Speaking at the National Culture Day hosted in Letlhakeng on Friday, Kably said in some countries, culture has since died because the moment developments came, people forgot who they were and focused much onto modern cultures forgetting their roots.
He also called on the youth to be proud of their roots saying it was important for them to speak their languages proudly. “Let’s continue preserving our culture and pass it to our children.
No matter how educated we can be, let us be proud of our mother tongue. I encourage the youth to speak their language with confidence and pride. Let’s teach our children their languages.
In Botswana, we have many beautiful languages and we should be proud of them as they define us. Moreover, we have talented children in Letlhakeng whose talents need to be nurtured,” he said. Kably also pleaded with the Minister of Youth, Gender, Sport and Culture, Tumiso Rakgare to remember his people when building stadia.
He added that they needed a stadium in Letlhakeng. He said the area has an abundance of talent from football players to other athletes of different sporting codes.
For his part, Rakgare said they could have taken the event somewhere else but had to do it in Letlhakeng after several pleas from the area MP, Kably. He pointed out that in years 1988-1998, the United Nations started the 10 years of resuscitating culture and celebrating it. He added that UNESCO had therefore declared May 21 of every year a commemoration of World Day for Cultural Diversity Dialogue and Development as a way of encouraging different nations to celebrate their cultures.
“Botswana also decided to celebrate Culture Day every May 21. We could have celebrated this day last month but had other commitments. The National Policy on Culture 2001 aims at preserving culture, accepting and respecting different culture unity and encouraging the public to use culture for their livelihood. Our culture makes us stand out from other nations,” he said.
When speaking of their history, Koketso Tshaila said they originated from South Africa where they later fled to Botswana during the war with the Ndebeles. He said their totem was a buffalo adding that when they arrived in Botswana, some of their people fled to other parts of the country including to the Ngwaketse land. He said Motlhamme who had two children led them.
He further explained that even though Letlhakeng had different tribes such as Bakgwatlheng, Bashaga and Bakgalagadi, they are united and lived in harmony. At the event, women looked beautiful in their blue leteise (German print) attires and men wore bare or dull clothes.
The gathering was treated with beautiful cultural music performances and a poem. The food that was served at the event was traditional cuisine. People feasted on seswaa, bogobe jwa lerotse, cream samp, beans, morogo wa dinawa and other delicacies. For snacks they had kabu, roasted seeds, morolwana and biltong.
