We are a month and a few weeks away from independence celebrations. Soon Gaborone will be decorated with fading old-fashioned makgabenyana decorations in the national flag colours ÔÇô some relic of the 80s which has been recycled religiously for the past two decades. Someone somewhere please get rid of the tired decorations and pull Gaborone from the yester-years and launch her into 2010.
But we must pose the question: How independent are we? What are the characteristics of an independent state? How will the people who wish independence for themselves, having found it, know that they have found it? How will they make it concrete for themselves? How are we to distinguish a dependent state from the one that is independent? The answers seem fairly straightforward. Independent states have their own governments which control their own affairs. They elect their leaders and the leaders are not imposed on the people by some foreign force. An independent country has its own flag and a national anthem that sets it apart from other countries. It also uses its own currency and not that of other states. Botswana seems to satisfy these requirements very well.
However social matters are not usually check lists to be ticked against. They instead appear as shades with qualities existing in a continuum. Citizens must therefore increasingly require of their government to demonstrate, not just the bare minimums, which perhaps were acceptable in the formative years of independence, but greater levels of national autonomy. The question: how independent are we? is therefore not preposterous for it seeks to interrogate the continuum to which I have referred. We may indeed approach the question from a variety of angles, and like that proverbial elephant, we will be confronted by different answers depending on the perspective from which we approach the question. The question, how independent are we? by its nature begs another related question: from what? How independent are we economically, when the majority of the food on the shelves of our supermarkets is imported from the south? How independent are we when most of our chain-stores are not local, but are bleeding the local economy to finance another economy elsewhere? We are largely a nation of consumers of foreign merchandise and not producers of our own consumables. How independent does this make us? How independent are we if we cannot produce sufficient milk for ourselves to have a decent cup of tea in the morning? We don’t produce enough eggs for ourselves to have a decent omelette at breakfast. We don’t produce (enough) electricity, water, sugar, flour, salt, clothes, vaseline, soap, detergent, chillies, tomatoes, cooking oil, spinach, potatoes, sweets, biscuits and many others. Economically we are a one dependent state. Yes, we have the flag, the national anthem and our own political parties; however our weak levels of production make us vulnerable to outside manipulation and control.
How independent are we artistically? The past few years have seen an explosion of the arts, which have in part been aided by the government’s interest in buying locally produced fine arts. The musicians had to take the industry by the scruff of the neck and make a living for themselves with minimum assistance. From the jazzy sounds of Senyatso to the gospel sounds of Tshepo Lesole, the artists have attempted to assert some artistic independence. What we have failed to do however, is to master the art of exporting our artistic output to our neighbouring countries and abroad. In actuality, the Setswana music that this country is well known for will soon be internationally known as South African music, for two simple reasons. First, there are more Batswana in South Africa, than in Botswana ÔÇô over 3 million. Second, South Africa has a mature music industry which packages and exports its artistic output professionally for international consumption. On this side of the border, we still believe we are small and we refuse to grow and claim our position in the international market ÔÇô except on the matter of diamonds ÔÇô which by the way someone else had to sort for us.
Educationally, are we independent? Not yet Uhuru. We have done well in educating Batswana. Some have been to internationally acclaimed institutions abroad while others attended some dodgy institutes in Malaysia and South Africa. Overall the government has done well in her attempt to address the educational problem. However, we seem to have had no planners ÔÇô people who thought and budgeted for educational demands carefully. While many of our young adults are educated, many are without secure employment or they are completely unemployed. There has been a mismatch between their education and the world of work. Some are stuck in their internships ÔÇô the modern Tirelo Sechaba ÔÇô without any hope of permanent employment. We should have built a second university some 20 years ago in anticipation of the swelling student numbers. Some 20 years ago we should have also introduced some critical and relevant programs such as Medicine and Mining Engineering, to respond to Botswana’s dire need of local expertise in these areas. While we have introduced the teaching of multiple international languages such as French, Portuguese, Chinese and English at the University of Botswana, we have performed shamefully on local languages. You cannot do a degree in Setswana, Kalanga or Sekgalagadi. Our national language, Setswana, is still taught in English ÔÇô by locals and expatriates for that matter. Those men and women who donated livestock and grain to build UB now look shamefully from the other side of the grave as their sons and daughters fail to preserve their languages and culture. What kind of independence is this when the language of official communication is not a language of the independent people, but of the former colonial powers? Those who come from elsewhere feel at home here when beng-gae feel like strangers in their own land.
We still don’t have faith in local expertise. Consultants are still brought from elsewhere, when individuals in Botswana have comparative talent and skill. The High Court of appeal has for a long time been manned by expatriates and for many years local talent and genius have been looked down upon. So what kind of independence is this which is characterised by so much dependence? Obviously, independence doesn’t mean we will be able to provide all things for ourselves ÔÇô but for us, our independence seems to mean a supreme trust and satisfaction with all things foreign! That’s wrong.
