© 2018 Dr Margaret Sheppard
Setiloane describes a further ceremony that he says takes place at the same time. This he calls go ntsha dikobo (to share out possessions). On this occasion the personal possessions of the deceased are shared out.
This takes place in a modified form in Kanye and is called Boswa~. For the first part the relatives of the deceased are cleansed and the black patches and widow's black clothes are removed by the
healer in the Malome's presence, and a beast such as a sheep is supposed to be slaughtered. After the cleansing and the widow dressing in her new clothes provided by the Malome of the dead person, other relatives are called to come and eat the meat.
In Konye there is a ceremony called Tatolo. This Tatolo should always be held even if the man has been dead for several years. During my fieldwork, I observed 3 of these. In one case the man had been dead for about 6 years, in another he had been dead for about 8 years, and in the third for about 50-
During this ceremony, which is for a dead man, his relatives, especially his brothers or his sons, are "telling" his Malome that he is dead. To do this they must bring the Malome a bull and all the dead man's possessions which up until that time will have been kept in his house where they would have been put after cleansing a few days after his burial. In fact nowadays, due to modern agriculture and the castration of bull calves, bulls are in short supply, so an ox or a cow may be used instead.
The Malome then slaughters the bull. This beast is called tatolo because this is the thing that "tells" the Malome that the man is dead. The meat is cooked and the relatives are called to eat it. All the meat should be eaten at that place on that day, i.e. the usual customary gifts to those not present are not made. Also the meat is cooked without salt to emphasise that this is not an enjoyable occasion, it is associated with death and is thus a sad occasion.
The men sit or squat in the Kgotla, (in fact traditionally no one used chairs, they all squatted).
After the meat has been eaten. the Malome calls all the close relatives to witness the distribution of the deceased's possessions. All these possessions technically belong to the Malome but he is expected to share them generously. Cattle are technically all inherited by the oldest son but again he should allocate them generously to his brothers, mother, sisters and his Malome. The yard is inherited by the youngest son, but he is supposed to make sure that some of the houses are allocated to his mother and unmarried sisters to live in for their lifetime.
Traditionally widows and daughters were not entitled to inherit anything. If there were no sons, then the nearest male agnates inherited. However, following the lead of Khama I of the Bangwato, Seepapitso I encouraged the practice of respecting the rights of widows and daughters to inheritance.
The actual personal effects of the deceased are allocated by the Malome to the deceased’s children. Cooking pots and household utensils are allocated to girls, clothes, according to sex, and any old or useless things are burnt on this occasion.
A dead woman's Malome is responsible for allocating her things in the same way, except that no bull is taken as Tatolo. It should be noted that inheritance is frequently, as in this country, a cause of family squabbles and jealousies, and in very serious cases may even result in sorcery and death. Examples of such cases are included in the section on Sorcery, but perhaps one of the examples may be briefly referred to at this point. An old man had died in the 1950's; there had been terrible quarrels between his sons over the inheritance of cattle that had mostly been originally bought by the son who inherited them whilst he was working in the mines. The quarrels got so bad that there were several cases at the Chief's Kgotla, then sorcery started. The son of one of the brothers was killed in a road accident, this was "seen" by the doctor called on the occasion, to have been caused by the other brother (this death happened in 1979). In 1981 the accused brother died of Tswana poison. This was "seen" by his family doctor to have been caused by the father of the dead son.
The final stage of the purification takes place during the removal of the black clothes of a widow and the black patches of those other close relatives of the deceased. This is a ceremony that Setiloane refers to as go tlhatswa sesila (to cleanse off or work off the contamination).
Again the healer officiates, and those who wore black patches are "washed" at the same time. The cleansing is the most complex for the surviving spouse. The Malome of the deceased is supposed to assist, and is expected to provide a beast for slaughter, and the new clothes for the widow. The Malome is the one who slaughters the beast and then he may mix some of its gall, chyme and blood with the cleansing herbs.
Then he takes off the black patches and clothes of the widow and "washes" each person in turn with the cleansing medicines. Setiloane further adds that, as he does so for each person, he spits into his cupped hands murmuring: "Badimo ba rona ba le roballe" (May our Ancestors) sleep for you).