Domboshaba and Bakalanga initiation schools

ABEL ABEDNICO MABUSE
Correspondent | Friday February 24, 2012 00:00

Nonetheless, there are few prehistoric ruins that are generally accepted as highlighting the importance of these schools in the area that is presently known as Bukalanga and beyond.  The complexity of this issue is exacerbated by the near lack of historic documents showcasing the existence of these traditional schools among the Bakalanga in the past.  I have travelled around many Bakalanga villages in the last few years and sporadically cast the question of initiation schools among the elderly people.  I have hit a stumbling block in most cases except at villages such as Mosojane, Sebina and a few others where elders seemed uncomfortable to discuss the issue with me.  It is therefore difficult for me to clearly outline how these schools operated in the distant past.  First of all, the topic is usually considered sacred particularly among the elders.  In this article, I continue the subject of early education institutions among the Bakalanga people.  In this article, I would like to focus on the antiquity of the initiation schools and highlight few heritage sites that played an integral role in the attainment of education among the young people.  After all, these schools were equally important institutions among most Bantu speaking people as modern schools are these days.  The earliest and publicly acclaimed initiation schools in the region are linked with several secluded stone walls found among Great Zimbabwe period ruins.  Oral traditions of the Shona in Zimbabwe suggest that during the Great Zimbabwe state, initiation schools were conducted by the ritual sister who was related to the successive kings ruling at those times.  Great Zimbabwe period ruins found in the north eastern Botswana  were also conducting initiation schools as a way of ushering the youth in the world of adulthood, thereby teaching them tribal rites, their history and important socio-political aspects essential in their daily livelihoods.

One of the ruins interpreted as an initiation school dating to the Great Zimbabwe period can be found at Lekhubu in the Makgadikgadi Pans.  On the northern parts of a crescent shaped stone wall, there are over 200 stone cairns which remarkably resemble those that are interpreted as Great Zimbabwe’s initiation centre.  These cairns are considered to be stones that were piled by initiates after each successful initiation season.  Lekhubu is considered to have been a significant initiation centre as it provided the perfect place for introducing the initiates into the complex world of adulthood.  Its location on the edges of the pan offered an excellent metaphor depicting the transition from departing from boyhood and entering the world of adulthood.  It also provided the necessary climatic conditions for the successful completion of the initiation practice; the cold harsh winters.  In addition to these, lessons on trade with the resident KhoeSan populations in the pans for salt and animal hides were transmitted to the boys.  Hunting practices and lessons could have also been attained better at Lekhubu than elsewhere in the region. 

Ruins such as Domboshaba near Vukwi, Lekhubu in the Makgadikgadi Pans and probably Mothudi near Selebi Phikwe have features suggesting the importance of initiation schools among the people who lived in this area between AD 1250 and 1450.  It is not easy to tell whether these people were really the ancestors of the Bakalanga people today or not.  What is commonly known is that when the state of Great Zimbabwe collapsed in AD 1450, two new states were formed; that of Munumutapa around the Zambezi valley and another one known as Butua.  Although the capital of the newly formed state of Butua shifted from Great Zimbabwe to Khami, some of the important Great Zimbabwe period centres such as Domboshaba remained intact and functional until around the 1800s. Between AD 1450 and 1685, Butua was ruled by the Torwa Mambos who were successful in building a prosperous state of Bakalanga.  These Mambos ushered in a time of peace, stability and prosperity where harvests were good.  Cattle herds arose among the Bakalanga farmers.  Many people including ordinary farmers could even afford luxurious trade goods such as glass beads, bracelets and cotton garments which were acquired from the Portuguese in the eastern coast.  The prosperity of the Bakalanga state of Butua has been attributed to various reasons such as favourable climatic conditions, control over trade of gold from the area around Francistown and salt from the Makgadikgadi.  The fundamental factor that contributed to this prosperity lies in the socio-political organisation of the state itself.  Allegiance to the rule of the Mambos played supreme in the entire state due to the high levels of organisation of the citizens of Butua.  Central to this was the initiation schools from which lessons on allegiance, tribal rites, aspects of farming and trade were successfully passed from one generation to the other for over four centuries.  These schools played an imperative role in organising the state and ensuring good governance.  Various structures were probably put in place to ensure that different initiation groups achieved desired results in each of the provincial capitals of the state.  Duties such as hunting expeditions to acquire animal furs for trade, provision of labour for construction of prestigious stone-walled sites built later than Domboshaba, and participation in trading activities, obviously required high standards of socio-political organisation.  The initiation schools provided the essential lessons and skills required for attaining these feats.

By the time the Torwa Mambos lost control of the state to the Changamire Mambos in 1685, the political might of the Mambos had gained popularity among far nations.  Small groups of Bapedi of Nswazwi, the Bakaa of Motshiping and the Bakhurutshe from the south moved northwards and settled among the Bakalanga of Butua; paying tribute to Mambo in the form of animal hides.  The majority of these groups brought the concept of initiation schools among their youths.  The Changamire Mambos ruling at the time appear to have shunned the importance of utilising initiation schools as a form of organising the state of Butua.  They were instead concerned with ruling using their military valour than through control of trade.  What the Torwa Mambos attained through high levels of socio-political organisation, the Changamire Mambos attained through the rule of military zeal.  Somehow the importance of initiation schools was lost among the citizens of Butua.

When the Bakaa of Motshiping arrived at Domboshaba during the 1700s, they found the western parts of Butua state known as Bulilima ruled by She Mengwe.  Oral traditions of the Bakaa of Sebina suggest that initiation ceremonies had declined in the area.  In fact, the majority of the Bakalanga there had no knowledge about it at all. It is therefore tempting for one to argue that the great visionary leader of the Bakaa, Motshiping (later on named Tjizwina or Sebina by She Mengwe) helped resuscitate initiation schools at Domboshaba. Sebina is remembered as a great visionary leader who had deep knowledge of Setswana customs, particularly initiation schools. Upon his arrival at Domboshaba he requested permission from She Mengwe to continue the culture of initiating the Bapedi youth according to their customs.  Mengwe and Bakalanga people were initially curious of these activities but allowed Sebina to undertake them among his people only. Mengwe later on realised that these schools were integral in instilling discipline among the Bakaa and allegiance to their leader, and soon ordered that Bakalanga youth be undertaken through the same initiation schools. For this reason it is not possible to find stone cairns like the ones at Lekhubu at Domboshaba. By the time the rule of Mengwe and indeed the entire state of Butua collapsed around the 1830s, some Bakalanga people had adopted the initiation schools. The Bawumbe of Mosojane point to a small collapsed Khami ruin found to the east of the veterinary fence gate on the gravel road to Tshesebe as an initiation centre.