The Trouble with Botswana: A Poet speaks (Part 2) :: Mmegi Online

Local poet, novelist, historian, short story writer, biographer and human rights advocate, TEEDZANI THAPELO*, argues that the excise of intellectual life from the polity by the shallow and crises-ridden education system on the one hand, and failure by the BDP and society to negotiate postcolonial modernity properly on the other, have resulted in a cultural vacuum that is a serious threat to our nation and the republican values we so much wish to propel us into the future

The other problem is many people feel Botswana has surrendered its sovereignty over far too many things-culture, politics, the environment, education and business life, all these in less than 50 years after the coming of freedom.

They consider themselves a nation without a country. The surprising thing is that they don’t seem to be angry about this-they are only sad, sad and lost. Everywhere you go you’ll find them sighing: bajele naga yotlhe. Re setse re shename fela. (They’ve eaten up the whole country. We are left in sorrow and bewilderment). Goitse modimo (It’s the work of God). What keeps these desolate people together is a small village spirit. What keeps them together is a quiet but sad, small, and very fragile belief that they have a human bond with each other that has survived the test of time.

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