F/town East: the waterlogged constituency

| Friday August 14, 2009 00:00

FRANCISTOWN: The fight for Francistown East will be over crime as people of this constituency have had enough of thieves who employ guerrilla tactics.

'We are supposed to rest when we arrive home in the evening from our hectic jobs,' says one in Area L. 'But how can we when we have to be listening out for any disturbance outside. When night time comes, the thieves literally take over.'

Thick bushes cover a big expanse of the land of this man's palatial home. From this wood, even in daytime, thieves descend on the homes to take whatever they want, sometimes accosting the residents, and then squirreling off into the thicket.

Another resident, who gives his name as Charles, says the thieves use hillocks around the suburb to spy on the residents as they walk in and out of their homes.

'From their vantage point, they can see us as we walk in and out of our homes,' he says. 'They see you holding something in your hands and they will descend and confront you. Once they have snatched whatever you were holding, they dash back into the bushes. At night, they pounce on our homes and use the bushes to hide what they have stolen.'

Charles' home has been burgled three times: 'I have lost a radio, a cellphone and money to the thieves,' he says. 'These days I hardly sleep at night because to do so is a risk of finding my sitting room empty when I wake up in the morning. Or worse.

'I have lost faith in the police because the thieves have proven to be cleverer. When they see a patrol vehicle or cops on the beat, they lie low and pounce soon thereafter.'
It is the same lamentation all over the constituency: the thieves do as they please and the people no longer know whom to turn to for help.

A popular idea is to clear the woods and have floodlights installed. Many agree that Area L, Area W, Ntshe and Pelotelele need attending to in this manner as a matter of urgency.
Another source of concern is the drainage system - or the lack of it - that always turns Francistown into a vast marshland when it rains.

'We have been blessed with the huge Tati River, but it is not being utilised optimally,' says a resident of Area W who says she witnessed such a 'metamorphosis' from dry land to swamp during the recent seasonal rains.

Kitso Lebopamang lives in this high-density ghetto where she has had to accommodate her relations who live in neighbouring Blue Town when their house became an uninhabitable quagmire.

'They have lost a lot of items in floods,' she says. 'I wish it wouldn't happen again.'
But then, in the cycle of nature, Springtime will give way to Summer soon, and the heavens may burst asunder as a soggy prelude to elections in October.
Mmegi went on a tour of the constituency last week.

Donga
It is not known how the place got its name, but it could safely be assumed that floodwaters resulted in the creation of dongas here and that Francistown, being a settler town, the English colonists thought a name depicting what the elements had wrought befitting.

A stream separates Donga from Area A, running from north to south. The stream passes behind Hyper Cash and Carry. Donga is one of the places that suffers flooding during heavy rains and, with the stream being shallow, it quickly becomes over-flooded.

'We are relatively new here,' says 52-year old Lentshwanetse Kapolelo.  'I come from Letlhakane, and though I been here more than 10 years now, I do not know how the name came about. I used to ask about it, but I have long given up because no-one seems to have even an inkling.'

Donga is mainly made up of Self-Help Housing Agency (SHHA) structures, some Botswana Housing Corporation (BHC) houses and a few sturdier privately owned homes. The headquarters of the Botswana Defence Force (BDF) Second Brigade, which has hundreds of personnel, is also here.

Donga Polling District 68. It has four polling stations where eligible voters will queue up on voting day to cast their ballots.

The polling stations are Donga Junior Community Secondary School, the Roman Catholic Church, Donga Customary Court and Pelotshwaana Primary School.

Crime is a major issue here, followed by the drainage system. Council candidates are the incumbent, Moses Nkhwanana (BDP) and Ben Mpotokwane (BCP). The BPP is yet to name its candidate.

Central
Among the places that make up Central Ward are Area A, Area L, the city centre, Minestone and the area around Nyangabgwe Referral Hospital.

Central is Polling District 69. Its polling stations are the civic centre, the Institute of Health Sciences (HIS), the open space used by vendors at Area A, Assemblies of God's Church and the Francistown College of Education.

Council candidates here are Anthony Chebani (BDP) and Ephraim Maiketso (BCP). Here also, the BPP is yet to disclose its candidate. Chebani took over from long-time councillor Rebecca Nshakazhogwe who lost in the BDP primary election.

Itekeng and Government Camp
Factories and offices in Itekeng and Government Camp, which are Polling Districts 70 and 71 respectively, take up much of the land in this predominantly industrial estate.
But there are also people at the 'railway houses' along the railway line and teachers and other workers at Our Lady of the Desert and Nyangabgwe primary schools. Government Camp is home to the oldest BDF camp in Francistown and hundreds of soldiers.
Officers of the Prisons Department also live here, as do police officers.

Polling stations here are (Itekeng): Our Lady of the Desert Primary School, Railways Clinic, Nyangabgwe Primary School and Ministers' Fraternal.
Sam Masunga of the BDP is the incumbent councillor.
He is being challenged by Professor Lazarus Tlou of the BCP. At Government Camp, Golwelang Mogomela (BDP) lost the primaries to Badubi Lekang who is vying for the attention of voters with Albert Uneni Mosojane of the BCP.

Satellite North and South
This is where some employees of the mines surrounding Francistown reside. Satellite is also a mixture of rich and poor, with the former at Molapo Estate and the latter at SHHA.
The polling stations are Satellite Primary School, Boikhutso Clinic, a playground, an open space along Matsiloje Road between Maradu Primary School and Selepa Community Junior Secondary School (for Satellite South).

In Satellite North, the stations are the open space near the BDF camp, St. John of Zimbabwe Church, the mission school of the Seventh's Day Adventist Church and the Selepa SHHA offices.

The Mayor, Buti Honest Billy of the BDP, will be fighting it out with BCP's Samuel Moladelo Moribame in Satellite South while in Satellite North, the BDP will be represented by James Kgalajwe. The BCP's Kagiso Ketshabile Koontse will try to wrest the ward from Kgalajwe, who is the incumbent councillor.

According to the current voters roll, there are so far 7, 030 registered voters in this constituency which has 28 polling stations and six polling districts.

The Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) and the Botswana Congress Party (BCP) are leading the race in as far as campaigning is concerned. The parties have plastered combis with the pictures of their candidates, which can also be seen on electricity poles in the streets.

Little has been heard from the Botswana People's Party (BPP), though its President, Bernard Balikani, told Mmegi this week that they are also busy campaigning.

In this Francistown East constituency, the BDP will be represented by the incumbent Member of Parliament, Phandu Skelemani, who is also the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation.

Private attorney, Morgan Moseki (BCP) will slug it out with Skelemani. The two were at it in the 2004 elections which saw the latter win by 3, 255 votes to the former's 1, 419 votes.

Kumbulani William, who garnered 869 votes, represented the BPP then. William has since relocated to his home village of Nlaphwane where he is standing as a council candidate on a BPP ticket.