Human values seem to derive more from what plays out in social media or cyber space.

Are the media harmful to our social values as Batswana? No! says Kgosi Lotlaamoreng of Barolong, arguing that such can only be the case if Batswana disregard their roots and allow themselves to get carried away with foreign cultures.

Kgosi Lotlaamoreng underscores the value of botho as one of the critical pillars that should distinguish Batswana in a globalised world. Notwithstanding that the internet plays a critical role in daily life, Kgosi Lotlaamoreng is wary of the negative influence it has on young people’s behaviour.

Young people copy everything Western, he argues while lamenting community parenting as one aspect of Botswana society that is slowly losing value especially among the youth.

Back in the days, he says, the community played a collective parenting role. Parents were free to discipline any child in their community. “Nowadays , the elderly in the community would rather choose to remain blind or probably run away fearing for their lives whenever they see young people in acts of indiscipline on the streets,” laments Kgosi Lotlaamoreng. 

He says the death of extended families where uncles played a role as disciplinarians, raises concern in that most parents in these so-called nuclear families fail to discipline their children properly.

Most young people are left to their own devices and in the long run end up living in exclusion while sometimes friends and peers play a major role in their self-actualisation but mostly end up misled, says Kgosi Lotlaamoreng.

What also breaks Kgosi Lotlaamoreng’s heart is the rate of suicide especially among young people who do not want to be disciplined. It is unfortunate, he says, that some resort to suicide just because their demands were not met however ridiculous they might be. 

As a remedy to some of these social ills, Kgosi Lotlaamoreng advocates corporal punishment to be applied on the back at the kgotla, arguing that it is effective and a deterrent to young people.

Kgosi Lotlaamoreng also reckons that dikgosi should be consulted before government rectifies or signs some international protocols especially those that have a bearing on culture and human rights. ENDS