The explorations taken by UDC for foreign investments since their coming into power are in my view running a risk of creating serious imbalances between the efforts to create development and the palliative efforts of ‘welfare colonialism’ i.e. The approach is a sad example of a policy that carries the risk to sustain Botswana under a deadlock of vicious circles of poverty and underdevelopment. The explorations constitute what Robert Paine described as ‘dependency-generating form of neo-colonial social control that pre-empts local autonomy through ‘well-intentioned’ and ‘generous’ – but ultimately ‘morally wrong’ – policies’.
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