The Mokoba/Moyeyi controlled the human "traffic" with the help of a branch of a very prickley tree. The Tswana call the tree "Mokoba". In Kalanga, the tree is called "Nkosho", MEANING THAT IT SPENT THE DAY (KU SHWA) NEXT TO THE DOOR/MOYEYI(NKOBA)The capitalized phrase above is what is wrong. The prickley tree is called Nkosho alright, and the word "Nkosho" breaks down to two parts as I stated "Nko" from Nkoba, and "Sho". But the "Sho" does not derive from (Ku shwa). The "Sho" means "Prickley", as in the words "ishosho" , meaning a prickley plant prevalent in the correspondingly named village "shoshong"; a scorpion is called "leSHOkgo" in Setswana language; the hedgehog is called "iSHOni" in Kalanga; and of course the good old "SHOndo" meaning "I prick :)!
Friday, November 20, 2015
Correction - "Tribes of the Kalanga nation"
In the post entitled "Tribes of the Kalanga nation" on Thursday 9 July 2015 I erred (lied?) when I wrote:
Thursday, November 19, 2015
Smartphoners, beware of lightning!
It looks like the rainy season has now begun. In addition to thanking God that the rains are finally knocking at our doorstep, we need to caution young people about their current trend of wearing what amounts to lightning-attracting gadgets on their ears - music ear phones!
A year or two ago, some kids from Naledi Senior Secondary School, while wearing those gadgets during a lightning storm, were struck by lightning.
A year or two ago, some kids from Naledi Senior Secondary School, while wearing those gadgets during a lightning storm, were struck by lightning.
Wednesday, November 18, 2015
Matsha Secondary School tragedy.
When tragedy on the scale of the Matsha Secondary School truck accident that killed seven of our kids strikes, the nation needs to come together, for the simple reason that it must never ever be allowed to happen again. Coming together means we need to find out what we did wrong, or the measures we failed to take, leading to the tragedy.
The trajedy needs to be taken away from the realm of politics - no amount of headbutts and/or fists will tell us what happenned. Only a Judicial commission of enquiry would tell us that. And this is where national magnanimity comes in - A e nne modiga, Be-Shashe. I will explain the "Be-Shashe" in a later post. For now please read it as "Batswana".
And so I call upon President Dr. Ian Khama and the Judicial Service Commission, to appoint attorney Omphemetse Motumise as judge on a temporary basis, to head a judicial inquiry into the Matsha School accident. I call upon Rre Motumise, as a lawyer of high integrity, familiar with the Kgalagadi terrain and people, to accept such an appointment. I call upon the people of this country to give all concerned, the latitude to make the judicial inquiry a success!
The trajedy needs to be taken away from the realm of politics - no amount of headbutts and/or fists will tell us what happenned. Only a Judicial commission of enquiry would tell us that. And this is where national magnanimity comes in - A e nne modiga, Be-Shashe. I will explain the "Be-Shashe" in a later post. For now please read it as "Batswana".
And so I call upon President Dr. Ian Khama and the Judicial Service Commission, to appoint attorney Omphemetse Motumise as judge on a temporary basis, to head a judicial inquiry into the Matsha School accident. I call upon Rre Motumise, as a lawyer of high integrity, familiar with the Kgalagadi terrain and people, to accept such an appointment. I call upon the people of this country to give all concerned, the latitude to make the judicial inquiry a success!
Tuesday, November 17, 2015
Big (language) lies in our country.
I am a lazy reader. Last week, while reading the WeekendPost newspaper (07 - 13 November) I scribbled on my subconcious that there was an article by Dr Cosmos Kebinang Moenga, with a curious heading "There is more to culture than singing and dancing", which article I had to remember to read. As so often happens, I forgot to read it and threw the paper on to the heap. Today for some unknown reason, I remembered the article; perhaps because I observed some drinkers rolling and floating to the sound of the noisy gumbagumba at a nearby shebeen.
And so I dug up Dr. Cosmos Kebinang Moenga's artcle and read it. It is very enlightenning and I strongly recommend it.
When I reached the end, I remembered how I recently experienced the power of "Big Lies" told by "big" people (as related in Adolf Hitler's 'Mein Kampf'). You see, I never view anything written in Setswana language as possibly carrying any reading value, and so I never read anything written in Setswana language, be it reports or opinion pieces. I must admit though, that my knowledge of Setswana is quite poor!
A few months ago, I bought a Wednesday edition of Mmegi (The Reporter) newspaper. As I paged through, I came accross an article written in Kalanga language, by Dr. Shandulani Buyani Vavani. I instinctively started reading it. I got so egrossed in reading this article, nothing could have swayed my attention whatsoever. By the time I finished reading the article, I felt in much lighter mood; but what then followed is what really shocked me. I found myself having read an entire article in Setswana language in the same paper, without even noticing that I was reading a Setswana article. It was just like the Setswana language article was a continuation of Dr. Vavani's humorous Kalanga article. Perhaps for the first time in my sixty-odd years I stood back and detached myself from what had just happenned to me, and attempted to understand it. I had unconciously sought value in a Setswana language piece, a language I consider oppressive of my native Kalanga; a language I severely despise! I had done that because Dr. Vavani's article, written in my language, had tripped a Setswana-barring switch implanted in my subconcious by the perception that Setswana language oppresses my native Kalanga language.
What had just happenned is proof if ever one were needed, that our Government's argument that allowing languages other than Setswana to be officially used would breed national disunity, is total nonsense. On the contrary, it would cement our nation together, because we would begin to appreciate the value in our fellow country men and women. In other words, we would be truly "free men and women". We would feel curious enough about other languages used in our country that we would become multilingual. A Kalanga like me, would want to converse with an old Naro woman or man, and the only way to do it would be to learn her/his language!
