Editors Note

STAY FOCUSED

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​Yeh! It’s that time of the year again. This is the common refrain whenever people embrace the festive season (Christmas and New Year). In crude terms they call it the silly season. According to experts, it is so called because it is the period lasting for a few summer months typified by the emergence of frivolous news stories in the media. The use of the term started by the end of the 19th Century. 

In the United States the period is referred to prosaically as the slow news season. In Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa [and possibly Botswana], the silly season has come to refer to the Christmas/New Year festive period on account of the higher than usual number of social engagements where consumption of alcohol is typical.

For journalists newsrooms become dry. Thus, hunting for news becomes a laborious task as most of the sources (those we interview to release information) would have gone on holiday. 

This is when frivolous news emerges in the news media because reporters have no one to confirm the half information they might have. Notwithstanding, my main gripe with the silly season is how it is typified in this part of the world - Southern Africa. It is during the silly season that most of us break from long hours of work to join friends and relatives in the countryside.

My concern here is that during these family reunions as well as other social engagements, there is excessive alcohol consumption. We tend to be silly so much that some of us endanger our lives through drunken driving. Some are so caught up in the euphoria that they engage in behaviours they would, under normal circumstances or the day after, regret or begin to wonder if it was really them who did it.

Let us not be silly and chaw all the money and forget that there is school fees to pay next year. May I plead with you dear reader to refrain from anything that you might regret afterwards. Let us be responsible citizens. Let our ideals of democracy, development, unity and prosperity anchored on the national vision guide us during this silly season. 2016 is only a block away and let us all aspire to be there to see our country celebrate 50 years of independence.

Otherwise, 2013 has been a good year for us especially given the relocation of Diamond Trading Company from London to Botswana. This is a milestone in the diamond industry and economy of Botswana.  As a country we are certainly going to reap huge benefits from diamonds now that downstream activities are undertaken locally. It is now up to us as citizens to find ways of partaking in the industry.

Thank you also for reading Kutlwano. It’s been 51 years of existence and we always strive to make Kutlwano your favourite magazine. Merry Christmas and a happy New Year!  

 Thomas Nkhoma