Gaborone - When Were the Errors Really Made?

It is quite remarkable how little debate there has been over historical issues in the last 50 years. But at last, one professional historian, Professor Part Mgadla has opened up a degree of debate with his controversial recent paper, ‘A Very Grave and Expensive Error? The Choice of a New Site for the Capital of Botswana 1958-65’. My thanks to the author for giving me the opportunity of reading this paper.

Having previously written about the new capital and because it is such an interesting and important topic, I have indulged myself by spreading my comment over two issues.  Hopefully geographers and physical planners with better knowledge will join in the debate.  Thus, in no order of priority, let’s start.

1. I had hoped that Professor Mgadla would explain how the British Administration’s Investigating Committee came up with such a strange listing of possible sites for the new capital which included Manyane, Bokaa, the Tuli Block and Dibete! Seemingly he too was unable to find a satisfactory explanation.

Editor's Comment
Inspect the voters' roll!

The recent disclosure by the IEC that 2,513 registrations have been turned down due to various irregularities should prompt all Batswana to meticulously review the voters' rolls and address concerns about rejected registrations.The disparities flagged by the IEC are troubling and emphasise the significance of rigorous voter registration processes.Out of the rejected registrations, 29 individuals were disqualified due to non-existent Omang...

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