A Batswana ke Basotho?
Friday, August 12, 2011
Afterall, Botswana is a country made up of people who proudly call themselves Batswana and to call them Sotho might be offensive even though it is generally accepted that the Sothos and the Pedis are their ethnic cousins. History will record that even in those apartheid days of segregation in South Africa, the Sothos, Pedis and Tswana were encouraged to stay together, while the Ngunis stayed together in their settlements.
According to a South African author, Rikus van Rooy, the Sotho-Tswana settled in South Africa in the 15th Century. The South Sotho (generally called Basotho) live mainly in Lesotho and its surrounds, while the Tswana live in Botswana and the north-western parts of South Africa and the Pedi mostly populate the area now known as Limpopo. It is the similarities in their language, culture and traditions that point to the fact that they are related.
The recent Vaccination Day in Motokwe, orchestrated through collaborative efforts between UNICEF, USAID, BRCS, and the Ministry of Health, underscores a commendable stride towards fortifying child health services.The painful reality as reflected by the Ministry of Health's data regarding the decline in routine immunisation coverage since the onset of the pandemic, is a cause for concern.It underscores the urgent need to address the...