How apt and downright brash and trashy! Independence day signifies the day when we shed the yoke of imperialism.
It is a great deal in Africa.
That is why even though this happened in 1966, every year on September 30 we don’t go to work and cook meat in large pots in our wards. This year’s Independence day has come and gone with its own raft of issues.
There was a time they tried to ride on that Bot50 wave and called the subsequent independence celebrations Bot50+1. They tried to bump it up but truth is all good things come to an end.
And Bot50 is truly behind us. We are now closer to 60. The creative lot might just be thinking a Bot60-4. Such nomenclature is meant to make it easy for the powers-that-be to loosen the purse strings.
When Botpreneurs - which is a tenderpreneur whose business is solely reliant on Bots-Whatever tenders - start to hear a Bot anywhere they would renew their company registrations and tax certificates. This is meant to ready themselves for the impending gravy train. This year’s independence celebration had a sad precursor.
As everyone prepped for the festivities, which were headlined by the resident national entertainer the likable girl 'of looks' (as the president had described her when he thought she was frustrating the fight against corona), Makhadzi shared a clip that she would not be coming to wow the masses. Those famous gyrations were not to be seen on any Botswana stage.
She had tried her best to even get a jet but because the Botswana borders close early she was not going to make it. Remember in the world of showbiz border closures are navigated by getting jets.
At least that is the impression that I got from the clip. I have never been in showbiz and my attempt at singing had petered off at church where I had joined the choir briefly and was so bad that when people heard me sing they wanted to change religion. So, I really cannot properly explain the relationship between border closures and jets.
Only musicians who actually make money from singing can unravel that. The longer I live the more convinced I am that this planet is used by other planets as a lunatic asylum. Makhadzi’s no show would have definitely thrown a huge pall on a lot of people’s celebrations and potentially driven a wedge between couples. Imagine someone would have obtained permission to attend a Makhadzi show only to be told Makhadzi could not find a jet.
The other half of the couple would have made plans to be somewhere else, perhaps even committing sin. So Makhadzi’s no show would mean the couple would stay home and continue to have more arguments.
These days due to unrelenting pressure of the economy, inflation, fuel prices and ungrateful cousins, couples are always engaged in one argument or another. Makhadzi’s show would have provided some respite to these issues.
So there were losses both on the entertainment and social fronts. Facebook Police – to be precise the Facebook Police commissioner Dan Ken - circulated wanted posters for Makhadzi and that is when we got to know she’s not actually Makhadzi but her real name is a very long Venda name that would struggle to fit in our identity cards. Something like Ndivhudzannyi. Nothing close to Makhadzi. So we have all along been dealing with a pseudo.
The wanted poster says she is wanted for obtaining by false pretences. At this point I don’t know if Ndivhudzannyi has obtained anything by false pretences. I only know – at least from the clip – that she tried to obtain a jet but could not succeed so I am a bit uncertain about the criminality of that.
It must be the senility kicking in. At over 50 that thing comes at you with such terrifying fury. (For comments, feedback and insults email [email protected]) Thulaganyo Jankey is a training consultant who runs his own training consultancy that provides training in BQA- accredited courses. His other services include registering consultancies with BQA and developing training courses. Contact him on 74447920 or email [email protected].
