The major dikgotla
Sandy Grant | Wednesday March 30, 2016 16:47
Since then, the push for modernisation and change first made evident in Kanye in 2002, has been inexorable.
There, it had been apparently agreed that Kgosi Bathoen’s 1914 office in the middle of the kgotla should be demolished and be replaced by a new, tribal administration building which was probably four times its size. The decision would have destroyed the historical kgotla and involved the dispersion of the Ngwaketse royals who had been laid to rest there in unmarked graves.
Unfortunately, it was never possible to ascertain how those most urgently seeking change would have justified a trade-off – the loss/destruction of the past in order to secure a hoped-for better present and future.
That omission is much to be regretted because similar factors, ideas and concerns were soon to emerge elsewhere. In the event, it was decided to locate Kanye’s new super-sized tribal administration block outside the kgotla boundary but immediately behind the new leobo. Kgosi Bathoen’s old office was saved but when last seen, was left unused and seemingly abandoned. Kanye, Serowe, Tlokweng and Ramotswa have all been able to achieve upgraded maobo whilst Moshupa having lost its burnt down old leobo now seems to be stuck for the funding needed to replace it.
Mochudi too has come unstuck through a shortage of cash but its problems are of a totally different degree.
In its case, the availability of funds to complete what was originally intended is likely to increase rather than decrease its problems. As it is now, Mochudi has gained a utility pre-fab office block but has lost its old kgotla without achieving a new one.
The chance should now be taken to produce a conservation plan for the area and a more realistic design for a new leobo and kgotla. Probably it is the up and down changes which have been made to the kgotla in Serowe, however, which have proved to be of the greatest interest. Once again, the pressure for modernisation and change almost resulted in serious heritage loss with the proposed demolition of one of Tshekedi’s lovely old offices. The building, however, was given a last minute reprieve, but the pitch roof which had already been removed was replaced by a new, out of character, flat roof.
The kgotla area has been paved and appears to have been re-modelled whilst a second leobo for the speaker, a striking innovation, has been provided as an extra for the upgraded old model. In addition, the recent renovation of Sekgoma’s small octagon house by the National Museum has drawn attention to the sensitivity of the kgotla environs, and the urgent need to document it and produce a detailed historical and architectural inventory and plan.