The 'curse' of Old Palapye lives on

Thalefang Charles
Staff Writer | Friday July 5, 2013 00:00

 

But Khama, a devoted Christian, did not believe his wife's death was due to some 'ill-spirits' despite his son, Sekgoma and part of morafe labelling the death of the Queen Mother as a sign of ill-omen of this place.  He got married again to a woman called Sefakwane, according to our rather reluctant guide, Tonkana (no last name offered).  A few years into the new marriage tragedy struck Khama's house again as Sefakwane died too.

Our guide narrates that it was not only Khama who was burying wives, the mothers were also losing their children due to what was believed to be malaria fever.  Life at Phalatswe was getting desperate as drought suddenly hit Khama's new capital.  Things went from bad to worse as water, too, which initially attracted Khama to this place, dried up.  There were also fever outbreaks, locusts wiping of Bangwato's harvest and their heightened agitation with this 'unlucky' place.  In June 1902 Khama could not bear it anymore as he eventually decided to move his capital to Serowe near the Swaneng Hills.  It is recorded that when the exodus was completed, Khama sent a regiment to burn down Phalatswe.

Exactly 111 years later, in a cold June night, we set up camp next to the old church - the same church in which Khama exchanged vows with Sefakwane.  We are a group of mostly young outdoor lovers, who have since adopted the name '*Maraka', and we are here on a walking expedition from Old Palapye to Goo-Moremi. The expedition is a physical exercise, a historical trail and spiritual journey that will take us through the picturesque Tswapong gorges and revered ancestral shrines.  Before arriving at the church, we were welcomed by Kgosi Solomon of Malaka, a nearby village which is named after Malake, the chief who gave Khama a piece of land that is today called Old Palapye.

Today Old Palapye is just ruins of stonewalls and graves in the bush next to the western-end of Tswapong Hills. Notable in this bush are relics of the London Missionary Society (LMS) church built in 1894 - the red brick church that tells a story of Khama's faith in Christianity.  Being among the first Christian chiefs in the region Khama did not neglect his unwavering faith in Jesus despite the plagues that hit Bangwato at Phalatswe.

Many believed that since Khama was a born-again and a staunch teetotaler with disdain for ancestral spirits, the plagues were signs that the Tswapong/Bapedi ancestors were unhappy with his lack of respect and adoption of the white man's religion therefore not welcomed here.

Old Palapye is situated next to the most revered Batswapong ancestral shrine - Badimo spot along the Motetane Gorge.  Batswapong believe this is the dwelling place of their gods and they usually come here for prayers and thanksgiving rituals, something that the Christian Khama would not do.  It is believed that Khama's less powerful magic attracted the wrath of the gods and eventually chased him to Serowe.

In 2011 Phillip Segadika, a landscape archaeologist, then Head of the Archaeology and Monuments Division at the Botswana National Museum, excitedly wrote about Palapye: 'A people's desolate ruin and a signature of migrations and rejection, may now be well on its way to change livelihoods through tourism. That sounds bright... maropeng go a boelwa'. Segadika's words came after it was announced that Botswana International University of Science and Technology (BIUST) would be built in Palapye.  He was also responding to news that archaeologists, architects and historians have joined forces with the local community to revitalise the Old Palapye site.

Three years later, standing on this site, one could sense the rejection and desolation of this place.  The revitalisation project is still a pipedream.  There are no camping facilities or any lodge nearby, the signage to the church has been vandalised, causing many visitors to get lost. The Community Trust that was meant to look after the ruins and hopefully profit from tourism is failing to crystalise.  Meanwhile, in Palapye, the envisioned university project has been relegated to a mere technical college and it remains unfinished with no students.  This is the same Palapye that the country's most ambitious project, Morupule B, is still eluding contactors and putting the rest of Botswana into desperate power cuts.

We visit the Mma Besi grave near Malaka, which cut a lonely figure as pile of rocks under Mophane trees.  Our guide says a local man called Mongwato erected a concrete cross next to the grave after hearing instructions in his sleep.  It appears Bangwato have neglected their Queen Mother.  It is interesting to note that although Serowe is often referred to as Kwa-gaa-MmaBesi-a-Khama she never stayed or even knew about Serowe because she died 12 years before Bangwato relocated there.  Her husband is buried in Serowe next to the fourth wife Semane (Tshekedi Khama's mother) while the grave of the mother of Bangwato chiefs has grown Mophane trees and sadly Bangwato seem not to care.

Historians record that after Khama was seen as having had insufficient magic, as compared to the Batswapong spirits, he was advised by his eldest child, Bessie, to marry Semane, a Motswapong, as a way to try to bring Batswapong to heal.  Did the curse ever heal?

In 1998 when presenting a paper titled The Abandonment of Phalatswe at the University of Botswana (UB), historian Neil Parsons wrote: 'The 'curse' of the Tswapong hills came to some people's minds in the 1970s and early 1980s, when foreign academics tried to study their history.  The first scholar dropped dead in the National Archives.  The second scholar was robbed of all her notes in the Gaborone mall, and changed her topic.'

As we leave the Old Palapye site scaling the Tswapong Hills to another revered Batswapong gods site at Goo-Moremi, it dawns on me why this is one place Bangwato would love to forget. It appears the Batswapong 'curse' at this beautiful place have left Bangwato with a terrible scar.

Old Palapye is still as Segadika described it three years ago - 'a desolate ruin and a signature of migrations and rejection'.* Next week: Maraka petitions Goo-Moremi gods.