"Village politics" keep progress out of Zwenshambe

EDWARD BULE | Friday January 21, 2011 00:00

With eight wards, namely, Chabale, Mafa, Thobani, Mulale, Ndan'gwa, Phandu, Malobela and Nyuke, this Tati West village in the North East District has a population of approximately 2 000 people, the majority of whom are subsistence farmers.

Back in the 1980s, the people of Zwenshambe were so development oriented that those working outside Zwenshambe became the main drivers of the development programme of the village. Those working in Selibe-Phikwe, Gaborone and Francistown, as well as in South Africa, mainly in Johannesburg, formed themselves into cells and mobilized financial and other resources which they sent to the Village Development Committee in Zwenshambe for specific projects.

On the home front, the VDC mobilized the community to contribute both money and labour to support the same development agenda. So strong was the unity of purpose and spirit of self-reliance among the villagers that within a short period of time, the village had a kgotla, a junior secondary school, a community hall and a brigade centre.

While the community hall became both an important recreational facility and a source of income for the VDC, the junior secondary school and the brigade over the years offered education and training for children from Mapoka, Nlapkhwane, Kgari, Gambule, Gumwe, Pole and Malambakwena.

Back then, kgotla meetings here always attracted large crowds. This is despite the fact that then, as now, the village was be-devilled by a potentially debilitating chieftainship squabble. A villager who prefers anonymity says people were development-inclined and would not allow other issues to get in the way of progress.

In support of the community effort, the government tarred the road that traverses the village from Ramokgwebana to Masunga, built a health post, some staff houses, a post office and stationed police officers at the village kgotla. The one and only primary school had been built way back in the 1930s.

Today, kgotla meetings attract only a few dozen people. In a recent interview, a perturbed Kgosi Moses Mabutho said kgotla meetings are not only a central consultative mechanism, but an important forum for formulating the way forward for the development agenda of any village.

Without any new development projects, the Zwenshambe VDC has been busying itself with supervising Ipelegeng labourers for the de-bushing and de-stumping of the village's cemeteries, clinic and schools. One of the challenges it faces is the costly acts of vandalism in the village. This has resulted in the community hall that dates back more than 20 years to be in a state of disrepair, prompting the VDC to erect a security fence around the facility.

Commenting in an interview, the chairperson of the VDC, Gladys Mabutho, emphasized the centrality of the hall as a potential source of income for the community. She said the VDC is in a dire need of funds to repair and refurbish the hall so that it can be hired out at a good value. Currently, with electricity long disconnected, the hall can only be hired out during the day for very little because of its dilapidated and unattractive condition.

The VDC is also concerned with raising funds for the purchase and erection of a new fence around the village dam since the old fence is no longer able to keep out livestock. The ward councillor, Khazi Motswakae, says because of shortage of funds due to the recession, the health post could not be upgraded to a clinic as had been envisaged.

He reveals that when the funds are eventually available, the clinic will have a maternity wing.  The councillor, who encourages people to connect electrify to their houses, says the connection fee for electricity has been reduced from P18 000 to P5 000 since October last year. Both internal and main roads will not be upgraded also because of the recession.

Villagers blame poor attendance at kgotla meetings to apathy which they attribute to negative 'village politics' that have resulted in divisions in the community. Another cause of the apathy is that after completion of the secondary school, its hostels were named after certain individuals in the community and people interpreted this as arrogance and patronage. They say the condescending was not justified because no one individual had the right to confer upon themselves, their friends and/or relatives such an honour above everyone else because the school was the result of the collective effort of the entire community.

Now, after the death three years ago of Masilo Ngubalani, who had been the chief of Zwenshambe since 1978 through a rather controversial vote, the vexatious issue of chieftainship has once again come to the fore. One faction, which is led by the Chabale ward, maintains that chieftainship is hereditary and that the Chabale ward is the most senior and should provide the chief for the entire village.

Not so, says another with an equal measure of conviction. It argues that the voting precedent of 1978 should be followed because before 1978, the village was divided among several chiefdoms, among them Mosojane and Habangana. They insist that all the wards were equal, continue to be equal and that none of them can lay claim to the leadership of the village.

Incidentally, the government agreed with the view that the claim to the chieftainship of the village by the Chabale ward is legitimate, hence Moses Mabutho succeeded Ngubalani after a two-year interregnum.  The faction opposed to this has gone to the High Court and the matter will be heard towards the end of the year.

Commenting on the lack of new projects, Mabutho said the situation spells economic doom for the villagers since new projects usually bring employment opportunities for the community, especially at the construction stage.

Lamenting poverty rates in the community, Mabutho says he would like to see more and more people adopt a culture of fruit and vegetable gardening to augment their incomes. Revealing that there is a possibility of two more dams being built in the village, he says he would like the dams to be used for fish farming for the benefit of the community.

The chief says destitution is becoming widespread because unlike in the past, people no longer share with their less fortunate relatives and neighbours. He adds that his community is currently looking for funds to build houses for destitute persons.

It remains to be seen whether Moses Mabutho, like his biblical namesake, will deliver the people from the bondage of poverty and apathy. He will need the wisdom of Solomon and the courage of Moses to do so.