Why every Motswana must watch Pula
Thursday, May 31, 2018
This is probably why Batswana got to be so peaceful because we have long learnt about Christ in our own language. In 2016 when Botswana was looking back during the celebrations of 50 years of independence, many Batswana never took a chance to reflect beyond September 1966 and search for “What does it really mean to be a Motswana?”
That year, one young man that actually introspected much deeper and beyond 50 years was Andrew Kola with a dance production titled Pula. Kola staged Pula in April 2016 during the Maitisong Festival with Mophato Dance Theatre. A month later that year, in May precisely, when the play returned by popular demand at the Stanbic Bank Piazza, I rightly predicted in Mmegi’s sister paper, The Monitor writing, “Pula is turning out to be one of Botswana’s greatest theatre productions”. After its Broadway debut last week, I am happy to say I have been greatly and deservedly vindicated. I believed Kola picked the best story that identifies our heritage and, to a larger extent, a whole reason why our great forefathers decided to settle on this arid land.
Smash-and-grab incidents became common at traffic lights, Automatic Teller Machine (ATM) bombings made headlines too often, cash-in-transit robberies terrified security personnel, while home invasions left families traumatised in the very places they were supposed to feel safest. The situation had reached alarming levels and threatened not only the peace of ordinary citizens, but also the country’s reputation as one of the safest and most...