So, beware of Government "Biglies"! The reason why Seretse Khama banned Kalanga from being taught in schools was his inferiority complex as a Setswana speaker who was fully aware that the nation he was leading was a Kalanga nation, and that therefore the only way he could retain the privileged position thrust upon him by Imperialist Britain was to repress and assimilate the majority (Kalanga) into the minority (Tswana). He did it in grand style - by proclaiming that Kalangas are a tribe, and at the same time challenging them to tell him who their paramount chief should be. Imagine the cheek of it. He declares Kalangas a tribe, and instead of him identifying the "paramount chief" of said tribe, he demands that that "tribe" identify to him who their "traditional" paramount chief is!. The same warped argument is being advanced today by Setswana so-called "intellectuals". They now want Kalanga (and other) non-Setswana speakers to tell them how Government can best preserve the many languages spoken in our country! My answer to them is simple - the same way you have so far preserved the Setswana language. As a Kalanga I do not accept the crap about Setswana language being "the National language". Who made it a national language over and above Kalanga, when the Tswana speakers have always been a subset of Kalanga speakers? Seretse Khama never asked, nor did he receive any acceptance by Kalanga speakers that their language be banned from schools. He never conducted a referendum on such an important national question.
In my view, Kalangas should boycot the 50 year Independence anniversary celebrations next year, including the vision 2036 council, until the teaching of Kalanga is RESTORED in our schools!
And so I dug up Dr. Cosmos Kebinang Moenga's artcle and read it. It is very enlightenning and I strongly recommend it.
When I reached the end, I remembered how I recently experienced the power of "Big Lies" told by "big" people (as related in Adolf Hitler's 'Mein Kampf'). You see, I never view anything written in Setswana language as possibly carrying any reading value, and so I never read anything written in Setswana language, be it reports or opinion pieces. I must admit though, that my knowledge of Setswana is quite poor!
A few months ago, I bought a Wednesday edition of Mmegi (The Reporter) newspaper. As I paged through, I came accross an article written in Kalanga language, by Dr. Shandulani Buyani Vavani. I instinctively started reading it. I got so egrossed in reading this article, nothing could have swayed my attention whatsoever. By the time I finished reading the article, I felt in much lighter mood; but what then followed is what really shocked me. I found myself having read an entire article in Setswana language in the same paper, without even noticing that I was reading a Setswana article. It was just like the Setswana language article was a continuation of Dr. Vavani's humorous Kalanga article. Perhaps for the first time in my sixty-odd years I stood back and detached myself from what had just happenned to me, and attempted to understand it. I had unconciously sought value in a Setswana language piece, a language I consider oppressive of my native Kalanga; a language I severely despise! I had done that because Dr. Vavani's article, written in my language, had tripped a Setswana-barring switch implanted in my subconcious by the perception that Setswana language oppresses my native Kalanga language.
What had just happenned is proof if ever one were needed, that our Government's argument that allowing languages other than Setswana to be officially used would breed national disunity, is total nonsense. On the contrary, it would cement our nation together, because we would begin to appreciate the value in our fellow country men and women. In other words, we would be truly "free men and women". We would feel curious enough about other languages used in our country that we would become multilingual. A Kalanga like me, would want to converse with an old Naro woman or man, and the only way to do it would be to learn her/his language!
So, beware of Government "Biglies"! The reason why Seretse Khama banned Kalanga from being taught in schools was his inferiority complex as a Setswana speaker who was fully aware that the nation he was leading was a Kalanga nation, and that therefore the only way he could retain the privileged position thrust upon him by Imperialist Britain was to repress and assimilate the majority (Kalanga) into the minority (Tswana). He did it in grand style - by proclaiming that Kalangas are a tribe, and at the same time challenging them to tell him who their paramount chief should be. Imagine the cheek of it. He declares Kalangas a tribe, and instead of him identifying the "paramount chief" of said tribe, he demands that that "tribe" identify to him who their "traditional" paramount chief is!. The same warped argument is being advanced today by Setswana so-called "intellectuals". They now want Kalanga (and other) non-Setswana speakers to tell them how Government can best preserve the many languages spoken in our country! My answer to them is simple - the same way you have so far preserved the Setswana language. As a Kalanga I do not accept the crap about Setswana language being "the National language". Who made it a national language over and above Kalanga, when the Tswana speakers have always been a subset of Kalanga speakers? Seretse Khama never asked, nor did he receive any acceptance by Kalanga speakers that their language be banned from schools. He never conducted a referendum on such an important national question.
In my view, Kalangas should boycot the 50 year Independence anniversary celebrations next year, including the vision 2036 council, until the teaching of Kalanga is RESTORED in our schools!
Saturday, November 7, 2015
Motumise vs President Dr Ian Khama
Kante just what is the dispute in the LSB and Motumise vs. President Dr Ian Khama and others case? Yes we know that in not appointing attorney Motumise as Judge President Khama is said to have "rejected" the advice of the Judicial Service Commission (JSC). But what does "rejecting" advice of JSC have to do with the constitution?
Forget about ADVICE by its nature being not binding. What is binding here is the words "IN ACCORDANCE WITH". These words can never be interpreted to mean the same thing as "IN DISCORDANCE WITH".
- The constitution is said to clearly state that the President shall act IN ACCORDANCE with the advice of the Judicial Service Commission (JSC).
- The President admits that he acted IN DISCORDANCE with said advice! So what's the beef? He acted unconstitutionally!
Forget about ADVICE by its nature being not binding. What is binding here is the words "IN ACCORDANCE WITH". These words can never be interpreted to mean the same thing as "IN DISCORDANCE WITH".
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