Tonota, the first stop

Kgosi Ramosoniyi Radipitse of Tonota was the first to get on board. His village is our first stop during the walk. Representatives from his office will meet us along the way and will walk into Tonota with us..

Tonota is a village located in the Central District of Botswana.
The people in Tonota are said to be Bakhurutshe who fought against some other tribes they found there and after winning the war, they owned the land and they became 'Ba bina khama le phofu'. The name Tonota is said to be spelled THONOTHA (pronounced DONOTHA) in natural Sekhurutshe but was changed to Tonota due to the influence of the Tswana Languages. The village is located 27 kilometers south of the City of Francistown along the A1 (Francistown-Gaborone) road. It lies along the Southwest bank of Shashe River, which happens to the border between the Central and North East Districts, so Tonota is considered to be in the Central District. Tonota is a large territory divided into small segments, namely: Tonota Village in the South, Semotswane, Mandunyane, and Shashe Bridge to the north.It was promoted to sub-district from under Tutume in 2003.

There is also a college (Tonota College of Education(TCE)). The member of parliament for Tonota South under, the village of Tonota is Hon. Pono P.P Moatlhodi and the member of the parliament for Tonota North constituency which is not associated with Tonota village, is Hon. Fidelis Mmilili Molao.
Tonota like many other villages in Botswana,has many tribes living in it but the majority are Bakhurutshe who occupy the Tholo, Molebatsi, Maaloso, Maunya (Main Khurutshe ward), Madisakwana and Mhakamme wards, and Bakalanga who live in the Manyanda ward. There are also Barotsi in Leomboko ward and BaShona(Zezuru) in Mandunyane. Most of the people from Tonota speak Sekhurutshe-SeNgwato (a language which is merely an inclusion of Kalanga-like words in SeNgwato) and Kalanga.