Yesterday morning, my mother called me to find out how my job as a polling officer went. She then excitedly told me about the very first time her mother, Ontefetse, voted in the historic self-government elections of 1965.
Following Mokopakgosi (2008), It was also the first ever elections to be contested by political parties in the Bechuanaland Protectorate, as Botswana was then called, to be held under universal adult suffrage. Where all adults, regardless of gender, race, ethnicity and socio-economic status could vote in an election to choose a government to represent them.
I am very privileged to continue hearing first-hand accounts of what life in Botswana was like from the 30s to the 90s from the perspectives of these women. My grandmother often tells us stories of her journey walking from the sleepy village of Sethulo to Kanye village to cast her vote on 1 March 1965. In a high piched voice, she tells us that, days before the election day, on her Sethulo-Kanye long walk, she had a baby on her back and was holding her young boy by hand.
About two weeks ago, while speaking to my mother, over the phone, she laughingly told me that her stressed mother was busy looking for her pink voter registration card.
After she passed the phone to my grandmother, I assured her that she can actually go to her Polling Station to get a replacement card, as long as it’s by the 22nd of October.
Yesterday, my mother told me that Ontefetse mentions my name in delight and that she now has her replacement voting card and next week she is voting, for the 12th time.
My 65-year-old mother, after reminding me that since 1965, Ontefetse has never missed the opportunity to cast her vote, stated that the 94-year-old is also among the first people in Botswana to receive the non-contributory government funded monthly old age pension.
Actually, 2019 marks the first time my mother also started receiving the pension, popularly knows as “Tantabana”.
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Blessing Kgosi e tsile Kgasa 