At this rate I am going to die young from high blood pressure. Nxustru! I need to slow down and stop caring and worrying too much about my country before it takes its toll on my health. Isn’t it awkward that some of us who do not really need government assistance for livelihood and sustenance are the ones who really get worked up when government fails to assist those who deserve and rely solely on it? Look, I can afford three meals a day without any direct assistance from the government and yet I still get angry when government misuses public funds. On the other hand, the people who are banking on public funds for their livelihood are the ones who do not give a hoot about how public funds are wasted. The people who can afford private medical services are the ones who get more worried when the government fails to provide for those who cannot afford. The people who can afford bottled water are the ones who complain when government fails to provide for those who cannot.Indeed life is full of ironies but before I derail, let me get to the gist of my gripe, which is on the recent closure of the BCL mine in SelebiPhikwe.
We received with utter shock, on Saturday, the announcement of the closure of the BCL mine. The news came as a shock even to some of us who have no personal connections or business links to BCL and I can’t even begin to imagine how it must have left the affected workers and their families. I am not an economist so I only followed analysis offered by those well placed to comment meaningfully on such matters. And while I am not an economist, I do however have a functional brain that is able to digest and comprehend things that are beyond just my academic anointment. And I am not going to engage or debate with those who have shared on why it was necessary to close the BCL mine. Like I said, my knowledge on things such as digging the ground for minerals is limited. In fact it is next to none. They gave their economic reasons and I accept them. Here is my only problem. More than 5,000 workers are going to lose their jobs because the government says it can no longer bless BCL with money.
The government has had enough with continuously having to bail out BCL. Our leaders are of the view bailing out BCL is tantamount to pouring public funds down the pit. And as aforementioned, I get angry when public funds are poured down the drain. As such, the expectation should be ululations from my end when the government avoids that wastage. Yes, I should be but I am not. I should be happy that government is not willing to pump P8 billion into the loss-making BCL mine. The only reason I am not happy is because this government is annoyingly selective in choosing where to stop the wastage and where to encourage it. How are we expected to support government’s decision to stop wastage of public funds at BCL when they on the other hand waste our money on projects that benefit a select few? If you asked me, I would rather waste money on BCL which supports more than 5000 families than on a P32 million helicopter that transports President Khama and a few of his buddies.
Yep, just recently Khama acquired, through BDF, a 4-seater helicopter worth P32 million and we hear four more are still to come. He got this helicopter not because he needed it but simply because he wanted it and our money is always lying there for his indulgence. President Khama’s brother, Tshekedi, is also busy buying aeroplanes for his use under the guise of anti-poaching and these are the people we are expected to support when they cut the livelihood of more than 5000 families under the pretext of saving public funds. I take it that the readers of this column follow local news and I do not need to remind them of the billions of Pula that have been wasted on unsustainable projects that have brought no value to the lives of Batswana. Why then cant our government extend the abuse and misuse of funds to BCL given how,even if BCL is not beneficial to the whole country, at least it benefits the 5000 workers and their families. It is painful how just a bunch of men and women in Cabinet could decide the fate of so many workers and immediately rush to close down the mine without having prepared them psychologically for the imminent sorrow. We are told that cabinet met on Friday and immediately dispatched some ministers to rush to SelebiPhikwe and shut down the mine.
They should have at least allowed the news to start off as allegations and gossip so that by the time the workers receive the news, their shock absorbers would be in place. I am seething not because BCL mine has been shut down. My anger emanates from the realisation of how our leaders seem very good with stop wastage of public funds only in situations where they do not benefit from the looting. My heart goes out to the affected employees at BCL. I will be watching to see if there will be any political-will to divert the funds to the newly established horticultural processing plant, National Agro Processing (NAPRO), which the government recently set up in SelebiPhikwe. Failure to support NAPRO will then mean it wasn’t just about BCL but SelebiPhikwe. It will mean government never really cared about the town and its people.
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