Honourable Liakat Kably has made a passionate plea in parliament for government to reinstate the old arrangement of donkey cart transportation for school children in his constituency. Kably has one of the largest constituencies (Letlhakeng/Lephepe) in land mass and it is also one of the poorest just a little better than the Okavango constituency.
In these two constituencies, there is grinding poverty and yet they are endowed with great natural resources. Letlhakeng/Lephepe is a vast cattle country which is the backbone of agriculture in this country. Okavango is the home of tourism which attracts some of the richest people from across the world and particularly Europe and America.
In the current parliament, Kably raised an impassionate plea for government to consider fast tracking the repair of donkey carts that have been taken off the road because of structural failure. Since the carts stopped working, children of those remote areas have walked long distances to get to school. Some have even dropped out of school due to lack of transport.
When this arrangement started about ten years ago, some people were in opposition of the arrangement and they still are. I have come to be one of those who do not see the need to have our children transported in donkey carts when there are so many alternatives. Clearly, education has transformed the economy of this country and the provision of free transportation for school children in remote areas is one big step in the right direction if it is done right.
In my argument here, I do not want to be dragged into why government is providing buses for military children and not those in Kably’s constituency. Children in the rural deep have equal rights to accessing government programs and in this case free transportation to school. This is a great investment by government and this needs special attention.
Poor Kably is asking for donkey carts again and this is akin to asking for more trouble. If the carts are off the road by now, the MP should be advocating for a leap into the next technology. In fact we need a report on how this program has fared. But in the natural order of things, it was time for the carts to varnish to make way for a more modern and faster mode of transportation. South Africa which has a similar problem with children scattered in all the white owned farms has privatised their transportation operations to school. Ordinary citizens from equally disadvantaged backgrounds are providing transportation for these rural school going children. The transport is so ordinary in bakkies with canopies have become the mainstay in this small business.
The Afrikaans name for this form of transportation is known as skoff and this has become a household name very close to the engine of education in rural South Africa. The name has also been adopted in the urban centres as mini buses that transport children daily to school are ccalled the same name.
Similarly, our government should consider the skoff idea as a way of empowering rural communities who badly need the money to be paid for their services. The mini Toyota truck otherwise known as matshelonyana has literally come to transform the transportation landscape in Botswana. The men and women who are plying with these vehicles are on the ready to participate in the transportation of children should the Ministry of Education oblige.
The small trucks will be faster and more secure from rain and the cold weather as compared to the donkey cart. Truly speaking, as middle income country that is on a spending spree on luxury items, investing on this sector will not in any way affect the budget of the ministry. There are so many unnecessary luxury items that government spends on which can be put on hold for the purpose of uplifting the rural folks.
Interesting enough, recently there has been a big storm playing out in the North West Province of South Africa where government has used a little over R780 000 in the provision of donkey carts to be used as ambulances in the rural villages of Dibono and Mmanawa. But what in the world is going on the minds of politicians? In a country where ministers drive vehicles worth more than a million each, to think of providing donkey carts as ambulances is total madness. Truly speaking, the people that approved this absurd idea need to have their heads examined thoroughly at Sterkfontein Psychatric Hospital.
I do not want to sound like I am too dismissive of the contribution of the donkey cart to the rural communities of the two countries. The fact is; this is a mode of transport which is far from efficient. And applying it to be used as a first responder vehicle is total insanity. Donkey carts remain useful for rural communities as they are key in the aspect of drawing water. But after three decades of promotion through such programs like ALDEP, the country needs to move on to motorised modes of transportation.
In another interview, Kably laments the poor level of development in his constituency. He says this is how he is going to lose elections in 2024. Politics aside, government must fulfil its obligation to level the playing field in the way it develops the country. For some of us who grew up in the vicinity of the capital, the state of development is really appalling in the constituency of Letlhakeng/Lephepe and that of Okavango.
During the 2015 Operation Blue Okavango held in the Okavango region, we exposed our poverty to the rest of Africa as the SADC air forces were assembled here. The exercise involved providing emergency aid to people in areas under flood. This became a real life scenario and many left asking why there was such economic inequality in this country of plenty. It is so discouraging to hear an MP speak with no hope when he is in the ruling party. But please keep fighting Hon Kably.
