Ramotswa | |
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Village | |
 | |
| Nickname: Rams | |
  Ramotswa | |
| Coordinates:25°13′S25°40′E / 25.217°S 25.667°E /-25.217; 25.667 | |
| Country | Botswana |
| District | South-East District |
| Elevation | 1,009 m (3,310 ft) |
| Population (2011)[1] | |
• Total | 27,760 |
| Time zone | GMT +2 |
| Climate | BSh |
Ramotswa is a village inSouth-East District ofBotswana, southwest of the capital ofGaborone. The population was 27,760 in 2011 census.[2]It is the tribal capital of theBaLete, an ethnic majority springing from theNguni tribe.
Ramotswa's main industry is a wheat flour mill. The village also manufactures metal products.
KgosiMosadi Seboko of Ramotswa is the first woman to serve as aparamount chief inBotswana. Seboko took on her role as a village leader and representative to theHouse of Chiefs after her brother Kgosi Seboko II died in 2000. Her presence in the house of chiefs was hailed as a victory forwomen's rights in southernAfrica.[3]
The nearby hamlet ofOtse is the site forMoeding College, originally a colonial secondary school and a school for the disabled run by the Campbill Rankoromane Community educational center.Police XI, Botswana Premier League champions for 2006, are also based in Otse.
Theclimate issemi-arid, vegetation is a tree and shrubsavanna. Only a fifth of the area is farmed but the density of cattle and goats and sheep is high.
Otse is overlooked by cliffs from which a colony of vultures are easily visible on most days.
On the outskirts of village lies Mothubakwane ward, where a prominent figure Tlotlo Oepeng lives. Other notable places include Siga ward, home to Killer Giants the local football club, Lesetlhana ward housing the central business district and Taung village where the industry lies.
When The BaLete first settled in Ramotswa remains a topic of much debate, as the local history is traditionally an oral one as with a lot of African villages and towns where the 'infrustructure of urban development' is new. It however remains beyond dispute that residents of Ramotswa and surrounding areas have contributed much to the development of the region, and often bravely so in the context of the towns proximity to the much more 'in the public eye' towns and cities of South Africa. There has seemingly always been and continues to be a unique blend of the very modern even in terms of advanced technologies and the firmly 'locally old fashioned' in terms of lifestyle, as one might expect of a town in such close proximity to a capital of a country still largely in good standing (at least at last check) in the eyes of the world.
24°52′S25°49′E / 24.867°S 25.817°E /-24.867; 25.817
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