As a result of President Khama’s Housing Appeal, the government’s Daily News has made it fashionable to parade businesses and individuals that have built houses for the poor using their own resources.
President Ian Khama’s Presidential Housing Appeal has so far managed to build 453 houses for the poor. Truth be told, much as the idea is noble and commendable, it calls for greater introspection. The President’s latest pet project can by no means resolve Botswana’s housing problem.
Many of our people are devastated; thanks to the country’s own cloud of poverty, unemployed and living way below the poverty datum line.
Shelter is a basic human need and in serious and advanced democracies it has cystalised into a right inscribed in the constitution.
As such it is our view that Batswana cannot pin their hopes on a handful of profit driven business elites to provide shelter when there is a democratically elected government to answer their call.
A Government elected by the majority to develop the citizenry cannot pin its hopes on donations to help its people. It has a mandate to come up with a rational and long term programme for the benefit of its people to resolve the shortage of shelter in Botswana.
Ideally you expect a government like ours to use the taxes and revenue from the minerals to plough back not for the benefit of its people. In areas such as housing, Education, health and other areas of social services.
It has to be noted that the housing crisis has not only hit the most vulnerable members of our society but has also greatly affected, a significant number of the working group.
For instance, the high property prices. The high property prices in this country especially houses call for urgent intervention by the government to adequately provide housing units that are affordable to those at the bottom of the income ladder.
Although government cannot regulate property prices in cities and town, government has a duty to protect its citizenry from the sky high property prices by coming up with affordable housing units for the majority of the working class.
The Self-Help Housing Scheme, however well intended, is not addressing the housing needs of the young urban dwellers in the low and middle income brackets. The currently has backlogs running into thousands of un-built houses.
By the same token, the Botswana Housing Corporation (BHC) has by far and large failed to meet the housing needs of Batswana. If anything, the BHC is a competitor in the property market whose houses are priced way beyond the reach of many Batswana.
The mandate of the BHC, it turns out, is to provide housing, office and other building needs of the government and Local Authorities and to assist and make arrangements for other persons to undertake and carry out building schemes in Botswana.
Instead of banking on the President’s Appeal, government has a duty to channel its energy with coming up with an alternative and inclusive programme to resolve the housing crisis.
The government, we are aware, does not have adequate land from which to build affordable houses to mitigate the problem of soaring property prices. However, there are chunks of undeveloped privately owned land in Gaborone which can be expropriated with compensation.
While still on the same issue, we welcome MP Dumelang Saleshando’s motion on exemption from VAT for first time home owners. If implemented by government right away, this motion will encourage home ownership and encourage Batswana especially the youth to buy and build houses.
