Shebeen wars in Botswana

TWO totally unrelated events occurred the other week that I thought I should comment on.

In South Africa, the Gauteng Liquor Board decided to extend liquor licences for shebeens by 24 months. They were due to expire at the end of this month. In neighbouring Botswana, Kgosi Kgafela II of the Bakgatla tribe issued a decree banning shebeens in the Kgatkeng District.

In South Africa, the news of the extension must have been welcomed with widespread celebration, however, it should be noted that shebeens there have been operating somewhat legally for years. During the World Cup, they became something of a tourist attraction. Thousands of soccer fans poured into these latter day speakeasies to have a feel of the home away from home hospitality they are renowned for.

For the uninitiated, shebeens are drinking dens that began in those days way back when it was illegal for Africans (read blacks) to drink what was then referred to as European beer. They have a chequered history placing them in the middle of apartheid politics where political meetings were held there under the guise of harmless drinking sessions and wild parties. In later years, they have been blamed for a plethora of social ills ranging from prostitution to harbouring vicious criminals.

It is for this reason that Kgosi Kgafela along with members of his tribe have ‘unanimously’ agreed to that shebeens in Kagtleng be proscribed with immediate effect. Some believe that this rather drastic action is just a tip of the iceberg judging by the way the young kgosi has been operating. He is a controversial character who has ordered the public flogging of so many for their indiscretions as far as the customs of the Bagatla are concerned.

These include a drama group that was punished for recreating the sacred bogwera initiation ritual and more recently pastors from the Family of God church. These were accused of disrespecting the kgosi by disregarding admonitions against ‘making noise’ to the community by their loud music and exuberant preaching. The kgosi has been dragged before the High Court in what will certainly be a high profile case.

Eager to see how modern courts are going to handle a traditional head of one of the country’s prominent tribes, it has hogged the headlines in this country of nearly two million where Roman Dutch law and traditional law are indeed strange bedfellows.

The fiercely loyal BaKgatla believe that the court case is calculated to embarrass their kgosi, while political pundits feel that the wayward chief should be cut down to size. However, the Washington-born former human rights lawyer Kgafela is unperturbed and his ban on shebeens is a sure sign of his growing belligerence.

He has even warned those home owners who defied the decree that their homesteads would be destroyed and their male patrons flogged since most of the shebeen operators were women. Human rights activists have voiced their concern about the floggings which they deem demeaning. However traditional law allows whipping as a form of punishment for certain classes of crime.

This brings the country’s unique traditional system into a head-on collision with the political rulers of the country. For long there has been tension between the two, with the House of Chiefs (Ntlo Ya Dokgosi) complaining about systematic encroachment into their jurisdiction by public officials.

One of the most critical of the chiefs was the late Seepapitso Bathoen Gaseitsiwe or Seepapitso VI of the Bangwaketse who died early this year. His father, Bathoen II was famous for resigning from chieftainship to join formal politics opposition ostensibly to protect traditional values. He is best remembered as former president Ketumile Quett Masire’s nemesis in the Bangwaketse constituency in the 1969 elections which he won as leader of the National Front.

Kgosi Kgafela is using the same banner of restoring traditional values in his village capital of Moshudi and the Kgatla community with a commitment to discipline and cultural practice. His mephatho (age regiments) are employed to institute instant justice at the slightest indiscretion and some of them along with his brothers are being charged with him for grievous bodily harm.

He has said that he was not stopping people from drinking at home.

“It is your home. You can do whatever you want. You can even smoke dagga. We are only against the selling of beer,” he is said to have quipped leading some to speculate that perhaps he could be high on something himself.

While he has the support of his tribesmen, there are those who feel that the chief has gone too far in some of his decrees. This includes government ministers though President Lt Seretse Khama Ian Khama, himself the paramount chief of the Bamangwato, has maintained deafening silence over Kgafela’s antics.

Some of his tribesmen have said they would quit Kgatleng rather than give up selling alcohol which is mostly the traditional Chibuku variety that does not require a licence to sell. A few have threatened to stand up the mephatho though this was highly unlikely as these are known for their viciousness in the line of duty.

While this drama plays out in the courts of Botswana, there are those who believe that it is more than shebeens that are the issue here, rather the question of power. If that is the case, then one can declare that we haven’t heard the last of this maverick chief who will soon shake the conservative corridors of power.

Meanwhile, in South Africa one might as well declare that the most attractive business to set up at the moment is a shebeen. It is highly unlikely that operators would be bothered by the police for the next two years. The Gauteng authorities are saying that the reason for this moratorium is that they need more time to craft appropriate legislation to control the operations of shebeens within their jurisdiction.

“The decision to extend the permits followed a thorough review process of the Gauteng liquor policy and legislation which revealed a need to draft new shebeen regulations for consideration by the provincial legislature,” read the ‘terse’ press release.

Wild celebrations would greet such a moratorium if it were to be declared in Zimbabwe. Shebeens are proscribed in the Southern African country and the local police occupy themselves raiding them if they are not manning the plethora of roadblocks that dot the country’s crumbling roads euphemistically called ‘toll gates.’ Owners claim that police target them because they are soft targets as compared to tough criminals said to be having a free reign, a charge that the police vehemently deny.

While law enforcement officers point the low levels of gun related crime in the country, critics say that the involvement of police in politically motivated arrests diminishes their reliability in tackling real crime in what remains a politically sensitive environment.

Shebeen patrons feel that there is an element of sadism that creeps in as police officers use archaic laws to crack down on them and feel that such use of brute force is disproportional to the crime. I a country where the majority of its citizens are trying to keep their heads above water and where unemployment is estimated at 95%, some feel shebeens still offer an attractive business option. The churches would surely disagree.