African cultures are dying because of the rapid modernization taking place in the continent.  The young are moving out of the rural areas/country side in search of employment opportunities. In the city, they meet people from all over the country and other countries, not just those from their part of the country. They give a little of their culture to the strangers they meet in the city, while they also receive the cultures of the other people. There is, in essence, dying of cultures and a blending of cultures to form new cultures.  African cultures are also dying because many of them conflict with national, regional and international human rights standards and laws. Take for example the cultural practice of female genital mutilation. This practice is dying because human rights organizations and world governments are discouraging it because of the health, psychological and emotional dangers that it poses to women.  The practice of wife inheritance that is practiced in many African cultures is also dangerous and is discouraged in this era of the scourge of Aids. The cultural practice of female genital elongation by the Bakalanga people of Botswana is also dying because of urbanization, the break of the traditional extended family and women’s health issues.

The Bakgatla people, in both Botswana and South Africa, have cultural practices called “Bogwera” and “Bojale”.  In Botswana, the cultural practices were abandoned for 20 years, but in 2009 they were resumed as a “reawakening of the soul”. In 2009, over 3000 young boys and about 1200 young girls turned up for the start of the journey into the wilderness at the Bakgatla capital in Botswana, Mochudi (about 10 miles from Bokaa village, where the writer hails from, although she is not a member of the Bakgatla ethnic group). Mochudi is an interesting village, and a visitor must be warned that the Bakgatla people’s totem is a baboon, and therefore baboons in that village, are revered and treated as royalty. The little fellows infest streets on the outskirts of the village, but a visitor must be careful about how he or she handles them even when they “misbehave” like when they invade the hospital and steal from patients or from parked cars. This is because any bad treatment of these animals can easily be viewed as an insult to the locals since the animal is their totem.

The bogwera practice is an initiation of boys into manhood, while the bojale is the initiation of girls into womanhood.  The participants can be as young as 12 years old. Details of what actually goes on at these initiation ceremonies are absolutely confidential, but it suffices to say that the initiates are taught discipline and the traditions of their ethnic group. The boys and girls are taken to the hills where they stay away from their families for months. “When young boys reached puberty they were sent to bogwera (initiation school for boys) which marked the passage from boyhood to manhood. In order to become a ‘man’ and be accorded all the respect and privileges in the affairs of the tribe, including marriage, every boy was expected to undergo these rites of passage which involved toughening-up, lessons on morality, respect for other people, and responsibility to one’s society. Every cohort of initiates would be given a permanent name upon graduation, and every member would proudly identify himself with this name.”

Bojale is explained in the following terms,

“When young girls reached puberty, they were sent to bojale (initiation school for girls) which, like the boys’ bogwera, marked passage from childhood to womanhood. Girls of the same peer group were led by the chief’s daughter, of their age group, or another member from the chief’s relatives. As in the case of boys, the young girls were taught the tribe’s values, customs, responsibilities and obligations of adulthood, and how to relate to persons of the opposite sex. In most cases, the ceremony would start around the same period as that of the boys. Once the girls had gone through the ceremonies, they were regarded as women and were thus ready for marriage. The peer group who graduated from the same ceremony would constitute a regiment which could be called upon to perform important communal projects from time to time.”

The conclusion of these ceremonies is a pomp affair. The initiates, dressed up in animal skins, descend into Mochudi village from a point regarded as sacred, around a hill near the Dutch hospital called Deborah Retief Memorial Hospital. The Chief of the Bakgatla, or one of his close relatives, leads the procession into the sprawling village on horseback. Normally, the Chief’s horse does some really “cool tricks” as it majestically walks down into the village towards the “Kgotla”, the court of the Bakgatla were the village elders hear both civil and criminal cases (statute allows people to object to the jurisdiction of this court, whereupon they are turned to the “received law” courts i.e. Western type courts, but if you are a proud and patriotic villager you really should not object).  The kgotla is packed with thousands of women who pass time with songs and ululations as they await the arrival of the initiation participants. The proceedings of this ancient custom are caught on giant TV screens around the kgotla so that the crowds in the Kgotla can see everything going on. The crowning moment is when the front line of the procession arrives at the kgotla: Gun shots are fired, and some men playing the role of enemies of the village suddenly fall down, symbolizing the victory of the arriving initiates!   

The only problem with this otherwise beautiful cultural practice is the dress of the initiates: the gear that they wear to graduate has to be made from animal skins, and those animals have to have been hunted and killed around the time of the initiation.  As can be expected, this has made the Bakgatla to come into loggerheads with wild life officials. The Bakgatla cry their right to culture, while the governments argue the national interest of protecting wild life. In Botswana in 2009, the Bakgatla wanted to kill 100 wild animals for this cultural practice in Botswana. The ministry of environment, Wildlife and Tourism was not at all amused.  One of the Botswana newspapers put the dispute like this,

“The argument is made that the hunting season is closed and that any further killing of the animals would place a threat on the continued existence of the species of animals that the Bakgatla are likely to kill. The difficult question is what is important to the government, the 100 animals, or the culture of the Bakgatla?”

Many people argue that the interest s of the 100 animals should prevail because, at any rate, if the Bakgatla continue killing at least 100 animals every year (the cultural practices are done yearly), sooner or later there might not be any animals for them to kill for their Bogwera and Bojale. A culture, it is argued, should not be allowed if its practice will lead to the extinction of an animal species.  Also, there are laws, and those laws, it is argued, are not framed in such a way as to exclude those practicing their culture. Hunting laws should be obeyed by all irrespective of their culture. Bakgatla, how about using fabric instead of animal skins for these ceremonies? That would spare many animal lives. Use fake animal skins; I am pretty sure that the Chinese can make that!

Those who support the Bakgatla stated that,

“Batswana should never have to make the choice between conservation of wildlife and preservation of culture. The Batswana of yesteryear understood, as common sense dictates, that the two must be considered together. The greed of poachers and hunters who kill for the pot and for commerce cannot be allowed to take precedence over killing to celebrate the culture of a people, who only want consummation of a traditional ritual, bogwera. The ministry, which did not take bogwera into consideration when it did its arithmetic, is duty bound to accede to the request of the Bakgatla to kill the animals that are required for a proper conclusion to the ceremonies of bogwera… Let us choose culture over 100 animals for the benefit of both, in the future”

How does killing 100 animals benefit the animals too? Isn’t that just as repugnant as arguing that slavery was for the benefit of the slaves? It looks like the government of Botswana has several masters to serve here: the international community to which it owes treaty obligations, the national interest of all the people of Botswana and the sectional interests of the Bakgatla ethnic group. The animals in question belong to the people of Botswana, not just the Bakgatla.

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1. http://allafrica.com/stories/200906010825

2. http://www.botswanaembassy.or.jp/culture

3. http://www.mmegi.bw/index.php?