Ten years from now, when we look back and assess some of the brilliant ideas of our republic and some of the most deplorable ones, backyard gardens will stare us in the face as the lowest level of thinking that the nation has ever reached ÔÇô a sore toe, in the national step. To say it is a bad idea is to glorify it. It must be characterised by a word that does not exist in the English lexicon. It is an unidea – the quintessential example of refusing to think ÔÇô unthinking ÔÇô reversing the very process of creative thinking and thinking critically about poverty alleviation ÔÇô No! The word is eradication. The road to eradication sadly appears erratic and confused. To think that we can defeat poverty by carrots and cabbages in the desert terrain is to demonstrate a poor understanding of our climatic conditions, our work ethic and the extent of our national poverty.
I admire the current government. I really do. It is full of bold men and women, jokers, men and women who delight in patronizing the poor and the less successful. It can develop backyard gardens program and then have the audacity to promote it confidently as if it is a brilliant idea that would once and for all eradicate poverty. You see Botswana’s poverty worries me greatly. I see it every day. I see it in the dry eyes of unemployed graduates ÔÇô who perpetually carry with them that brown envelope, whose contents are well known to us ÔÇô a university degree which has not guaranteed them employment. They entered university with a flicker of hope ÔÇô the hope of a brighter tomorrow ÔÇô not just for themselves; but for their families too. However, four years later, when they wore that black graduation gown ÔÇô they were in effect adorning a black metaphor of a cursed people ÔÇô a bereaved people ÔÇô people of buried dreams; the Sisyphean bunch, daily pushing that bolder up the hill and yet never reaching the Promised Land. I do see poverty every day in the chapped hands of the grass slashers by the road side; young people who could be in a classroom somewhere sharpening their minds and their craft. And yet here they are every day, swinging that Ipelegeng grass cutter ÔÇô unable, incapable of go ipelega. I do see poverty every day in the mall idlers with squinting eyes fixed into nothingness; licking their chapped lips; devoid of hope. They are waiting; they are Waiting for Godot.
Close to 30 million from that new government cash cow; the alcohol levy, has been directed to develop backyard gardens. We are watering backyard gardens on alcohol. Who came with this idea that is bound to fail? Well I don’t. But you could imagine the alienated middle class mind considering this matter seriously after sipping on a glass of red wine: “Wouldn’t it be nice if Batswana grew their own vegetables in their backyards? Tomatoes, cabbages, carrots and pumpkins. They wouldn’t have to purchase these from the supermarket. They could get fresh veggies from their own backyards. What a lovely idea! What about financing this lovely project with money from those drunkards?”
The backyard garden is bound to fail because it has not been thought through. Where are people going to get water for the backyard gardens? In Phikwe, Matshekge teachers are reported to be wearing casual wear to work because there is shortage of water. In Maun workers and business men are upset that the water crisis there has been persistent for a while now. Let us also remember that Botswana imports some of her water from Molatedi dam in South Africa. More than half of Botswana is a desert. So where are Batswana going to get water to water these backyard gardens? A 30 million yo a ga a tsene ka motlhobodika tsatsi le penne mahala? Which serious poverty are we going to eradicate with water-starved sickly carrots and cabbages the size of a man’s fist? Additionally, have Batswana ever expressed a desire to have backyard gardens? Isn’t the larger part of Botswana’s poverty a result of unemployment? Batswana want jobs; they want to work for their families and get a fair wage. They are not crying out for spades and forks to grow spinach and tomatoes. They want Botswana to have industries, factories and companies that could secure their employment. They are aware that not everyone can be a business owner; but they are willing to work.
We have failed them in that we have been unable to create employment for both educated and uneducated people. They have now become beggars in their own land. The little money they have is shared with the government in all sorts of steep taxes. The prices have gone up. Last night fuel went up again. The price of water has gone up; the price of electricity has gone up; school fees have gone up; the price of food has gone up. Poverty has been engineered and executed with amazing precision. Now the government wants to eradicate it with cabbages! What a vegetative government! The government informs our people that to get out of poverty they have to grow cabbages in their backyards. That’s an insult. Ideally there is nothing wrong with growing cabbages and onions. But there is no way such a strategy could be construed as a viable government strategy for our nation.
We are a semi-arid country with no gardening culture. Our people still push wheelbarrows to collect water from standpipes? Such water is precious. It is for cooking, drinking and washing and not for gardening. Well let us assume that indeed some individuals do get a few gardens going; those chomolia and spinach have a few enemies that await them; little demons with flashy eyes: nasty chickens, goats, donkeys and cows which collectively outnumber Botswana’s human population.
Backyard gardens are an unidea whose failure is imminent. With the 28 million from the boozers, the government could have established at least 14 sustainable businesses across the country in areas such as dairy production, bakery and manufacturing which could have employed many citizens. Now we are stuck with stupid wilting cabbages; what a waste!
