Hierdie volume, Words of Batswana, bevat ‘n versameling briewe wat Batswana korrespondente, in hulle huistaal, aan Mahoko a Becwana (News/Words of Batswana), ‘n Setswana-talige koerant wat tussen 1883 en 1896 deur sendelinge van die Londense Sendinggenootskap te Kuruman uitgegee is, geskryf het. Die meeste van die briefskrywers was lidmate van gemeentes in die huidige Noord-Kaap en Noordwes provinsies, maar sommiges was ook afkomstig uit Transvaal, Oranje-Vrystaat en die protektoraat Betsjoeanaland. Die meerderheid van die briewe was aan die redakteur gerig, maar was eintlik vir ander Batswanalesers van die koerant bedoel.
Naamblok van Mahoko a Becwana wat die Moffat Instituut by Kuruman uitbeeld
Tswana en ander inboorling groepe, middel 19de eeu
Blyplek van die koerant, “Mahoko a Becwana”, se korrespondente
Hulle het oor ‘n wye verskeidenheid onderwerpe geskryf wat van belang was vir Batswana wat hulle onderwys in sendingskole ontvang het. Dit het onderwerpe soos sendingwerk, teologie, standaardisering van geskrewe Setswana, kultuuroordrag en Europese kolonisasie ingesluit. Die briewe was dikwels antwoorde op ander briewe of artikels deur sendelinge, en het lewendige debatte oor ‘n aantal polemiese strydpunte tot gevolg gehad. Dit bied ‘n seldsame en insig-gewende blik op die debate wat tussen geletterde swartmense plaasgevind het gedurende ‘n beslissende tydperk in die totstandkoming van die moderne Afrika en Botswana. Die teks is gepubliseer in die oorspronklike Setswana, met ‘n Engelse vertaling daarvan.
Die mag van die geskrewe woord: die hoof van ‘n Motswana huishouding lees uit die Bybel vir sy familie geklee in hulle kerk klere, c. 1899
(van W.C. Willoughby, ‘Native Life on the Transvaal Border’, London, 1900)
Die briewe verskaf ‘n onskatbare insig tot die Batswana se opinies oor die veranderinge – geloofs, sosiale, kulturele, intellektuele, politieke asook ekonomiese – wat dominant was in hul samelewing in die laaste twee dekades van die negentiende eeu, ‘n kritieke vormingstydperk in die geskiedenis van suider Afrika.
The letters provide a lively treasure-house of insights into what Batswana thought of the escalating changes – religious, social, cultural, intellectual, political and economic – which were overtaking their society in the last two decades of the nineteenth century, a critically formative period in the history of southern Africa.
UITTREKSEL VANUIT DIE TEKS
| BOGADI | TRANSLATION |
|---|---|
| Montshiwa Tawana – 73 (February 1891), 11
Mafikeñ, Dec. 15, 1890 Go Morulaganyi Motho oecho, tsenya mahoko ke aō mo koranteñ ea Becwana. Bogadi ga se molato, bo chwanetswe go ntshiwa. Mo Secwaneñ shotlhe ke yōnè go rurehatsa nyalō, le go e tlhōmamisa. Bo ntshiwa ke motho ea o nyalañ mosadi, sa ntlha e le tebogō ea batsadi ba ñwana, ka ba mo godisite, ba mo otla, ba mo naea kobō, ba mo cwesa yalo yalo. Ha bogadi e le go rèka ñwana, baecho, go kabo esere go èñwa mo phuthegoñ, Moruti a re go ntshiwè madi a nyalō, me he, madi aō ōnè a cwèlañ, a ga se go shupa ha nyalō e chwanetse go bōnatshiwa ka chupō, e, le batho ba e bōnañ? Gapè ke chupō ea merahe eotlhe ea rona e mencho, ha nyalō e chwanetse go tlhōmamisiwa ka señwe se se tonna ha gare ga bōnè. Me ra re ka kgomo e le eōnè tonna, ba dira chupō ka eōnè, e se thèkō e le chupō ea nyalō, tirō e kgolo ha gare ga merahe. Ka mokgwa oa Makhoa, ha monona a sa èma le mosadi oa gagwè mo Kantoroñ, kgotsa mo Kerekeñ, go twe ga se mosadi oa gagwè. Bana le bōnè ga ba na chupō epè mo go rrabo, le ènè ga a na chupō epè mo baneñ, me he, bagaecho, le bogadi ke chupō e e ntseñ yalo hèla ha gare ga rona boncho. Bogadi ga bo kake yoa lesiwa; ga se thèkō ea bana. Bogadi tlhōma-misho ea nyalō. Kgosi Montshiwa |
Montshiwa Tawana – 73 (February 1891), 110
Mafikeng, 15 December, 1890 To the Editor, My fellow man, put these words in the newspaper of the Batswana. Bogadi [bridewealth] is not wrong; it should be paid. Of all Tswana things, it is the one that establishes and confirms marriage. Bogadi is paid by the person who is marrying the woman, out of gratitude to the child’s parents who raised her, fed her, gave her a blanket, clothed her and so on. If bogadi is paying for a child, my people, it would not compare to being stood [in a wedding ceremony] in a congregation, where a minister takes money for the wedding. So, what is that money paid for? Does it not show that a marriage should be demonstrated by such proof and by the people witnessing it? Also, it is evidence to all our black merafe [tribes] that marriage should be confirmed by some important thing among them. We say that a cow is such an important thing, and we use it as proof. It is not buying; it is proof of the marriage. It is an important event among merafe. In the custom of Europeans, if a man did not stand with his wife in the magistrate’s office, or in church, it is said that she is not his wife. The children have no proof at all of their father, and he has no proof at all of the children. So, my people, bogadi acts as such proof among us blacks. Bogadi should not be abandoned. Bogadi is the confirmation of marriage. KgosiMontshiwa |
Vertaal en geredigeer deur Part T. Mgadla en Stephen C. Volz
Part Themba Mgadla is medeprofessor en hoof van die departement geskiedenis aan die Universiteit van Botswana. Hy is as onderwyser opgelei aan die onderwyserskollege van Francistown en later het hy ‘n B.A.-graad in geskiedenis behaal aan die Universiteit van Botswana en Swaziland. Vir verdere studie is hy na die Universiteit van Boston, waar hy sy meesters- en doktorsgrade behaal het.
Stephen C. Volz is tans mede-professor in geskiedenis aan Kenyon College in Ohio. Sy belangstelling in die Tswanageskiedenis en -kultuur het ontstaan toe hy gedurende die jare tagtig van die vorige eeu ‘n hoërskool-onderwyser in Thamaga in Botswana was. Terwyl hy as doktorale student aan die Universiteit van Wisconsin-Madison navorsing gedoen het vir sy proefskrif oor Batswana-evangeliste, het hy kennis gemaak met Mahoko a Becwana en dit het aanleiding gegee tot hierdie boek.