It is without a doubt that one the country's biggest cultural event now dubbed ABSA Dithubaruba Cultural Festival has grown tremendously over the years.
This was evident as the event attracted a large number of revellers on Saturday at the revamped ko Ntsweng Heritage Site. This year, it seems like all Dithubaruba patrons did not want to miss being the first people to attend the event at the revamped Heritage Site after it had been closed for five years due to refurbishing. However, the place where the event was hosted was too small to accommodate the Dithubaruba patrons as the stands were filled beyond their capacity to a point where it made it difficult for revellers to move about. The venue was full to a point where the barricades that were put to stop revellers from getting on stage had to be adjusted a couple of times to create room for those who were not sitting at the stands. It was an overflow!
Despite all that, the heritage site is very much attractive with beautifully built stands and stage. The toilets were also clean, spacious and enough to accommodate a number of people at a go. The roads are also paved and the venue has a number of paved parking lots too.
The event, as it is a norm, gave revellers an experience of a lifetime. After the long speeches about Bakwena ba Molepolole history and heritage, the audience was treated to endless beautiful performances from poets who included the Tito family with their rich Setswana poems where they praised both ABSA Botswana, Dithubaruba Cultural Festival and Kgosi Kgari III. There were also guitarists such as Sebongile Kgaila who kick-started his performance on a higher note, Solly Sebotso of Morena Pidipidi and Radipitse whose songs are frequently played on Radio Botswana.
Different traditional dance and song groups from different genres such as Madi Maswaaneng, Kwena Madiba, Bana ba Kwena, Dipela tsa ga Kobokwe and Hosana groups like Re Mmogo Arts Group and Mabutswapele Traditional Group also performed at the event.
The beefed up line-up was made up of the best local traditional dance and songs artists such as Mmurubele famed for their song Ditsompi, Dikakapa who also sung most of their songs with the late Gong Master also known as Tau ya Koma. Ditiro Leero also paid tribute to the late traditional music legend. He also got the crowd on their feet with his beautiful performance and igniting energy. Culture Spears also presented the best performance as well as MmaAusi who is also a Molepolole native. Senior citizens closed the night with setapa sa Bakwena where the audience was allowed to partake in the proceedings.
