The Need to Prove Just About Everything

The demand (request?) for proof came at us from three different quarters this week – from the Land Board, the bank and Botswana Life. The Land Board, that is our Land Board, has got all this carefully worked out.

It insists that it be given first one certified document and then, sometime later, another. By failing to tell everyone exactly what documents it will require, it contrives to inflict the maximum misery on the maximum number of people, standing in long queues waiting for help from people who are, often, not even there. The most obvious of all these varied necessities is providing proof that one is still alive.

Or alternatively proving that one is not dead. This may sound simple but each time that we are asked to go through this routine its completion does prompt feelings of relief that someone, merely on the basis of an O Mang, can confirm that one’s coffin can be set aside for another year. But then the O Mang is required not merely to provide proof of existence but of identity. In a way, it is extraordinary that the O Mang has become such a vitally important tag. It is in fact so valuable an item that it is now a routine to doubt its validity. Hence the certified copy of the O Mang which by some strange trick, has become more acceptable than the original. The counterfeiters, it is said, are no longer interested in the original. What they want is the replica, the certified copy, which is today of greater worth than the original. Before long, the key document will be the certified copy of the certified copy. It’s bound to come. But then this immediately prompts questions as to how the certified copy is obtained and what might be involved?  

Editor's Comment
Congratulations Anicia Gaothuse!

The contest had 10 beautiful young girls as finalists and unfortunately only one could wear the crown.The judges picked Anicia Gaothuse. To all those who feel their contestant should have won ahead of Anicia for whatever reason, hardly; the judges found Anicia to be the best among the best, so desist from disrespecting our newly crowned queen on social media or anywhere else, for that matter! Each of the 10 beautiful young women had supporters...

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