Gobojango, locally known as Gobas (), is a village in the

Central District, Botswana Central is the largest of Botswana's districts in terms of area and population. It encompasses the traditional homeland of the Bamangwato people. Some of the most politically connected Batswana have come from the Central District, including form ...

; more specifically in the

Bobirwa The Bobirwa Subdistrict is a jurisdiction in Botswana. It is populated by the Babirwa (Ba-Birwa) people who came from Transvaal in present-day South Africa. History Before Moshoeshoe and his nation of Lesotho, the Basotho people populated ...

Sub-District.

Location

It is near Semolale and Mabolwe Village. Semolale is 12 km and Mabolwe is 16 km east of the village. The Metsimaswaane River is west of the old village. Gobojango is kilometres from the historic place ''Gobadwe Hill'', the ostensible origin for all Babirwa. Babirwa were under the rule of

Bakalanga The Kalanga or BaKalanga are a southern Bantu ethnic group mainly inhabiting Matebeleland in Zimbabwe, northern Botswana, and parts of the Limpopo Province in South Africa. The BaKalanga of Botswana are the second largest ethnic group in th ...

Chief, Mambo at the Gobadwe Hill and he left them to establish his kingdom in ''Alesupi'' in modern-day

Zimbabwe file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...

. The Mokgethi family has ruled the village since their arrival from Zimbabwe. The Mokgethi family descends from ''Mare'' who was the son of ''Nkgwana''.

Mokgethi family

Nkgwana and Mokgadi were sisters. One brother failed to marry and therefore died without a son, thus leaving no

heir Inheritance is the practice of receiving private property, titles, debts, entitlements, privileges, rights, and obligations upon the death of an individual. The rules of inheritance differ among societies and have changed over time. Offi ...

. The family decided that the eldest daughter, Nkgwana should marry a close relative to allow them to keep their

chieftaincy A tribal chief, chieftain, or headman is a leader of a tribal society or chiefdom. Tribal societies There is no definition for "tribe". The concept of tribe is a broadly applied concept, based on tribal concepts of societies of western Af ...

. Instead, she had a son with a man who was not related to her by blood. The son was referred to as Mare, meaning not the real blood chief. During those days they were living in modern-day

, on the other side of the

Shashe River The Shashe River (or Shashi River) is a major left-bank tributary of the Limpopo River in Zimbabwe. It rises northwest of Francistown, Botswana and flows into the Limpopo River where Botswana, Zimbabwe and South Africa meet.Botswana Botswana, officially the Republic of Botswana, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory part of the Kalahari Desert. It is bordered by South Africa to the sou ...

. Mokgadi's sons became chiefs on this side of the

Shashe River The Shashe River (or Shashi River) is a major left-bank tributary of the Limpopo River in Zimbabwe. It rises northwest of Francistown, Botswana and flows into the Limpopo River where Botswana, Zimbabwe and South Africa meet.Tsetsebjwe Tsetsebjwe is a village in the Bobirwa sub-district of the Central District (Botswana), Central District of Botswana. It is in the Central Bobonong census district. As of 2001 it had a population of 4,396. The village is northwest of the privately ...

and established the Tsetsebjwe village. [the reason Phole was told to step down for Mokgethi was that her mother, Mokgadi was married but divorced and Mokgadi went and lived in her father's house with her children called "maphole" as they were not real sons of the palace but rather the nephews to the chief. On the other hand, Nkgwana who is Mokgethi's mother was chosen to bear chiefs]. With all these conflicts about Bobirwa chieftaincy, Mokgethi was treated as not worthy because he was born out of a mix of royal blood and the man from elsewhere that Nkgwana chose to make children with. He was also not from the male lineage but female lineage which is often the weaker lineage in Babirwa custom.Mmapetla

Education

Gobojango has one primary school called Kobojango Primary School, and a junior secondary school called Gobojango Junior Secondary School (Gobojango CJSS). Gobojango CJSS accommodates students from the three villages: Mabolwe, Semolale and Gobojango. Naming the school produced a dispute over its name. Inhabitants of Semolale and Mabolwe wanted it to be named after the first two letters of their village names; i.e. MASEKO CJSS.

Location

The village is located 36 km from

Bobonong Bobonong is a town in the Central District of Botswana 80 km from Selibe Phikwe town. Bobonong has a population of around 19,000. The Babirwa tribe can be found in this town. The Botswana Pink semi-precious stones can be found in Bobonon ...

, the capital of the Bobirwa Sub District. Qualifying students are enrolled in Matshekge Hill Senior Secondary School in Bobonong (commonly referred to as Ma-Hill Senior) for a 2-year period (form 4 and form 5).

Culture

The people of Gobojango are mainly farmers. However, in recent years farming has been limited by severe

droughts A drought is a period of drier-than-normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, ...

, inconsistent rainfall and

foot and mouth disease Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) or hoof-and-mouth disease (HMD) is an infectious and sometimes fatal viral disease that primarily affects even-toed ungulates, including domestic and wild bovids. The virus causes a high fever lasting two to six d ...

. The 2012 drought left many inhabitants with no cattle. Even escalating numbers of border crossing crime left the villagers with no cattle.

References

{{coord, 21, 50, S, 28, 44, E, display=title, region:BW_type:city_source:GNS-enwiki Populated places in the Central District (Botswana)