A trip to London
Ryder Gabathuse | Friday March 22, 2024 15:22
LONDON: Besides the fact that I was a first timer to the UK, I was interested to appreciate London, a city with about 8.982 million (2019) people coming from a country with a population of slightly over two million. Botswana’s population can only be matched with the population of cars licensed in London estimated at about 2.56 million. This equates to an average of 0.3 cars per adult.
I give kudos to Business and Features editor, Mbongeni Mguni for the trip. He knows what happened. Another interesting development is that Londoners have fast-paced lives and it has been that way for hundreds of years. London is reported to be the most expensive city to live in in the UK, but the comparatively high earnings help balance this.
Touching down this week, was a group of about 12 dikgosi from rural Botswana, where their people live alongside wildlife and where for years the communities have been benefitting from the sale of trophies from wild animals hunted in areas that are populated with species that often kill some of them including tourists who come mainly from Europe, China, USA, Russia, Australia and others.
It’s the country’s conservation practices that were sold to those advocating for a ban on trophy hunting that Botswana was not cruel to the wild animals, but that trophy hunting was systematically regulated. This time, they did not come to London to seek Independence. Rather they came to plead with the powers that be in the UK not to harm the livelihoods of the people who live alongside wildlife. They were on a mission to magnify their story to those who cared to listen to them. One by one, time permitting, they were ready to share circumstances peculiar to their respective areas.
Dikgosi from Maun, Pandamatenga, Mosojane, East Hanahai, Sankoyo, Struizndam, Hukuntsi, Sepako,Gudigwa, Mathathane, Khumaga and Nkange were part of the delegation.
Besides dikgosi, leaders and people trusted with the wealth of the communities led from the front sharing how their communities continued to benefit from the wildlife. The Botswana story was told very well, but what is left is whether those pushing for the proposed legislation in the UK will care to listen to the views of Batswana.
It was touching listening to Kgosi Tawana II, who hails from Ngamiland which is one of Botswana’s pristine tourist destinations, articulating the Botswana story from the corner of the rural populace. He told his stories consistently well at the House of Commons as well as during interviews with the British publications that included The Mirror and others. He was supported by other dikgosi who made up the Botswana delegation that was led by the Minister of Environment and Tourism, Dumezweni Mthimkhulu and other senior government officials.
It was Tawana II’s eloquence that caught the eyes of the British including at Oxford University, where Botswana’s tourism packages reached the ears of the people.
Just like Tawana II, the newly appointed Mthimkhulu had to hit the ground running and carry the country’s flag at a time when a member of British House of Commons had tabled a Member’s Bill effectively trying to enforce a ban on trophy hunting which could have debilitating effects on the economies of rural areas that depend on wildlife.
At one of the briefings held at the Botswana’s High Commission in London, Mthimkhulu, Tawana II, Professor Joseph Mbaiwa and others were hailed as the real torchbearers whose eloquence also attracted the many journalists who pursued them after their presentations. Other presentations were held at Parliament and the Oxford University.
ParliamentOn Monday this week, Mthimkhulu led a team of experts, sympathisers and senior government officials to the House of Commons, where few MPs who attended the meeting appreciated the story of Botswana better. By the Minister’s side was the Acting Permanent Secretary, Boatametse Modukanele.
But, even when this meeting was going on, a number of Britons who passed outside the Parliament building area said they were simply in the dark about the motive behind the Bill and what it is intended to achieve. Although we had expected animal rights and lobbyists to picket outside Parliament, we were disappointed as no one got close to raising even a single placard. But, we were warned that their absence should never be misconstrued to mean that there are no people supporting the member who has tabled the motion to ban trophy hunting.
We were then joined by Batswana living in the UK who came to give the Botswana team invaluable support that the country needed even beyond the parliamentary appearance. The belief was that Batswana living in the UK should play an active role in ensuring that they sell the country’s position to as many people as possible. Batswana vowed to fight from many fronts. This assignment was left in the hands of Botswana’s High Commissioner to London, Shimane Kealotswe and his team.
