A nightmare for the monarchy

Yesterday morning brought the clearest evidence yet of the painful process that this country is going through - the mortal combat between the remnants of a tradition, in the form of a neo-traditionalist group, and the modern interpretation of this country as a constitutional republic.

In the morning outside court where photographers and journalists, otherwise known as members of the Fourth Estate in modern democratic Botswana, hung around men and women dressed in animal skins and dijale le mateisi from Kgatleng. However, outside court, there was a peaceful atmosphere - even an interesting harmony - photographers and journalists milled about, snapping away, while the people Advocate Sidney Pilane would later refer to as 'tribespeople' seemed, unconcerned, if only slightly appreciative of the attention.