Giants dethroned

Larona Makhaiza | Tuesday July 11, 2023 06:00

Traditional dance finals brought fun, flare and exuberant vibes where the underdogs of the competition toppled some of the heavyweights.

Ditsuatsuae Arts Group, hailing from Maun, dethroned longstanding rivals, Nca'ancaase traditional group who have always been a thorn on their flesh and emerged as the conquerors of the Tsutsube category. Speaking to Showtime, Abednico Galethuse who is the leader of Ditsuatsuae Arts Group said he was elated by his group’s heroic display that saw them emerge as winners on the day. “I am really beyond proud for what my group has done because not only did we win the competition.



But we defeated the long-standing champions, Nca’ancaase who long beat us in this competition from 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2022,” an excited Galethuse said. Galethuse stated that though Ditsuatsuae was always in the shadows of Nca’ancaase, they were never for any moment derailed from doing what they love as they went back to the drawing board and trained hard.

He further said he hopes his group will be able to dominate and retain the title next year. Giving remarks on the long day that was filled with fun and flare, the adjudicator, Kgomotso Mokgethi implored the traditional groups to take remarks given to them seriously.“We had judges that are really responsible and have gone through this before. But they still complain of the same mistakes from the groups.



There is no synch in groups when they sing and they dance. You would have one act just being an observer not doing anything,” said Mokgethi critiquing the groups. The finals had a total of eight categories where four groups battled it amongst themselves to clinch the first place. Categories ranged from Diware, Seperu (Chobe), Seperu (Okavango), Sebirwa, Hosana, Setapa, Tsutsube and Phatisi. Each category had its own winners. All groups that walked away as winners of their categories took home P30,000. Meanwhile second, third and last place walked away with P25,000, P20,000, P15,000 respectively. The results of the finals are as follows from the different categories showing only the winners:

Diware: Kamberera (Etsha 6) Seperu (Chobe): Nandavwe Seperu Group (Satau) Seperu (Okavango): Shigyakao (Gumare) Sebirwa: Tsa Kalawa (Bobonong) Hosana: Tse di tona tsa Kalawa (Francistown) Setapa: Morogo wa ngwana (Ramotswa) Tsutsube: Ditsuatsuae Arts Group (Maun) Phatisi: Kwena a Madiba Traditional Troupe (Molepolole)