The support from Batswana could have been the reason why even Lord Benjamin Mancroft expressed that Botswana does not need to be told by anyone how to manage her natural resources including wildlife.
“You cannot afford to be told how to run your affairs. You as Batswana should be telling Batswana how you want to run your affairs. I don’t understand,” he told journalists at Botswana’s High Commission in London.
But, his concern was that, when Botswana officials talk to him, ”you are talking to the converted and you have a duty to ensure that you talk to as many people as possible to understand your story”. He would then appeal to Botswana to garner as much support as possible and influence as many people and organisations as possible.
He felt Botswana’s main task would be to address the MPs who seem not to understand the case articulated by the country.
On our return journey, I shared a seat on Ethiopian Airlines with two British citizens who were coming to Africa to enjoy themselves as tourists to Victoria Falls, Botswana and then Cape Town.
When I shared a story of the trophy hunting Bill that goes for its second reading today (Friday) in England’s House of Commons, they were clueless about the proposed legislation. And, it did not make sense to them at all. But, Lord Mancroft was hopeful that amendments to the Bill might mean adding the crucial aspect of conservation. His emphasis was that the Bill was more about animal rights and not an indictment of Botswana’s conservation strategies at all. The Lord does not believe in animal rights as they (animals) don’t have responsibilities or legal rights bestowed upon human beings. True to this Lord’s belief, Botswana should not fold her arms and give up. She has prospects of winning the battle, provided her fight is sustained. Lord Mancroft even advised Botswana to invite those who are against the importation of wildlife trophies from Botswana and Africa, to come and see the Botswana case for themselves.
Buckingham PalaceOn the sidelines of the official business in London, we stole the moment and mingled with the British masses who everyday seemingly congregate just outside the Buckingham Palace. This week, reports were agog alleging that the country’s monarch, King Charles III, was reportedly struggling with an ailment believed to be cancer.
We enjoyed the beauty of the UK given the architectural mastery of the infrastructure in the heart of the city of London and its surroundings.
It was also fun, away from the official engagements, to take the famed UK underground train, commonly known as the Tube. At first, it was really scary but we were quick to adapt and enjoy the rounds on the Tube in the belly of London guided by Motlhatlosi Ditsile, a senior manager at the Ministry of Environment and Tourism. He previously schooled in the UK and was familiar with the goings on with the Tube and many other laces of interest.
British Parliament
Although on the day Botswana presented her case to the House of Commons, only 10 out of 47 members of the Botswana delegation made it to UK’s hallowed halls of Parliament, it was fun hanging outside until the team completed its assignment. I must admit that we were exposed to very low temperatures with light drizzles that forced us to take coffee continuously in an effort to parry away the cold. Apparently, temperatures hovered between eight degrees and 14 degrees Celsius with rain a permanent feature on the skies of the UK. It was so cold for persons coming from an area tormented by heatwaves.
Botswana team in the UK
Moemi Batshabang, Adrian Kholi, Tebogo Gaotlhobogwe, Lesego Kgomanyane, Terrence Tshipinare, Nicholas Thomola, Richard Malesu, Thapelo Jacobs, Samma Motlhagodi, Johnson Gaoumakwe, Poniso Shamukuni, Tshoamo Lekgoa, James Tebogo, Kaelo Tshegofatso, Raditshego Molefakgosi, Frank Gaseitsiwe, Mpaphi Bonyongo and Debbie Peake.
On a sad note, whilst I held the Ethiopian Airlines in high regards as an aviation powerhouse and Africa’s largest airline group, someone spoiled things for me as I only realised when I boarded another connecting fight back home that someone’s sticky fingers had harvested my laptop with my stories from the flight, perhaps just under my nose. It happened at Africa’s diplomatic capital, Addis Ababa.