Makwate celebrates independence culturally
Nnasaretha Kgamanyane | Friday September 9, 2016 15:23
Event coordinator, Julian Dube told Arts & Culture that the 48-hour cultural event would be filled with nothing but cultural flavour and fun. He said the event kick-started with a tour across the country on September 6-23 to places such as Etsha 6, Letlhakane/Boteti, Chobe, Francistown, Selebi Phikwe, Mahalapye, Ghanzi and Gaborone.
He said it would be filled with lots of entertainment and delicious local dishes.Dube said an official opening would be held on September 28 where there will be speeches from various guests such as the headman of the village followed by entertainment from various local artists.
Dube said on the eve of the 50th celebrations there would be fun-filled activities, which include traditional games such as diketo, morabaraba, mmadithini, mmamabotlele, mmele and others, where revelers would be contesting for awards.
“Traditional food will be on sale and each plate will cost P25. We promise that we will be serving delicious traditional dishes from different tribes in Botswana such as tswii, ledelele, bogobe jwa ting, lebelebele, bogobe jwa lerotse, dikgobe, seswaa and many more,” he said.
He said there would also be a donkey and horse racing competition.
The event would later be followed by a beauty pageant where the contestants would showcase different traditional attires representing different tribes in the country.
He said in the second parade, the women are expected to showcase different traditional dance attires such as makgabe, matlalo and others.
According to Dube there would be traditional dance competitions such as setapa, tsutsube, hosanna, polka, phatise, diwari, seperu, dikhwaere and others.
Other activities would include letsomo or hunting skills, catapult and sword use competitions.
On September 30 he said there would be a ceremony and more entertainment. The music festival is expected to go on throughout the event. The event has an appealing lineup with most of the country’s popular artists such as Tumza, Slizer, Scazo, Stompie, Ashley Gops, Tyte, Rocking Stars, Kelly Jazz and Madala, Gong Master, Mahempe, Jeff Matheatau and many more.
Still on Friday, senior citizens would be treated to lunch and traditional beer at the main kgotla.
The revelers would be allowed to bring their tents for camping at a cost of P50 and P100 for children and adults respectively. There are also four Setswana huts for rent at P250.
Dube promised that security would be extremely tight so people should feel free to attend the event.
Entrance fee would be P30 per day or P70 for the whole event. VIP tickets cost P250 per person.
They include access to the stalls, security and include dinner while the VVIP tickets cost P350 for everything in the VIP section including winery and access to a cash bar.
Makwate is a small village located 20km east of Mahalapye along the road to Parr’s Halt boarder gate.