Ladies and gentlemen it is a great honour for me to be here today talking at the launch of what can be referred to as one of the finest pieces of literary works ever produced in this country. Some may even say that it is one of the finest pieces of literary work emanating from the Southern African region or the entire African continent.
The novel is an absolute joy to read. It is a masterclass that demonstrates the beauty of the written word. Using ironic humour or satire Professor Christian John Makgala showcases his consummate observation of the transformation of our society over a generation. He has managed to document and preserve our intangible cultural heritage in a highly skilful and amusing manner.
There is no doubt Ladies and Gentlemen that THE DIXIE MEDICINE MAN is an outstanding work and supreme talent. The quality and gripping manner with which it has been written are thoroughly deserving of praise and celebration. The novel also strikes the right chord with one of the cardinal pillars of Vision 2016 that seeks to make us a united and proud nation.
It is a great pity that in this country people who produce outstanding works such as what Professor Christian John Makgala has done do not quite get the recognition and praise they deserve. In other words in this country we are not good at creating and sustaining our own heroes ÔÇô or do we religiously follow the adage “prophet is a hero in foreign lands”.
As I indicate in my autobiography THE MAGIC OF PERSEVERANCE, in occasional instances where a Motswana triumphs on the global scale our celebration of such feats is at best subdued. Whether this is a result of jealousy or modesty on our part is hard to tell.
However, we have a clear and straightforward tradition of over-praising dead people at their funerals, particulary when they die poor. It is very common in our society even for hardened and dangerous criminals to be spoken of in the most positive and wonderful speeches imaginable. This is part of our culture which we have steadfastly held on to and it does not look like we are going to part ways with it any time soon.
I feel that we should start cultivating a culture of blowing our trumpet loud and hard when a Motswana comes up with a product such as Professor Makgala’s marvellous novel. As one reviewer pointed out it is difficult to believe that this is Professor Makgala’s first novel. The quality is so high and well polished that one can very easily think that the author already has a few novels under his belt.
Perhaps I should point out that I have only come to personally know Professor Makgala fairly recently. I first met him sometime in the middle of last year at Phakalane Golf Estate. He had come to kindly ask me to provide a foreword for a book he was working on with his colleague Professor Zibani Maundeni. That was when he also showed me a copy of THE DIXIE MEDICINE MAN which he was still putting the finishing touches to at the time.
Since then the Professor has shared with me a few of some of his incisive publications in the form of books and articles. These dealt with various aspects of life in contemporary Botswana addressed from a historical perspective. His versatility as a writer is quite amazing. He is able to address insightfully a wide range of issues of political, social, economic and cultural nature with remarkable ease.
One of his articles which I quite enjoyed reading is entitled “Poor Work Ethic in Botswana”. In a very clever way he was able to trace and address this worrying feature amongst our people from a deep and elegant historical angle since the colonial period and explains how it impacts on the economic development of Botswana today. I was able to comment meaningfully on the paper because during my time as a Cabinet Minister I was personally involved in some of the issues he raised in his paper.
It also gave me great pleasure when I discovered that my name is also mentioned in his novel, and so is Phakalane and my biography ÔÇô THE MAGIC OF PERSEVERANCE. I was particularly fascinated by a chapter that amusingly describes an instance of false capture of Lightning Bird by an obscure traditional doctor in my hometown of Molepolole. Perhaps I should point out that such incidents did take place in Molepolole which until about a couple of decades ago was very prone to lightning strikes.
In many respects a Motswana reader is able to relate to quite a number of events discussed in the novel. Again in numerous instances the book evokes strong nostalgia, particularly for people like me who grew up in villages.
Whereas THE DIXIE MEDICINE MAN is set in the village of Morwa, what is written in it is applicable to the whole of Botswana. The book is a marvellous account of how our country has emerged to become a globally admired peaceful entity and a democracy.
It is worth noting that the author has cleverly and amusingly related how diamond wealth has helped transform this country from being one of the poorest in the world at independence to a position of relative prosperity where it is today. However, it is not all about singing praises because the challenges our society faces are also highlighted.
This book does a splendid work in packaging, branding and promoting Botswana. Organisations tasked with promoting tourism in Botswana should find THE DIXIE MEDICINE MAN a goldmine and an extremely useful resource.
By the same token this book should be a must read for teachers and students in our education system. The book should also easily appeal to general readers from all walks of life.
Perhaps at this juncture Ladies and Gentlemen I should try and engage in a bit of academic exercise by virtue of being in an academic institution. I should point out that this novel is already a subject of academic discourse. Just last week it was being assessed in a paper delivered at the Department of English here at the University of Botswana. The mere fact that it attracted that kind of attention speaks volumes.
The thesis of that paper was that THE DIXIE MEDICINE MAN is a portrayal of ‘rural idiocy’ because the characters in the novel are portrayed as ‘rural idiots’ who are ‘unthinking and foolish peasants relying on the urban elite’ to control them and make decisions for them.
Whereas the presenter of the said paper is entitled to his views in many respects, such views seem to be far off the mark. The novel relates in a subtle manner to real life in a real Botswana village. What one gets from reading THE DIXIE MEDICINE MAN is a sense of characters who are quite independent-minded, influential and powerful in the management of the country’s economy by the governing elite. The novel is replete with examples of this approach. It should be noted that Professor Makgala is a Mokgatla and his novel is set in a Kgatleng village. The Bakgatla have always been fiercely independent-minded and openly speak their minds even if it means using strong or rough language or moretlwa.
However, perhaps I should say that Professor Makgala avoids labelling his characters peasants. He prefers to call them villagers or just a community. The term villager simply refers to anyone who lives in a village regardless of their economic status and vocational pursuits. It can therefore be misleading to lump together people living in a village as peasants. As shown in the novel some of these people are not engaged in peasant economic activities but are part of the working class and middle class who commute to work in the nearby Gaborone.
The community is able to influence critical government policies such as procurement policy and management of the diamond industry. On a few instances they managed with ease to summon their member of parliament and the cabinet minister under whose portfolio diamond industry fell.
They strongly voiced their dissatisfaction at what they saw as weaknesses in the system which enabled a few unscrupulous individuals to illegally enrich themselves with the country’s diamonds at the expense of the rest of the population. We all know how critical diamonds are to our economic development.
Another interesting example is when they summoned to their kgotla the minister responsible for government procurement system and expressed strong disapproval at poor service delivery caused by corruption in the bureaucratic system. They even managed to force government to reconstitute and rename the organisation responsible for the tendering process.
This is demonstration of the beauty of our democracy at work as ordinary people, who are also voters, hold their government to account. This is something greatly admired by a Nigerian and Kenyan characters in the novel.
In the main this novel celebrates what can be called ‘rural wisdom and activism’. By the same token it exposes what one may refer to as ‘urban idiocy’ which is characterised by reckless consumerism and extravagance, the result of which is indebtedness and social stresses that can lead to things such as passion killings among the youth.
With those few words Ladies and Gentlemen I advise you to give support to our local writers such as Professor Christian John Makgala. At his young age we expect a lot from him as a prolific writer. With valentine just around the corner it would be advisable to buy a copy of his novel as a present to your beloved spouses.
You can also buy it as a present to your friends living outside the country to share with them this wonderful work of art. Corporate entities, trade unions and government departments among others should also get copies of the novel as presents to their visitors from outside the country, or when they hold prize giving events.
Like most people I can’t wait to read the sequel to this novel which I understand Professor Makgala is working on.
Thank you. PULA!
*Magang was speaking at the launch of the novel “The Dixie Medicine Man”
