African science at work!

There is a joke by Noko Mashaba, where he is preparing to go out on a date but everything seems to go wrong, and he suspects witchcraft. He logs onto the Internet and types a Google search that reads: ‘Ke loiwa ke mang?’ The Google response is: ‘No search results found.’ He exclaims: “Heban’ baloi ba, ba setse ba lowa le yone Google!”

I recently came across an amusing news report about a landmark case in a CCMA (labour) court in South Africa, where a worker was accused of using muti at work. According

to the details, he had a physical altercation with a colleague at work, and the HR officer gave him a warning, which he was unhappy with, and they subsequently had a verbal spat. A few days later, when the HR officer knocked off, she reportedly noticed a black gummy substance smeared on the driver’s side of her car. She suspected it to be something meant to bring her harm, and reported it to her superiors (South Africa has laws that recognise occults and witchcraft) who in turn engaged a certified sangoma who confirmed that the substance was a black magic potion that had been “traditionally engineered” to cause a car accident.

African science!

Go raya gore the HR officer o ditshubile. It’s either she is a powerful prayer warrior, or she has a strong traditional doctor. Whatever the case, her prompt action saved her life.

Besides, when you associate with rural bumpkin typa’ folk, it goes without saying that you have to be vigilant, because it’s common knowledge that some of them are myopic and primitive, and still believe in using muti. O kgona go omana le motho wa teng wena o re ga se sepe hela, ene a bo a go tsamaela dingaka. Yo mongwe fa a a bona e ka re o tla mo “kgaoganya” le nyatsi ya gagwe ya letlakala ya ko tirong, o go leka ka ditlhare. Yo mongwe fa a le lehuha mo go wena, kana a bona e ka re o tla mo gaisa, o simolola go ithutela boloi mo go wena. Dodgy!

It can be tempting to dismiss witchcraft but not everything can be understood in the physical context; the spiritual realm exists, and some people distort it negatively with dubious intentions. Mo botshelong go na le dilo tsa Modimo, le dilo tsa batho. It is important to cultivate a conscience to discern when it’s God’s hand or black magic at play. We have no control over the things that other people do, but we can protect ourselves, particularly through prayer. It sometimes takes time but prayer does work.

Witchcraft is a spell, so it eventually fades.

Ditlhare di a apoga because they are “human engineered.” But the grace of God is eternal.

Modimo o phala baloi!

A few weeks ago, a thokolosi exorcism was trending on social media and while some people applauded traditional African churches for their great spiritual work, sceptics brandished it hogwash.

A popular social media commentator, Setlhomo, shared a lengthy post, questioning some black people’s belief in witchcraft. Someone commented: ‘Fa o batla go bona gore ba heditse le wena baloi, a bo o bona o sa dumele gore boloi bo teng!’

Another wrote: ‘Kana bahumi ke bone ba ba romellang bahumengi dithokolosi fa ba sa tlhole ba di batla...’ But it’s interesting to observe that ga se gantsi o ka utlwalela thokolosi e lelekilwe mo di suburb le mahelo a mangwe a go nnang batho ba itsholelo e botokanyana. Di thokolosi gantsi di utlwalelwa ko magaeng… Ke eng, a di tshaba di aircon?!

The Attorney General’s decision to appeal the June 11th judgement, and his push to uphold laws that have been proven to be discriminatory show a serious disregard for human rights.

Evidence has been presented that criminalisation of same sex sexual acts fuels negative public attitudes, perpetuates stigma and acts as a barrier to healthcare and treatment in Botswana, therefore, through decriminalisation, queer women’s constitutional rights to liberty, privacy and dignity are protected.

When we talk about the constitutional right to liberty, we also encompass the liberty to choose an intimate or life partner. For a long time, women (both heterosexual and queer) have had limited liberty in choosing life partners; for heterosexual women, it was an issue of having to possess certain “qualities” to make yourself more “desirable/worthy” for a man, with terms like submissive (code word for slave) often thrown about, a woman could not simply pick a partner based on her own interests, lest she be called all sorts of names. For queer women, you simply cannot be with another woman because “women belong to men”, it is as simple as that. There have been instances were queer women have been harassed for their sexuality, being told that they are trying to be men, some raped “to show them what they are missing.” The decriminalisation judgement also gives women the right to liberty, which also includes the right to sexual autonomy. What autonomy means is that, as a woman, I have the sole right to decide what happens to my body, and who I want to be intimate with. Sexual autonomy means that the law should not dictate to anyone, including queer women who they have adult consensual sexual relations with, disagreeing with these basic human rights, will be denying people the liberty to have inherently private choices, free from undue influence, irrational and unjustified interference by others.

Another key issue promoted by the judgment is that arbitrary intrusion upon another’s solitude or private affairs is highly offensive and thus invasion of privacy.

As per the constitution, individuals have a right to a sphere of private autonomy, and that covers physical privacy (one’s body). When I talk about the body being a private entity, I also mean having the freedom to make your own decisions relating to sexual reproductive health such as when to be intimate, whether to have a child or not, having the right to terminate a pregnancy, contraception and family planning resources. Currently, because of laws like the above, women, especially queer women, continue to face pervasive discrimination designed to block recognition of their identities and relations and to hinder their ability to access the healthcare they need, including gender-affirming care and sexual and reproductive healthcare, as such, Botswana is still very far from “leaving no one behind”.In Botswana, a lot of the time, as is in the decriminalisation case, religion and culture are used to bully and control people. The Attorney General, in his arguments talked of public morality, and how the penal code sections represented the unchanging norms of Botswana society, a statement intended to silence the already marginalised queer community. To my understanding, Botswana’s unchanging norms and values include inclusion, tolerance, respect for individual dignity and care for the most vulnerable and marginalised groups in the society, therefore any person who advocates for the criminalisation of queerness is missing the mark. It should also be noted that as public as religion is, it is also a private affair, that is to say, my beliefs may be different from another person’s beliefs, we both have a right to those, and both should be respected. Faith and spiritually are personal journeys, everyone should get to experience theirs without any fear mongering. All in all, I believe that human rights should be core to the development of society, and continue to advocate for queer people’s right to privacy, liberty and dignity. I want to look back someday in the future, and show a positive contribution I made to history.