moruleng in South Africa have used these unique patterns on the museum building walls and some souvenir clothes sold at the museum. There is also a unique pattern also by women adopted from weaved baskets. These basket patterns could be found at the Sir Seretse Khama International Airport terminal building.
There has been few cloths that featured bushmen prints and patterns that could also be regarded as exclusively Botswana. But they were never popular.
Prof. Sheila Tlou, the UNAIDS Regional Director for Eastern and Southern Africa and former Minister of Health who is Son of the Soil (SOTS) patron, said the debate was as old as Botswana’s independence. Tlou said, “I have always loved Setswana fashion, right from our independence when women were debating on whether leteise or the Dutch cloth was really Setswana fashion or we should look for something else. Some argued that the cloth was originally used for domestic workers and should therefore not be the country cloth.” Interestingly, Tlou chose a Masaai attire at this year’s SOTS. She advocates for the for the constant change in fashion and style “to make sure our Setswana fashion evolves for better because, in the ultimate, fashion represents the style and custom that is prevalent at any one point in time.”
So if the popular SOTS could be used as a test sample for what really is Botswana cloth, Botswana print and Botswana dress, what could be the conclusion?
Although it might be hard to have one clear answer, what is however evident is that leteise’s status as Botswana’s traditional dress is threatened. The African print and dashikis are taking over.