the monitor

Shandesh – The Demio Tales.

A South African artist, Shandesh – seemingly drunk on Botswana pulas – had the spherical things to say there are no luxury cars in Botswana because the cars we can afford are Mazda Demios.

Botswana is according to her a sprawling showroom of this budget-friendly vehicle. She stopped short of saying ‘Forget the zebra. Let's put a Demio on the coat of arms. Or better yet, a whole herd of them, all meticulously parked. The Honda Fit owners were furious. How can she say that? Anyone that has passed through this country knows very well that every 3rd car in the republic is a Honda Fit and anyone saying that is disrespectful to Honda Fit and its owners. Demio is at the ‘still growing’ phase version, that is, it is a Honda Fit without the notoriety. The 2 are like cousins though, one from Extension 27 and the other from Extension 10 so you can forgive Shandesh here. She might well have mistaken one for the other. She was not finished though and to add salt to very open wounds she continued to say ‘Botswana is just a dry place with nothing but dust and cows.

I perform there, get my money, and leave.’ Now people that live in places where there’s nothing but dust and cows don’t want to be told that. They also don’t want you to boast about taking their money. These days for Batswana anything that sticks in their craws is met with a facebook pushback. Shandesh should ask the Ms World pageant organizers. Facebook is the only place where you can offend 97 people before lunch with nothing but an emoji and Batswana have developed a special skill in this regard. This wasn't just a gentle nudge; it turned into a fully-blown digital uprising. People who are normally busy with facebook games such as Farmscape 5: Revenge of The Beetroot quit playing games and joined the fray. When your country is under siege from Shandesh you have to answer the national call and join the facebook war, there’s no time to play games. All the digital pitchforks were out. Some citizens even assumed powers they do not have like declaring the offending artist a prohibited immigrant.

Editor's Comment
Depression is real; let's take care of our mental health

It is not uncommon in this part of the world for parents to actually punish their children when they show signs of depression associating it with issues of indiscipline, and as a result, the poor child will be lashed or given some kind of punishment. We have had many suicide cases in the country and sadly some of the cases included children and young adults. We need to start looking into issues of mental health with the seriousness it...

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