Batswapong history published

ONALENNA MODIKWA
Staff Writer | Thursday May 20, 2010 00:00

The 376 paged book that is written in Setswana language with traces of Setswapong tails, traces the history from as far back as 200 AD when only the Bantu tribe existed only later to give birth to Batswapong tribe among others.

Bantu themselves, according to the book, originated from Cameroon and the present Democratic Republic of Congo but migrated across Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers enroute to Transvaal whereupon they divided into smaller clans of Basotho-Tswana, Nguni, Shona and others. Batswapong were born from this division of clans.

'There is a school of thought that Batswapong is just a single tribe but this is not true and I have explained this in the book. This is the first book of its kind and those who once tried to write down Setswapong culture and history before did not fully explore and exhaust the history. As a result tracing all possible routes to uproot all the history was not an easy task,' indicates Baruti.

At some point he put the research for the book on hold while he continued pursuing his law studies only to resume after finishing his studies in 1987. However it was a big challenge for him to continue with the research while unemployed, as he was resource constrained. It was after he found employment that he was able to continue to realise his dream. Baruti says it was so difficult that he gave up the research until the likes of Jeff Ramsay, Lizo Ngcongco and Professor Thomas Thomas Tlou taught him the art of tracing the history of tribes whose history was never published and even how to source them.

'For minor tribes like Batswapong you do not just visit the library to get their history but if you are dedicated to doing something, challenges become opportunities.'

He acknowledges that it was not a simple thing to unearth relevant information for the book. He had to visit all the senior citizens throughout the whole of Tswapong region. 'The challenges I encountered include the fact that there were conflicting views and opinions which was a sign that having the history written down was very crucial.'The book covers the history of each Tswapong village, the history of Batswapong and Bangwato, including the

challenges they encountered in the tribal wars, the merger of Bangwato and Batswapong, Batswapong and Khama 1 and the war between Kgari and Batswapong.

It also contains the history of slavery among the tribe around 1400-1500 years as well as the cultural practices that included ceremonies for rain, creating lightning and other practices that were peculiar to Batswapong. 

Baruti's passion to have a Batswapong monument in the form of a book started in 1984 when the late professor Michael Crowder engaged him to trace the ruling of kgosi Tshekedi Khama and Seretse Khama of Bangwato as published in the book about the life of Seretse Khama authored by Professor Crowder and a history lecturer from Birmingham University, Dr Henderson. He carried out the Batswapong original research alongside this assignment.

He indicated in the book that his passion was cultivated by his parents, especially his mother who used to narrate the history of the Seleka people who live in Tumasera and this was before he even started his primary school.

The ambition to have the Batswapong history and culture published was necessitated by the need to have it preserved in black and white before it was swallowed by other cultures.