SEMENE RIVER
Community alerts/Mmabore Mogashoa/ Schinoord, Ga- Mogashoa/24/03/2019, 8:56 AM]
Semene river is a river situated at Ward 13 in Makhuduthamaga Local Municipality. The river had lot of water and it looks like the quantity of water is decreasing. There are mines that i believe are reducing the water quantity. Some of the mines are within 50KM radius and the taste of the water also changed. The river was used for drinking water, bath, washing clothes and for animals. Widows used to bath in the river as part of a ritual to remove darkness that was caused by passing of a partner. According to Bapedi culture, after the passing of your husband a cleansing ceremony must be done for the wife so that she won’t have ‘Makgoma’. That is when she is taken to the river to bath and it is done at night. There are also medication used for a period of a year. People also do rituals in the river because it is believed that when you have bad luck or problems that does not end, bathing in the flowing river using traditional medication will help. Water for Mphoko (water collected and poured in clay pots at Ga-Kgosi Ditlhakaneng by older women and girls for purpose of rain rituals). In times of droughts a traditional practitioner from the chiftiency calls a meeting. Whereby old women who have stopped menstruating and young girls wake up in the morning to go to Semene river to collect water while singing ‘Magabegabe’ rain song. And men go to the mountain, fields or forest to look for animal that must be used for rain making, it is called ‘Lesolong’. A day is also selected for people to go look for ‘dibeela’ (things that prevents rainfall, those things were collected and burned. There was a time where lot of people were washing clothes in the river and someone received a message that people should not pour soap water into the river as the river’snake is complaining. The river flows to join Tubatse river also. It has given different names according to sections. There is Semene (Mogashoa Village), Ntsantsa (Mabonyane Village), Mookeng(next to the road to GaMasha), Hlapa banna ( where only men used to bath) and Dibeng bja Bale (for girl initiates) which was used to bath and do rituals when traditionally initiating girls. Dibeng bja bjale is still working even now but the problem is the less quantity of water. Mogashoa village Dam Mogashoa village dam was made in 1935 by community members for animals to drink. Mogashoa Lower Primary school next to the dam was built in 1947. The was a tree that was near the dam where old men used to make ropes using cow skin. The ropes are used to tie cows to a tree when milking them. Some of the children born at that time were given names like ‘Maletamong’, Matamong etc. Children used to play in the dam also. People from Ga-Mogashoa and nearby villages( Makgane, Schonoord and GaSekele (Ward 12,13 & 14)) used the dam. There were times were the sand taken out of the dam for it to store more water. When there was a wedding women from the village will go swim in the dam as a way to show support to the household that have a wedding. They will also climpthe mountain and sing wedding songs at Mmahope ( a big stone on top of the mountain at Mogashoa Village). Now is the Municipality’s work to clean the Dam. [03/24, 9:07 AM] Mmabore Mogashoa: Power of Art Art exhibition for visual arts and crafters was held on 19 March 2019 at Achievers Theatre …, Tsimanyane Ga Matlala. The exhibition was organized by Limpopo Federation of Community Arts Centers(LIFCAC) for the district municipalities of Limpopo(i.e. Vhembe,Sekhukhune, Mopani, Waterberg and Capricorn) and the one for the 19th was for Sekhukhune District Municipality. With the higher unemployment rate in the country it is clear that with art, people can create employment and have income to take care of their loved ones. Art can help in keeping our people away from crime, drugs and other substances that affects them negatively. Now that number of Nyaope addicts is increasing in the youth art can be used to keep them busy. Employment is also not guaranteed in companies as a result of load shedding. Production in businesses has reduced and there might be job losses as a result of the power cuts. There were vases which were made by recycled material like paper, sand, pine cones and other materials. Classes made from beer and wine bottles were also on display. Using recycled material is not only good for our environment but also reducing the dumping that is done in rivers and other places in our land that end up causing smell and diseases to the people. People made traditional clothes, wedding dresses, traditional attire, traditional music instruments, kitchen utensils and pictures drawn on paper and boards using pencil and paint. There were ‘Mogopo’ and ‘Legopo’ that was used for pap and meat or ‘morogo’, walking sticks all made from wood. Ice cream sticks were also used to build little houses. What inspired me was two ladies, one of them published a book at a very young age. While youth their age is busy clubbing and doing bad things, they are writting. If this lady can do it, everyone can do it. Mr Kgolane from Mamone adviced people not to throw away animal skins as they can be used to make shoes, drums, attire, Ntepa and so many things. There was a woman who also said that by her hands she was able to send his son to University of Limpopo and he graduated in 2018. Another beautiful lady who made me proud was on a wheelchair, she makes belts and key holders. That was an encouragement to all men and women to stand up against poverty. It’s time for people to start to use whatever is available to create art. Our country will be a better place and this will boost our economy. People should unite and a lot can be achieved. Your hands and brain can be a key to a better life.
Story by Mmabore