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Boys will always be boys. This weekend after a long time I took a walk from my maternal ancestral mekgoro/ditlaagane to the southwest, much along the recently ploughed masimo. In this journey all memories of the early 1960s came to mind. Then boys...

Marriage along with its arrangement and associated preparations has changed. We have adopted the tradition that has obliterated our past. This past weekend my cousins and I had a long discussion on the matter. We reminisced about yesteryears when...

Growing up in an extended family was awesome. Every adult treated each child as his or her own. We as children knew every old person within our clan as rremogolo, malome mmamogolo, mmangwane, malome or rakgadi. Every one older than us was mogolle...

This time I was sitting alone under the cool Motswere tree as the famous Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On?” song kept playing in my head. It is because as I sat there, I couldn’t help but wonder what really was going on in our...

This weekend we met after a long time at the legendary Motswere tree. Nothing serious was to be discussed. We had our usual traditionally brewed beer to share. The elderly were there to share stories of the yesteryears. The discussion centred...

How have we as a people treated succession? Though in our society succession has always been determined along patriarchal lineage, traditional leadership succession has not always been smooth. There are known stories where families broke up in a...

Have we become so angry as a society that we no longer care about what we say about and to each other?  Isn’t there a way we could address this nasty and equally demeaning disease?  Could our traditional mephato system of yesteryears that...

This weekend I went to spend the weekend with my cousins at my maternal ancestral masimo. As we always did we sat over a calabash of traditional brew. In the ensuing discussion we raise the issue of witchcraft and the general belief amongst our...

This past weekend there were five funerals in the village part that I live. Men, women and youth thronged the homesteads and the graveyard where funeral rites were conducted. As I sat amongst men old and young, I could not help but recall the...

Unlike it was the case in the past, we, the 21st century parents, no longer play a role in the upbringing of our children in the community. And these children thrive on knowing that of our failure to act jointly in their discipline. In the months...

Power has always been associated with leadership. In the traditional Setswana setup, royalty wielded a lot of power within the society. It is quite interesting that despite the powerful nature of master-servant relationship that defined...

Our society has moved on and has adopted all western values. Or is it a situation where we have partly remained traditional and partly a confused society? What has happened to our traditional communal character? We have become so westernised that we...

The world in which I grew up is no more. This weekend I met with my boys – most of whom are now senior citizens - at the usual Motswere tree. I am not known to imbibe in alcoholic beverages of any kind, but every time I find myself with these boys,...

I am sitting here and reminiscing about my youth. In my deep thoughts I just wonder if my children and those of their generation would ever understand how beautiful it was then. The society that brought me and my contemporaries was just wonderful. We...