‘A meeting at the kgotla [gathering place]. Lo kopiwa go tla ka makatlaname,’ says the radio announcer. ‘Please come in great numbers.’ He rattles off details of an itinerary that has MPs scuttling from kgotla to kgotla on the double. Electioneering has begun in earnest. We vote again in 2014. The kgotla is an ideal venue to garner votes.
If we sweep around the fact that these meetings are usually held during working hours when those who can heed the call to attend ‘in great numbers’ are the retired, unemployed or employed by government; if we do not dwell on the fact that the chief of the village and head of the kgotla is ensconced on the throne because of whose first-born son he is; if we ignore the fact that chances of being seen on our local television channel rise significantly if you attend a meeting: then we will not dismiss the worth of the kgotla in today’s world and we will not dismiss its reason for being.
