What is Mabutheto Precis?

The concept, Mabutheto consists of two parts. Mabu refers to soil and theto means praise. The concept Mabutheto owes its semantic structure to the Northern Sotho language of the Sotho tribes of Limpopo province, South Africa and was conceived out of our realisation that oral traditions and indigenous knowledge systems have survived many centuries of isolation and suppression up until today. These oral traditions and indigenous knowledge systems are embodied in Traditional Education (i.e. proverbs, folktales, music, rituals, games, idioms, names, storytelling and initiation as a rite of passage) which was greatly marginalised with the arrival of Missionary Education imposed on the indigenous people through colonisation by European colonial rulers.

Later the former Apartheid government introduced what was known as Bantu Education, a curriculum that was designed to elevate Afrikaans as a medium of instruction in black schools. Since English had previously enjoyed a privileged position during the early days of colonial rule, the apartheid government wanted to elevate the Afrikaans language to the same level of prestige. The end result was the separation of Africans, coloureds, Indians from whites. The chief architect of the Bantu education system Dr Verwoed, believed that different races should be schooled in such a way that people would be kept apart in the job market. This resulted in poor education being offered to Africans, coloureds and Indians thereby rendering these races incompetent in careers exclusively reserved for whites such as engineering for instance.  There was widespread dissatisfaction with the Bantu education system and in 1976, the Black Consciousness movement emerged and was later said to be the brains behind the students riots in Soweto and elsewhere in the country. The basic idea was to inculcate a sense of pride in those oppressed by the apartheid system.

In 1994, a new National Curriculum statement was introduced when the new democratic government was elected. There are now eleven official languages which are said to enjoy equal status although English and Afrikaans still dominate. According to the democratic constitution, traditional cultural education is now centre stage in a quest to correct the injustices of the past.  Mabutheto Precis™ is a collection essays which aim to highlight the need to bring back  Oral Traditions and Indigenous Knowledge System into mainstream education and social development systems in a bit to promote practice, usage and sustainability. The mission is to use literature to support the new educational landscape that has been created with the adoption of the new constitution where all cultural, linguistic and religious groups have a right to practice without any discrimination. The time has come for Oral Traditions and Indigenous Knowledge Systems of Southern Africa and Africa to be part of national and global dialogue. We trust the reader will enjoy the introductory issues of an upcoming collection of Green Essays on traditional community life, its role and relevance in today’s world.

Introducing Mabutheto(see first essay published below)

Abstract

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Molepo, M . 2011. Traditional Institutions and Leadership marginalisation and the shame of the South African constitution. Mabutheto Literature: Ga Molepo

When a friend of mine posed a question to me on the role and relevance of traditional institutions and leadership in democratic South Africa I immediately took the chance to share with him a crude perspective on being one of the members from so called royal families of post-apartheid South Africa. I had just finished listening from a mobile radio network, to a speech by a government official facilitating a seminar in preparation for an upcoming COP17 Climate Change Conference which was being broadcasted by SA FM’ AM Live show.
“My dear friend, I am curious”, he continued while we sat down for an interesting exchange of ideas at a student cafeteria table on University of South Africa’s Florida campus. I wasn’t in the best of mental shapes for I had just listened to a monotonous and separatist investigation into the real causes of climate change in today’s world. Of course, the government official on the radio show had spoken at length about the intentions to involve all sectors of society in all discussions relating to the climate change topic. Those included, as reiterated by the flamboyant government official, the democratic parliament of the ruling party (the African National Congress), “civil society” and a bunch of environmentalists local and from abroad. “And did he mention the role of traditional institutions and leadership in all this?”- retorted the friend. Not that I heard of I replied, but we must revert back to indigenous knowledge systems. As we continued engaging on the subject, I could feel tension mounting in my nervous system since the participation of traditional institutions and leadership in democratic South Africa was such a sensitive issue, one that disproves of the popular belief that “South Africa had the best constitution in the world”. Where they are involved, I continued with my answer, participation is so minimal it often amounts to a herd boy’s duties. Almost seventeen years into post-apartheid South Africa there is irrefutable evidence of an axiom of awe, bitterness, fury, anxiety, shame and hopelessness in traditional leadership circles.

READ more here: http://makhudutraditionalauthority.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/traditional-institutions-and-leadership-marginalisation-and-the-shame-of-the-south-african-constitution.pdf

There was an old lady, from the Cree tribe, named “Eyes of Fire”, who prophesied that one day, because of the white mans’ or Yo-ne-gis’ greed, there would come a time, when the fish would die in the streams, the birds would fall from the air, the waters would be blackened, and the trees would no longer be, mankind as we would know it would all but cease to exist.

There would come a time when the “keepers of the legend, stories, culture rituals, and myths, and all the Ancient Tribal Customs” would be needed to restore us to health. They would be mankind’s key to survival, they were the “THE WARRIORS OF THE RAINBOW”.

There would come a day of awakening when all the peoples of all the tribes would form a New World of Justice, Peace, Freedom and recognition of the Great Spirit.

