Kalakamati — Bakalanga have been urged to preserve and promote their culture and history for the future generation.
Officiating at the Domboshaba festival Sunday, Kgosi Sibangani Mosojane of Mosojane, who is also North East district representative at Ntlo ya Dikgosi said such events were vital for the revival of Kalanga culture for the benefit of future generations.
Kgosi Mosojane emphasised the importance of researching on Kalanga culture and history as well as imparting such knowledge on the youth.
He said while the government provided policies on culture, Domboshaba Cultural Trust should come up with initiatives and projects that would promote and commercialise Kalanga culture and history.
Kgosi Mosojane also reminded the trust to engage youth in decision making for the continuity of future Domboshaba festivals.
He called on Bakalanga to guard against things that could hamper them from promoting their culture and history.
Furthermore, he implored them to always put aside differences in order to achieve the main goal of preserving their culture.
Kgosi cited that village boundary disputes which were a common phenomenon associated with Bukalanga region, were some of the factors that could hamper progress in promoting the Kalanga culture and history including other developments.
For his part, the Tourism Development manager for Botswana Tourism Organization (BTO), Mr Tebogo Sebuso said his organisation was delighted to sponsor the Domboshaba Cultural Festival and to actively participate in the promotion of culture.
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He said BTO would continue to work hand in hand with the trust, the host communities and other stakeholders in order to come up with sustainable programmes that could help to develop value chains, in line with the Citizen Economic Empowerment, Reset Agenda and Mindset change.
In his welcoming remarks, Kgosi Jenamiso Tshupoeng of Kalakamati said despite the low attendance, the trust board members should be applauded for working tirelessly in resuscitating the Domboshaba Cultural Festival after a long break.
Kgosi Tshupoeng emphasised the need for traditional leaders to meet and come up with ideas that could help improve the festival.
The Domboshaba festival had been on break for three years since the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
The festival is held at Domboshaba ruins near Kalakamati, where Bakalanga communities gather to bring life to their culture and history through showcasing traditional food which include bogobe jwa Zengwe, Delele, Chimoni, Thopi and Dobi.
The festival is used to showcase materials that clearly describe the Kalanga culture and is also characterised by traditional Kalanga music commonly known as Hoso, Ndazula, Mkomoto and Hosana.
BOPA
