12/08/2026
“We cannot build Kazungula if we have lost ourselves. Let’s go back to mephato, back to kgotla, back to discipline. When youth are engaged, drugs go down, theft goes down, and our culture rises again.”
With these words Kazungula Village in Botswana hosted a community gathering to tackle rising substance abuse, the related crimes linked to it and the high youth unemployment.
Let’s create a Drug-Free Botswana, a Drug-Free Africa, a Drug-Free World!
*mephato is a Setswana term for traditional male age-sets or regiments formed by community members of the same age group. Historically, tribal leaders and chiefs (dikgosi) deployed these groups for community work, defense, and public service.
**kgotla is a traditional public meeting place, community council, and customary court of law in Botswana. Headed by a village chief or headman (kgosi), it serves as an open forum where community members discuss local issues, make decisions by consensus, and resolve civil or minor criminal disputes.