“THE WARRIORS OF THE RAINBOW” would spread these messages and teach all peoples of the Earth or “Elohi”. They would teach them how to live the “Way of the Great Spirit”. They would tell them of how the world today has turned away from the Great Spirit and that is why our Earth is “Sick”.

“THE WARRIORS OF THE RAINBOW” would show the peoples that this “Ancient Being” (the Great Spirit), is full of love and understanding, and teach them how to make the “Earth or Elohi” beautiful again. These Warriors would give the people principles or rules to follow to make their path right with the world. These principles would be those of the Ancient Tribes. “THE WARRIORS OF THE RAINBOW” would teach the people of the ancient practices of Unity, Love and Understanding. They would teach of Harmony among people in all four corners of the Earth.

Like the Ancient Tribes, they would teach the peoples how to pray to the Great Spirit with love that flows like the beautiful mountain stream, and flows along the path to the ocean of life. Once again, they would be able to feel joy in solitude and in councils. They would be free of petty jealousies and love all mankind as their brothers, regardless of color, race or religion. They would feel happiness enter their hearts, and become as one with the entire human race. Their hearts would be pure and radiate warmth, understanding, and respect for all mankind, Nature, and the Great Spirit. They would once again fill their minds, hearts, souls, and deeds with the purest of thoughts. They would seek the beauty of the Master of Life – the Great Spirit! They would find strength and beauty in prayer and the solitudes of life.

Anusorn P nachol | freedigitalphotos.net

Their children would once again be able to run free and enjoy the treasures of Nature and Mother Earth. Free from the fears of toxins and destruction, wrought by the Yo-ne-gi and his practices of greed. The rivers would again run clear, the forests be abundant and beautiful, the animals and birds would be replenished. The powers of the plants and animals would again be respected and conservation of all that is beautiful would become a way of life.

The poor, sick and needy would be cared for by their brothers and sisters of the Earth. These practices would again become a part of their daily lives. The leaders of the people would be chosen in the old way – not by their political party, or who could speak the loudest, boast the most, or by name calling or mud slinging, but by those whose actions spoke the loudest. Those who demonstrated their love, wisdom, and courage and those who showed that they could and did work for the good of all, would be chosen as the leaders or Chiefs. They would be chosen by their “quality” and not the amount of money they had obtained. Like the thoughtful and devoted “Ancient Chiefs”, they would understand the people with love, and see that their young were educated with the love and wisdom of their surroundings. They would show them that miracles can be accomplished to heal this world of its ills, and restore it to health and beauty.

The tasks of these “WARRIORS OF THE RAINBOW” are many and great. There will be terrifying mountains of ignorance to conquer and they shall find prejudice and hatred. They must be dedicated, unwavering in their strength, and strong of heart. They will find willing hearts and minds that will follow them on this road of returning “Mother Earth” to beauty and plenty – once more.

The day will come, it is not far away. The day that we shall see how we owe our very existence to the people of all tribes, “THE WARRIORS OF THE RAINBOW” that have maintained their culture and heritage. Those that have kept the rituals, stories, legends, and myths alive. It will be with this knowledge, the knowledge that they have preserved, that we shall once again return to “harmony” with Nature, Mother Earth, and mankind. It will be with this knowledge that we shall find our “Key to our Survival”.

This is the story of the Warriors of the Rainbow, and this is my reason for protecting the culture, heritage, and knowledge of my ancestors. I know that the day “Eyes of Fire” spoke of – will come! I want my children and grandchildren to be prepared to accept this task. The task of being one of ”THE WARRIORS OF THE RAINBOW”.

*Written by Lelanie Fuller Anderson and originally posted at: http://www.angelfire.com/ok/TheCherokeeLady/warriorsrainbow.html

So, if you’re on the Facebook group and missed the post I wrote about how we should all move onto here now, just send me a message on Facebook, or an email to jag at mikaelgron dot se and tell me what email address you want, and what username you’d prefer, and I’ll set you up with an account.

What you get

Firstly, the ability to write posts that will then be reviewed by one of the editors/admins or above. After a while when we see that you can contribute texts that could be published without review, you will be promoted to an author.

Secondly, you get to write Wiki articles on the knowledgebase! On there we won’t review anything (mostly because that’s not really supported by the code) and you can be up and running writing cool instructions, recipes, fictional or factual articles in no time.

Thirdly, you will get your very own email address! It’ll be [username]@greencirclealliance.org and can be accessed either via IMAP or the nice webmail interface. If you want, you can get it as a forwarder address to what ever email address you prefer today.

(Please note that the email system isn’t automagically creating new email addresses right now, but I’m fixing that soon).

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MediaWiki is a popular free web-based wiki software application. Developed by the Wikimedia Foundation, it is used to run all of its projects, including Wikipedia, Wiktionary and Wikinews. Numerous other wikis around the world also use it to power their websites. It is written in the PHP programming language and uses a backend database.

The possibilities open up for us with this system. In our knowledgebase we can store any kind of relevant information in a structure that we decide for our selves, and share that information freely and easily with anyone who’s interested. “All” we need now, is content!