Kgosi Seepapitso IV and his wife, Mohumagadi Retse Gaseitsewe or Mma Leema

Kgosi Seepapitso Funeral

When news of the death of Kgosi Seepapitso IV and his erstwhile wife, Mohumagadi Retse Gaseitsewe or Mma Leema as she was popularly known broke out on that March 24 morning not only did Bangwaketse mourn but a somber ambiance hung over the entire country.

And was not surprising that eminent  persons grouped to the Bangwaketse   of capital city on April 03 to pay their last respects.

Among them were Vice President Lt Gen Mompati Merafhe, Queen Mother of Bafokeng Semane Molotlegi, Lesotho’s Deputy Prime Minister Archibald Lehohla, former presidents, Sir Ketumile Masire and his wife. Mma Gaone. Mr Festus Mogae and his wife Mma Nametso as well as South African President former wife. Zanele Mbeki. erstwhile Bophuthatswana and current United Christian Democratic Party (UCDP) leader Kgosi Lucas Mangope. ministers, MPs, dikgosi and other senior government officials from both Botswana and Lesotho. Read the rest of this entry »

A sneak peek into any woman'; handbag is sure to look like that

You know how they always say a dog is a man’s best friend? Well a woman’s best friend is her handbag. Period. Ever seen a woman searching frantically through her handbag for a ringing cell phone? It may look crazy to a lot of men, but this is a scene only a woman would comprehend. Talk about looking for a needle in a haystack! There is a lot more going on inside those handbags than meets the eye.

To a lot of men. handbags are just one of a woman’s accessories. This could not be further from the truth. They are much more than just accessories; those are our life support machines. Of course there is always the constant, digging in the purse for the lost “whatever” which practically eats away many hours of our lives but we are so used to that by now. Read the rest of this entry »

Too young for prison

The chain link gate leading from the courtyard clanged as it shut behind me. I immediately said a quick prayer because never in my life did I wish to set my foot in any prison. But there are no guarantees in the line of my duty. “There is no way I am backing down on this story,” I thought to myself when I was assigned to do it.

arrival at the Gaborone Prison wasn’t made :_-> by male prisoners I found working at the  and in the prison yard. As 1 made my way -.rough the heavily guarded gate to the security checkpoint. a few of them kept on making some -rtive glances in my direction, but some were _ -;ck to smile when I caught their gazes.

I was careful not to do anything that could ~ake me to fight for my freedom and was a bit -rprehensive to question some of the instructions ;:\en to me. I relentlessly obeyed even when I ■ as asked to leave my cell phone with the prison tficial at the gate.

The officer in charge-Women Prison that – adjacent to the Maximum Prison. Senior Superintendent Thosi Maoto welcomed me • ith a bright smile and her cheerful personality made me feel much comfortable. I soon realised nat the place is friendly, clean and organised. •Valking towards the cells I sensed that prisoners ike visitors, obviously to break up the monotony, r some came out of their rooms once they leard that one of them had a visitor. Read the rest of this entry »

Those who watch the American television series Ugly Betty will probably remember the ugly duckling’s funny and bizarre fashion sense through either her red cat like eyeglasses or her in-your-face dreadful braces. This is all part of a stereotypical portrayal of what ugliness is. Throw in a ‘fat’ character, dress them badly, have them wear hideous braces and for the final touch, add a pair of heavy eyeglasses that makes them look ‘nerdy’ in an uncool manner.

Eye wear has not always had a good reputation for as long as it has existed. Eye glasses were and are still often associated with old senile people who need walking sticks or fashion-clueless geeks who knew absolutely nothing about beauty and decent physical appearance.

Even in our Setsvvana society there were myths about glasses that have lived on to this day. How many times have we heard people say that ‘digalase di gonyetsci matlho’. To this day a lot of people believe that specs have this rather unflattering effect of resulting in sunken eyes. Also many of us believe that one has to reach a certain age to wear glasses. We still cringe when we see four-year olds wearing glasses.

That is where Dineo Kebue-Moremi comes in. As a practising optometrist in Selebi Phikwe she deals with such issues on a day to day basis. Her job as an optometrist is to examine eyes and prescribe proper eye glasses if need be for her patients.

Her vision to go into this profession was inspired by her grandmother who could not see properK From that childhood dream, she vowed to do all she could to enable her grandmother restore her once good eye sight.

It is against this backdrop that she pursued a career in eye sciences and graduated from the University of Melbourne. Australia with a Bachelors in Optometristry.

When she came back home, she fulfilled her promise to her grandmother and gave her a full diagnosis of her eye problems resulting in the old lady getting her full sight back. This is an achievement she still holds dear. She practised for sometime in the optical services industry before finding a niche in the market to open her own practise in the same town.

That was when she approached Citizen Entrepreneurship Development Agency (CEDA) for funding. Because she had a restraint of trade clause with her former employer, she could not practice until her clause ended in 2006. She reapplied for a loan and was funded to the tune of P534 000 in 2007.

“I opened my practice in Phikwe because people in this area knew about my expertise since I had worked in an eye clinic in the same town. I knew their reception would be warm,” she explained to the media during a CEDA funded media tour in March this year. And indeed she started building her dream from scratch all by herself, with of course the help of CEDA. Read the rest of this entry »

Adoption

Have you ever wondered what it takes to adopt a child? It is an easy process when the right channels are followed.

