Fresh from what seemed like a descent into an abyss of squalor, where pot bellied children with flies on their eyelids, violent crime and alcohol addled pestilence lurked at each turn, I crossed the threshold of the opulent Tautona Lodge in Ghanzi. It was a stimulating study in contrasts.
Sprawling majestically out of the sand next to the A3 road leading to Maun, Tautona Lodge lives up to the hackneyed phrase, “paradise on earth.” Lavish bedrooms with furniture curved out of wood overlook a huge swimming pool and a lion den at the entrance, completing the decidedly elegant Afrocentric visual sweep.
Owned by minister Christiaan De Graaf, Tautona Lodge which is the height of decor chic seems to mock the struggles of ordinary Ghanzi residents in the shanties. A standard room at the hotel would set you back P800.00 a night. This is slightly less than two months’ salary for the fortunate few Ghanzi residents who live of P480. 00 a month from the government’s drought relief project jobs. Most are unemployed.
Ghanzi is home to the biggest cattle barons in the country who provide 75 percent of the beef that the Botswana Meat Commission (BMC) exports, primarily to the United Kingdom and the European Union (EU). With an annual turnover estimated at P1 billion, BMC is believed to be the third largest industry in the country. Over 200 cattle farms, comprising approximately six percent of the national land, are backed one against the other in largely fenced holdings. This part of Botswana is regarded as one of the best cattle ranging areas in the world, renowned for the high quality, free roaming beef it produces.
Several of these cattle farmers have developed game ranches and wildlife concessions which attract rich tourists who come for wildlife viewing, game hunting excursions into the Central Kgalagadi Game reserve which is some 50 km outside Ghanzi, and desert walks with Basarwa – all against a backdrop of extreme poverty, barely a hop and a skip away. Here poor residents occupy a completely different world from that of their rich neighbours.
Their lives provide one of the most shocking example of growing inequality in Botswana, where the rich are leaving a growing mass of the poor completely behind.
Large households cramped in hovel-like sheds struggle to survive. They have no source of income, many live off government monthly food baskets. Children with pot bellies standing on splindlesque legs haunt Spar and Choppies supermarkets where they beg shoppers for change.
Around Ghanzi township, the sight of people in various states of repose is common. Most sit under tree shades and while away the time with alcohol and banter. It is lifestyle that has become characteristic of the township. As early as 10am in the morning, shebeens and local pubs are already teeming with customers.
Hundreds of millions of Pula from the Beef and Tourism industry that change hands in Ghanzi have not trickled down to the poor mass made up mostly of Basarwa and Bakgalagadi who are at the bottom of Botswana’s caste system. Residents complain of unemployment. Many believe the State, which ought to be playing an interventionist role, is failing them. The general thinking is that this is a government that is biased towards the elderly than your average citizen.
President Ian Khama’s charity gesture of giving the elderly blankets is a major topic.
“Everyday we see people getting blankets on TV and we are getting nothing,” says 32-year- old Sametsi Mosarwe. She works part-time as an assistant in a small general dealer.
Her face carries all her disdain for politicians. She has no interest in registering or voting.
“Why should I register and vote…these politicians are useless,” argues Mosarwe.
She believes voting is overrated and it is but an empowerment ritual for the benefit of a few.
“Government says it wants to eradicate poverty but there is absolutely nothing here to assist us fight poverty,” says Edward Joe aged 47 and from Nkange village in the North East.
Joe runs a depot for home brewed liquor. The place is a relief pot for many unemployed. His main customers are those who are enrolled in the Ipelegeng programme. Every day they debush and clean the Township before downing tools at 11am.
“There is absolutely nothing to help us survive,” says the shebeens owner whose place is packed to the brim. He maintains he is operating at a loss because most of his customers drink for credit or at a discount.
His business operates secretly because government has banned the sale of alcohol in homesteads.
“They had promised to build us beer gardens last year because the government have banned selling of alcohol in homes but to date nothing has been built,” This shebeen owner says he has never gotten any formal employment in his live.
One frequent customer Tsaa Qham born in GOGA Farm says that since he lost employment while working for a Safari company, life has not been easy. His family has been struggling. He says what is frustrating is that since he reported the matter to labour officials he has not heard from the commissioner of labour on how is case is proceeding.
The area is also a hub for violent crimes such as theft, rape and defilement. Just recently senior magistrate Thabo Malambane convicted and sent to jail Lesedi Sebetwane for raping an old woman. Sebetwane found the pensioner sleeping and he dragged her to the bush where he forced her into sexual intercourse.
Another, Onthusitse Seitsang and Karabo Dick have been sent to jail for raping a 16-year-old school girl..
At a beer brawl in Bosele ward, a young woman was raped in two successive days. It is also disturbing that children who ordinarily should be at school are home or in shebeens.
Very few among this lot cherish education and one of the leading social problems in Ghanzi is that instead of learning young children are roaming the streets.
Petsoyame Raditedu, aged 26, reckons the problem is that Baraswa who make up a majority of people in Ghanzi do not encourage their children to stay in school. He is unemployed but has three kids to feed. He complains that the problem Ghanzi will never develop is that people of Sarwa origin in the area sell their votes.
Teenage pregnancy is also a problem here. For instance Xlao Goiklaf is barely 17 but is a mother. She dropped out of school while doing standard 7 in 2011 and has never looked back.
The same goes for her friend and drinking buddy, Xcokoa Tito, who is struggling to raise a baby girl after dropping out of primary school last.
The problems besieging the Ghanzi Township are also known to the area legislator Johnnie Swartz.
Minister Swartz acknowledges that unemployment is and poverty is quit a problem in his constituency
“The problem with unemployment not only in Ghanzi but countrywide is that the private sector which ought to be driving employment creation is small,” says Swartz.
Apart from cattle farming there is no other industry in the Ghanzi area.
Swartz remains optimistic that the mineral prospecting currently ongoing within the area will yield something positive for Ghanzi residents.
Currently there is prospecting of minerals in areas such as Kuku. It is hoped once operational the mining activities could absorb many of the young people walking the streets of Ghanzi. According to the last population census, Ghanzi has a population of roughly 14000.
The day long alcohol drinking and mushrooming of shebeens is also a concern to the minister. However, Swartz maintains that the alcohol problem within the area is exaggerated. He says only a handful have made alcohol drinking a daily ritual.
Asked where residents got money to buy alcohol in a poverty stricken area? The minister is also puzzled.
“It’s a question I have always asked myself….if you calculate all the money spent on alcohol monthly you realize that if the money was put to good use we wouldn’t be having some of the miserable conditions prevalent within the Ghanzi area,” says Swartz.
The law maker believes the area has grown significantly. He says Ghanzi has potential to grow bigger, if only the private sector was willing to see opportunities within the area.
The minister is concerned that children are not attending school while the number of drop outs at primary and secondary school is also alarming.
“Remote area settlers have a problem with appreciating the values of education…….I believe government needs to do more to make them appreciate and cherish education.
It appears children here cherish and value more the bond with their parents than going to school. Infact going to school is a mammoth task.
In certain instances when children complain about the whipping that comes with tutoring young learners, parents encourage them to withdraw from school.
“We try our best to talk to them during our meetings. Currently we have fewer kids at tertiary level, a small number at secondary school. As I said the problem is that most of them drop off along the way,” says Swartz.
The arid conditions generally make ploughing virtually impossible. The area is a barren land.
