“This event is about family, heritage and culture, and this year it is especially critical to us because it is Botswana’s 50th celebration.” – Mosarwa Molema
LAME BOGATSU
Sponsorship Coordinator at Orange Botswana Mosarwa Molema says this year’s Orange Letlhafula which will be held 7th May at Botswana Craft will be celebrating Botswana’s 50 years of Independence.
The theme for this year according to Molema is Tshomarelo Ngwao Go Ya Dikokomaneng. “This event is about family, heritage and culture, and this year it is especially critical to us because it is Botswana’s 50th celebration. The theme for this year, which means “culture is preserved through passing it down to the younger generation”, is the conversation that is on everyone’s mind set. This is why we saw it fit to make sure the event is centered around what our food is about, how it is prepared and how it is eaten,” he said.
According to Molema, over 50 artists from different genres and over 50 food dishes can be expected at this year’s event. “We have engaged Mafitlhakgosi once more because people love them and the other reason is that the group is largely out of school youth who have come together to make music which is a fusion between traditional music and hip hop and other genres, and this works out well because this is exactly how Botswana is 50years later, although there are remnants of our tradition in everything we do, in some instances we have been able to fuse our tradition with other cultures that we interact with.”
Sibongile Macala of Botswana Craft emphasized that the main focus of the event was the food and the attire, and that they want the line up to be a surprise to patrons. “But with that said, we have been able to secure really talented artists for this year’s show, anchor artists as well as upcoming musicians who are doing well in their genres.”
Commenting on whether the event was not be affected by the drought, Macala said they had preplanned to avert the effects: “We have gone out and outsourced traditional food dishes from around the country in order to make sure we are short for nothing at this event, it wasn’t easy but we did it,” she said.
Tickets for the show are already on sale and are available at Botswana Craft for P250.00 and cover food and entertainment for the day.