Translated to Madume in the vernacular, the custom is not only a form of communication but an acknowledgement of people upon meeting with each other. However, Madume (greetings) in any language or human culture can be expressed both audibly and physically, and often involve a combination of the two.
Despite the tradition being regarded as one of the signs and pillars of humanity across the global village and significant to Botho and Setho in the Setswana culture, it would seem this practice is fast becoming one of those endangered species in our country Botswana if not the world over. Lately, it has not become uncommon to find an individual embark on a bus, combi full of passengers, walk into an office packed with colleagues and go straight to occupy their seats or work stations without greeting fellow souls. Even more disturbing are reverse situations where well-meaning and cultured individuals would be civil enough by extending greetings to those that they would find seated either in offices, homes, or buses only for the second parties not to return the gesture. Sometimes the poor folks, would even later be shaken from their slumber to cross-check if they had indeed earlier greeted and innocently ask, “Ijoo bathong, a ke le dumedisitse lotlhe (Hey people, did I greet you all?)" Only a few folks would bother to return the gesture.
Yours truly and other members of the community are bemused but also worried as to what sort of society we are evolving into or have become. What are we teaching the younger ones and upcoming generations? Whenever I felt I had not had a response either through simply being ignored or if the intended recipients had initially and innocently not properly heard me, I would unforgivingly repeat my extended greeting(s) with a raised tone.
When asked to give both his professional opinion and native understanding of the adage 'madume ga a jewe', seasoned lexicographer and linguist at the University of Botswana, Professor Otlogetswe Thapelo says, “The expression originates from food scarcity, where food sharing was an enduring challenge for Batswana families and individuals. The expression therefore reaches into this situation of considerable deprivation and compares greetings to food – that while food may be hard to share – madume should be shared since madume ga a jewe!”
Perhaps, this unbecoming behaviour can be partly blamed on the advent of social media too. Since the dawn of this type of medium together with its platforms in the form of Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, and lately the increasingly ever-popular TikTok, people have become so antisocial that even when being greeted they would remain glued to their gadgets. It’s become so abysmal that one would often come across various family members at their dining tables immersed in these disruptive devices and not talking to each other.
Another upsetting habit and, sadly, much to the annoyance of cab and combi drivers, their passengers cum social-media fanatics would get so plunged into their phones that they would not even heed the drivers’ warnings of handling their mobile phones safely at certain hot spots and crime-ridden junctions where most commuters have fallen victims. Only to wake up when reality would have hit home. Even more irritating to the chauffeurs, sometimes passengers waking up from their social media engagements or snooze would suddenly instruct them (drivers) to pull over at the very next stop when the carriage would have been at full speed and nearly past the taxi or combi bays.
One of the most treasured missives that the founding president of Botswana Sir Seretse Khama left the nation of Botswana with, and even remains indelible to some four generations after his passing, is the one where he would declare, “Tshaba ye e senang setso, ke tshaba ye e latlhegileng“. This is translated to mean, “A nation without its past is a lost nation.”
Greeting gestures and cultures Though there are various forms of greetings across the globe that consist of an exchange of formal expressions such as simple handshakes, hugs and kisses, cheek-kissing, and fist-bumps, the most basic and universally accepted type of greeting in English is an effortless “hello” which could mean a “good morning, good day, good evening, or good night” depending on the time of the day.
That very same “hello” translates to a mere and effortless “dumelang” when greeting an ordinary native of Setswana grassroots. There are, however, various Botswana indigenous groupings of different dialects that use their respective vernaculars when greeting each other. Below I sample the various local types of greetings in their parlances. Dumelang as a greeting is mainly used with the Tswana people in and outside Botswana. This can also be used to greet various South African tribes of Tswana, Pedi, and Northern & Southern Sotho. In Kalanga it is Dumilani. In SUBIYA/CHIKUHANE it is Murumere, ta Mwa vuuka? In SHEKGALAGARI it is Rhumela, Rhrha. In TJHETSWAPONG it is Ldumalang/ Thobela Maiye/Botate. In SILOZI it is Mulumeleni, sh. In KHOEKHOEGOWAB it is! Gai tes. Kaikhoetse. In NDEBELE it is Salibonani. In OTJIHERERO / OTJIMBANDERU it is Koree. In SHIYEYI it is Ni tishire. In THIMBUKUSHU it is Moroke. [Source: Our Languages, Our Pride: published by Department of Arts and Culture, part of the Vision 2016 project] Regionally and across the border, the new South Africa would officially embrace eleven spoken languages at the time when the new dispensation was ushered in 1994.
Listening to various caller-ins (callers) via Radio Botswana (RB2) comment on this same topic of Madume the other day, the callers would offer various explanations as to what their interpretations of greetings, especially in the Setswana context meant. Most callers would hold the view that as a sign of civility and humanity, it is through Setho sa Madume and the Dumela gesture that most people have been able to easily access assistance either at public offices or even when they were to find themselves in trouble, needing whatever form of help at a later stage. One woman would call and give an example of a fellow but somewhat strange customer at a local bank, who would just rock up and join a queue at the bank without greeting likewise customers. “When the bank-teller asked me, that I that was in front of the ‘stranger’ who had just popped in without greeting to give way to the 'stranger' so she could be assisted first, I would have none of it and told the bank-teller, no ways, if only your Hailey’s Comet customer had greeted us all first, then I would probably let her be helped before me,” she said.
Whilst the general public were in agreement that greeting was a sign of Setho and Botho a few would however offer some weird explanation as to why their respective cultures would not necessarily regard, encourage or dictate that gesture as their norm let alone a sign of civility.
One caller would even go to the extent of saying: “In our culture, it would actually be a sign of disrespect for a younger person to be seen greeting an elderly person”.
Even when the presenter and other callers thought the caller had probably misconstrued the said Setswana greetings to go beyond just Dumelang, with the greeter probably going further to ask the elder(s) as to how they had spent their night and/or enjoying their da. “Even a mere Dumela (Hello, Good Day, Good Evening greeting) from the younger generation is an absolute No, No, to our elders,” the caller would still insist.
But then again there is also another twist if not tricky part to this noble gesture.
Some people have argued that, with the current rise in crime they have avoided becoming part of the statistics of many victims who have fallen prey to some vagabonds and worse thugs.
This, upon hearing of profuse tales of people having been swindled off their hard-earned money and valuables whenever they have had to either respond to or extend greetings to strangers.
This brings one to the reality of the debilitating effects that crime and corruption have had in our communities. Are we then going to allow crime to forever force us to change our national discourse to such an extent that even Madume that we’ve all our lives prided ourselves with and that we don’t even eat for that matter, soon become a fossil if not extinct?
