'Setswana' Worw demeaned-Kgathi

NELSON DIRENG
Correspondent | Monday September 19, 2011 00:00

During a discussion at the the Ngwao Pitso last week, Minister of Youth Sports and Culture (MYSC) Shaw Kgathi said Batswana should be proud ambassadors of their country because it is only them that are in a better position of branding themselves.

The minister made these comments after Kgosi Puso Gaborone of the Batlokwa stated that Batswana have a tendency of saying Legapu la Setswana and Ntsa ya Setswana when referring to something they have little or no respect for.

Kgathi said this should stop. He however blamed such behaviour on both the government and parents. 'Parents nowadays discourage their children from speaking Setswana at home, a trend that may be influenced by the fact that children cannot proceed to tertiary without a credit in English,' he said. He, however, said these are some of the issues that need to be looked into and reconsidered.

Kgathi also said that the way Batswana are moving away from their culture proves that they are not proud of themselves. He gave an example of the traditional patlo process of getting married which he said is now deemed old fashioned. He said this has in turn caused moral decay amongst youth who do not fear engaging in illicit acts.

On a lighter note, Kgathi said that relationships that were initiated via cellphone messaging never last. 'Even being fat nowadays is considered not cool when back then big mothers were the pride of the family,' he said.

Kgathi warned that if not careful today's society was likely to diminish old practices. 'We need to try and aggressively brand our culture when we still can,' he emphasised.

Meanwhile Kgathi has said that the government is currently trying to figure out a way of growing the Pitso Ya Ngwao which he said was fast becoming a favourite amongst Batswana. He said a possible solution could be hosting a regional Pitso which would accommodate everyone. Kgathi also announced that a new land policy that would protect certain cultural or heritage rich sites has been introduced. The policy came about after people complained that some of these locations were being destroyed just to provide space for mass infrastructure projects.