The idea may have originated in a visit some time ago to the Old Naledi ‘kgotla’ which has a very striking, thatched leobo which unfortunately is showing disturbing signs of structural defects.
If that particular visit happens to be nothing more than a coincidence, it may strike some as strange that the Old Naledi president at that time, Charles Molefi Koitsiwe, now happens to have popped up again, this time at the Bontleng Customary Court, having been, presumably, transferred. Happily, the Bontleng Court does have the space for a leobo unlike others in Gaborone such as the Block 8 Court which hardly has room outside to swing a cat, let alone provide space for a leobo. The Sri Lankans are understandably describing their initiative as contributing a new kgotla to Bontleng – the idea of a kgotla being well known and therefore having wide appeal whereas it might be hard to interest anyone in helping a customary urban court. Yet the two are the same in many ways whilst also being fundamentally different. At the time of Independence all the dikgotla in the country were rural. There wasn’t a single urban ‘kgotla’.