According to a social worker, Joseph Kgabarfyane adoption is a process whereby a person takes up parenting or becomes a parent for a child who is not a kin and by so doing transfers all rights :nd responsibilities from the original parent to himself/herself permanently. It is the creation of a new permanent elationship between an adoptive parent and the child.

In that case the adopted child lives with the adoptive parents forever. Once this happens, there is no legal difference between a child who is adopted and a vhild who is born into a family. People who are eligible to adopt include a married person/spouse or a single person, widow, widower, or a divorced person. However a person with a mental disorder is excluded. Read the rest of this entry »

Ya Metsi Lebutswapele

Ba ba goletseng mo motseng wa Sefophe o o mo kgaolong ya Bobirwa.fa o re ‘Ya met si’ ba tla a ne ba sale ba itsile gore o buwa ka mang, ka jaana motho o kare bontsifa e se botlhe banni ba motse o ha tsholetswe mo matlhong a gagwe. 0 alositse banna le basadi ba ba rweleng maikarabelo a motse wa bone ka magetla. Dingwaga tsa gagwe di ganetsa seemo se a leng mo go sone. 0 santse a kgona go itirela ditiro ka bontsi mo lelwapeng la gagwe.

Le ntswa tihogo ya gagwe e setse e le tshweu twaa! e kare o ne a rwele kgetsi ya phaletshe matlho a santse a bona sentle. sebe sa phiri fela ke kwa ditsebeng. Ga a sa tlhole a utlwa sentle motho wa maloba mme ka jalo fa o buwa le ene o tlamega go tlhatlosa lentswe gore le tie le kgone go utlwana. Mmele wa gagwe ga se e e fa e ba bongaka ba a tie ba reng ke e e tshabelelwang ke malwetsi. O fa gare ka seemo. O santse a itekanetse, o kgona go ema a bo a tsamaya ntle le thuso ya thobane. le ntswa yone e sa mo katoge. Koloti Basuti o tsholetswe kwa Sefophe ka ngwaga wa 1908, a tsalwa ke Scntlafe Suping mo kgotleng ya Star gone mo Sefophe. Motalaote ke ngwana wa borataro mo lelwapeng la bana ba le borobabobedi. Go setse ene fela ka jaana ba bangwe ba iketse badimong. Fa o buwa ka sekolo. Koloti kgotsa ‘Ya-metsi’ jaaka fa a bidiwa mo motseng, ga a itse gore o buwa ka eng. O tlhalositse fa e rile fela a sena go fatlhoga. a bo a sala medimo e e nko e metsi ya ga Rre-rragwe morago. O ne a gopola dingwaga tseo tsa gagwe tsa bonana jaaka e kare ditiragalo tsa teng di diragetse maabane fela jaana. A re ga a ke a lebala letsatsi le Khama wa ntlha a tlhokafetseng ka lone le mororo e ne e santse e le ngwanyana. “Tsatsing leo
ke ne ke ile go disa dipodi mme ya re fela ke santse «; le kwa sekgweng, letsatsi la fifala mme go tloga foe r, ke ise ke tlhole ke itse gore kwa gae ke kae. Ke ne I. tloga ka tobatoba fa morago ga dipodi, ke beile fela rr go tsone gore di nkise gae ka gore ke ne ke timetse . tlhalosa jalo a ingatile ka ditshego. Read the rest of this entry »

Thato Mokgele aka DJ Trax

His father is Mbuyisa Makhubu, the young man whose picture is seen in a photograph carrying the dying Hector Peterson during the June 16 student uprisings in South Africa. Most people would think he could follow on his father’s foot step and join politics, but Thato Mokgele aka DJ Trax is his own man who knows all about passion and perseverance in life. He started off by collecting records for the love of music, but now he is one of the local’s most celebrated vinyl spinners, with a CD to his name. Ever since I started deejaying people nave always phoned me to ask for the nusic that I mix, others just wanted me mix for them. So I therefore decided to go the professional way and compile .in album,” he says with a smile.

The CD is titled Revolutionised, a dedication to his famous father and those •• ho lost their lives on June 16,1976. He explains that he came up the CD as a tribute to keep his father’s memories alive.

“Music is what I do best so 1 have long wanted to make a CD for my father, I tried some years ago but I failed. It is only this year that I managed and the time could not be right, because the CD was launched on June 16.” Read the rest of this entry »

Ofe Motiki

We tend to wait for their last day then we confess just how much these people have left a gap in our lives.

Recently I got a scare of my life and I thank God now that such a thing happened to me because I would not have appreciated just how valuable the people in my life are. I mean, we live life and take everything for granted that we never step back and see how valuable that person you often become angry with is a rare gem that you should forever cherish. We have become consumed by what we should do next to better our lives whether materially, that we forget to say to those whom we live with that we care and appreciate them.

We forget to give ourselves a moment of reflection and see how we can make it in the future with those closer to us. Only when things go wrong do we kneel down and pray to God that he saves us. Most often we are aware that they are important but rarely take time to know how they are and what we can do to walk this journey called life with them. Read the rest of this entry »