David Ration Lekoba

David Ration Lekoba Poems

David Ration Lekoba Biography

My name is David Ration Lekoba. I was born in Francistown, Botswana. I grew up under two cultures; a Ndebele culture and a Tswana culture. As a toddler i was brought up by a Zimbabwean family that taught me all the norms and values that have shaped me to be the man i am today. Mr. and Mrs. Mnkandla are from Bulawayo, Zimbabwe and have four more children over and above me. I grew up as their youngest child. I am qualified in a number of fields and graduated from the university of Botswana with a Bachelors’ degree in Arts where I developed the love for literature. I am not only qualified and experienced in HR (Human Resources) but I am also a qualified teacher and have taught English Language and English literature in a number of Primary Schools, Secondary Schools (both Government and Private schools) here in Botswana.I have also taught at the University of Botswana as a teaching assistant in the faculty of Humanities, English Department. Life prier to moving into the Mnkandla family is not as clear as I would want it to be. I am the 2nd son of Ms. Keromemang Lekoba. A loving mother who by life's circumstances, some of which I, even today, still do not understand, could not be around to bring me and my elder brother Kealeboga Lekoba up. Some of the vague memories of my childhood are trapped in this sad turn of events and perhaps better that way. I have never known my biological father nor gotten to know my paternal history. I heard two years ago that he had passed. at that moment of my life, I had hoped i would feel some form of pain in my heart, a sense of loss; a need to know, a longing to belong but I didn't. I had neither recollection of him nor the zeal to know him. Maybe, just maybe, in the near future i will desire to know. The Lekoba clan comes from a village in the central district of Botswana called Tonota. The village is almost the border that separates the Central district from the North East District that harbor the Kalanga tribe and as such most people in Botswana often mistake people who come from Tonota to exclusively be Kalanga. As untrue as this is, the Kalangas do make a significant number of Tonota residents and have added a flavor into the Sekhutshe language that in honesty broke off from the Sengwato language making Sekhurutse a distinct dialect of the Setswana language with its own aesthetics. I have written a play called “A coward’s meal”; A very comic play which, even though written in English, captures the linguistic aesthetics of the Setswana language; A language I ‘am proud of. I can very well communicate in Ndebele, Zulu, Setswana (Tswana) and obviously English. I am on the verge of completing a Novel entitled “The Verdict”. It is set in Selebi Phikwe, a small town in the Central district of Botswana in the Bobirwa area. “The verdict” captures a broad range of themes and motifs, issues that affect an everyday normal human being especial here in Botswana and Africa as a whole. Look out for it. I am a devoted Seventh-Day Adventist Christian and I currently stay and work in Gaborone, Botswana.)

The Best Poem Of David Ration Lekoba

Son Of Africa

Listen Africa listen!
Listen to the words of a stallion
Listen as I speak of a giant,
An African giant
A giant entangled by his own hand made snares
Yes! Indodana ya se Africa
Un-wax your ears and Listen

Great warrior of the chimurenga,
Phela you stood against white powers
And liberated black wishes
Against the Blairs and Bushes you stood.
Courageous, you battled the spite of the Smith.
Now listen Ndodana ya se Africa
Hear this young stallion galloping towards the truth.
In Limbo you stand snared by your own snares
In Limbo, you warrior remain just a memory

Hau lalela son of the soil,
It’s your people who go under the soil
Their calabashes are dry, they go under the soil.
Under the soil their bellies lie empty
Hau lalela Ndodana ya se Africa
Listen son of Africa
Do not stand as proud as death
Do not let its sting be your companion
An African warrior you must once more become
Adorn the spirit of Madiba, No easy walk to freedom
Remember...Listen...Remember.

The Ndukus and the rocks, Africa’s weapons of old
Now Son of the Soil’s desires battle against Africa
Hau listen son of Africa
Lalela...listen...lalela

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