During our days as boys and girls, there were only two important places to visit on independence day: The village kgotla and your primary school. It was literally difficult to sleep on the eve of the Independence Day, thinking about the day’s activities.
Clad on our short-sleeved khakhi shorts and shirts complemented with black shoes and socks, our cups locked up in front of our trousers with a plate under the armpits, we will hit the ground for the venues of the big day.
A miniature flag in hand as a sign of patriotism and belonging, we celebrated the day to the fullest. The only turn off was the dusty roads of Palapye as for the longest time the village had to do with what the government could afford until the whole village roads were bituminised to all weather standard of today.
To the best of my recollection, there was no better independence celebration like the festivities we enjoyed in 1976 when the country celebrated its 10th anniversary.
Of course as pupils, our target was always food and merrymaking. At least on the eve of the 1976 independence celebrations, we were shown bioscopes of what the country had achieved at the time. We might have not been concerned by the achievements then, but we saw a lot that widened up our scope of development.
In our youthful years, we watched the calendars closely never to miss the Botswana Day. The big announcement however, will be made at the school on the plans of the day.
It was exciting to congregate at the village kgotla and mingle with our peers and elders from the four corners of the village. The kgotla was the place to search and identify various talents from a pool of school going young boys and girls.
Besides the formalities of delivering pertinent messages on the day, young people were given an opportunity to display their very best talents and they never disappointed.
From boy Scouts, traditional dancers, poets and all, the Independence Day was a unifier as it brought the villagers under one roof at least for a positive purpose of celebrating the day together. Batswana never wanted to allow anything to spoil their day even the normal differences of villagers with varying political and religious beliefs would come together and enjoy the country’s freedom from its coloniser.
The Independence Day, commonly known as Boipuso, came about after the country obtained its independence from the colonial master, the United Kingdom in 1966. No matter what, the country has never missed celebrating the national day because of its significance to Batswana. Botswana, unlike its neighbours, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Angola and Namibia amongst others, was given its independence on a silver platter whilst others engaged on the liberation wars to gain their independence, which left masses dead as a result.
The kgotla, which is deemed to be the village Parliament, has always been the best place for the villagers to meet and celebrate as a unit. This is where the village elders including kgosi, councillors and the legislator for the area and others make major announcements for the village.
In our heydays in Palapye, Moutlwakgola Ngwako, the village’s Member of Parliament from 1966 to 1999, was mostly roped in as the guest of honour at the celebrations accompanied by the village leadership. As his soul continues to rest in peace, he certainly enjoyed the camaraderie and closeness of the villagers during his reign as the opposition spearheaded by the likes of the late Motsamai Mpho, Mofswane Ontiretse and others were for the longest time at their weakest and almost insignificant in Palapye.
The aura that permeated the kgotla was irresistible. The Palapye kgotla was then a small facility that could not accommodate the masses forcing people to climb trees and the logs making up the kgotla to capture a glimpse of the proceedings. No one literally wanted to be left out as people enjoyed every moment of their stay at the kgotla as a collective. It is common that villagers often fail to honour kgotla meetings but not on the Independence Day, then.
As a member of the School scout movement, there was no bigger stage than the village kgotla on Independence Day to display our prowess before a large crowd and particularly, that our parents were in attendance. We always vowed to leave a long lasting memory to our audience, comprising the young and the old. Dumb bells were an irresistible scout dance movement that wowed the crowd and left them spellbound and in fact, asking for some more. Before a packed kgotla, our excitement often times left us crazy because the Scout movement was a platform for providing discipline to the young boys and girls from a young age. Besides the normal Scout drill, we knew how to win the hearts and minds of the people through various moves. Other activities at the kgotla left the villagers ululating and whistling in unison. I still remember it as if it were yesterday, as we stomped the ground with vigour and precision, shouting hurray to our partisan audience that shouted along as we performed. Sometimes in the midst of our craziness, the dumb bell could crush the inside of one’s thighs cutting the excitement short. That was part of the craziness and life went on. From the kgotla, all roads would lead to the respective schools where the real feasting of the food as part of the day’s celebrations will commence in earnest.
Some village farmers were so generous and purposed it amongst themselves to donate cattle and schools will buy the rest to spoil us on the day. The food session was an exciting moment for the pupils as once in a full year the meal of the day will be different as we were mostly fed on the American donated food relief known as malutu in the vernacular. Malutu is palatable and highly nutritious in the mould of today’s children feed known as Tsabana, another likeable stuff. Sometimes beans and powdered milk were served in an endeavour to ensure we grew up healthy as there were instances where some of the pupils suffered from various ailments perpetuated by lack of certain nutrients. There was no dull moment in the village on Independence Day, as festivities will be spread across the village wards in an endeavour to afford everyone an opportunity to have a bite. At least for the elderly people, they had an idea of what Independence Day meant to a country like Botswana. Today, in the era of growing technology, it is always easy for the pupils and students to follow development trends and trace where the country came from.
From 1976, Palapye and the rest of the country have advanced so much that people can easily follow events from the comfort of their homes. Perhaps, a worrying development is that villagers no longer have the excitement of being part of the kgotla arrangement.
