Mafifatshwana Cultural Festival: A feast of Batlokwa culture

Nnasaretha Kgamanyane | Friday September 20, 2024 16:20

Batlokwa tribe have descendants that reside in Botswana, Lesotho South Africa. In a bid to bring all these communities together, Batlokwa in Tlokweng have organised a cultural festival dubbed Mafifatshwana.

The event will be held at the Tlokweng Recreational Park on September 21, 2024. In an interview with the event’s public relations officer, Boikhutso Pilane, he said the festival is meant for all Batlokwa from all walks of life to come together and celebrate their culture. “We have Batlokwa from different parts of this country and different parts of Africa. We have Batlokwa in Ramotswa, Otse, Kopong, Molepolole and at a regional level, we have them in Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe. This year’s cultural festival is going to be different in the sense that it we have decided to bring more and more of Batlokwa cultural history and the things that Batlokwa used to do. This time around, we will be having a lot of activities that would showcase our culture. Our mothers will be showcasing Setlokwa dance like kgaselese. We will be having men’s dance like bo mmakgwana, matshela ka nkgwana and more in our programme,” he said.

He also said they will have makgotlana showing how they would take cultural alcohol to the kgotla and at Mma Kgosi’s residence during significant ceremonies. He also said they had been hosting that cultural festival for more than five years. However, he pointed out that the event was disrupted by COVID-19 but they did not let that demoralise them and continued hosting the festival. He added that the festival started as a cultural day celebration after Kgosi Gaborone’s statue was erected in 2008. He said they later decided to turn it into a huge cultural festival, which is now being held for the fifth year. Even though they intend for the event to grow bigger and better than it is, he said lack of finances is hindering that. He pointed out that organising an event of such magnitude cost a lot of money. Furthermore, he added that they were targeting families to come and witness the beauty of Batlokwa culture.

He also said since the event was open for everyone including children, they will be having jumping castles. Artists who will be partaking in the event include Culture Spears, MmaAusi, Ditiro Leero, Mafitlhakgosi, Khuduthamaga, Nca’anca’ase, Ditlhaka, Mosanki and local DJs. There will be traditional choirs (dikhwaere) and traditional food will be served. Revellers are encouraged to wear their traditional attires. Tickets are being sold for P50 for children, P100 for normal, P250 VIP ticket that comes with a meal and ticket while the VVIP tickets cost P400 inclusive of a cap, meal and a t-shirt.