By Bashi Letsididi
GABORONE
The government of Botswana has been forced to withdraw a widely distributed textbook that says in one section that the Ovaherero engage in a free-for-all sex orgy as part of the bereavement process.
Herero leaders did not see any fun in “Fun 7”, a Social Studies textbook for Standard Seven pupils that gave a controversial account of what happens after the burial of an Ovaherero tribesperson.
Under a section on “Cultural practices that can help encourage the spread of HIV/AIDS”, the book outlined a practice known as “otusira”. This practice, the book says, begins with tents being pitched up and on the night before the funeral, an orgy of unprotected sex starts.
The purpose of the orgy is reportedly to replace the dead person. During such sessions, which continue even after the funeral, there would be unrestrained partner swapping.
Only when a woman participating in the orgy announces that she is pregnant would otusira stop and couples get back together.
The Ovaherero were outraged when the book was published and distributed amongst primary schools throughout the country.
When their calls for the withdrawal of the textbook fell on deaf ears, Ovaherero activists threatened court action.
Either that helped or the leadership of the ministry of education realised the folly of being associated with such material. Information that came out last week indicates that the ministry, the publishers and Ovaherero leaders have been engaged in “extensive consultations”.
The outcome of those consultations is that the textbook will be withdrawn from all schools, the publishers will replace the book at their own cost and all reference to specific tribal groups will be removed in the new book.
The process of withdrawal, reprinting and replacement is expected to be completed by the end of August this year.
But what is otusira? Johannes Maherero, an Omuherero tribal leader who represented the tribe during talks with the ministry says that “otusira” is Otjiherero for “net”.
This is a mosquito net which in the olden days would double as a partition between the children’s and adults’ section of a hut that all members of the family slept in. He hotly denies the allegation contained in the book that such a net was ever used in the manner suggested in the book.
Maherero, who is a headman in the village of Mahalapye, is the grandson of Frederick Maherero who fled with his clan into Botswana in 1904 to escape German persecution in his motherland (Namibia). Following this incident, Nomsah Zuze, the public relations officer in the ministry of education, says that in the future they would be more careful about the material that goes into their textbooks.
The ministry’s internal control system saw nothing wrong with the contents of the book which is why it was distributed to schools countrywide, but Zuze says that withdrawing the book was in the interest of national unity.
“There was absolutely no need for us to engage in a protracted argument with the Herero leaders over the issue. We have no desire to cause any friction between the government and the Herero community and that is why we thought it would be appropriate to withdraw the book. This experience has been an eye-opener for us and we will ensure there is no repeat of it,” Zuze says.
The publishers, Collegium, are reprinting the book minus its offending parts.
The company’s managing director, Johnson Chengeta estimates that the company will lose about P500 000 as a result of the replacement. Chengeta says that it was his company that approached the ministry of education when it learnt that the Ovaherero were not happy about the contents of the book.
“We didn’t want the name of our company to be dragged in the mud.
Instead of arguing the case, we looked at the sensitivity of the issue and decided that, at our own expense, we would have the book reprinted.
I have met some Herero leaders, including an MP, who are very happy about the manner we have handled this issue,” Chengeta says. – The Southern Times