Response to State of the Nation address - Part III

Dumelang Saleshando | Friday November 22, 2013 16:18

 

The war that President (Ian) Khama has declared on trade unions and its members is the reason why we have poisoned labour relations between the two camps. This has had devastating consequences on productivity and the collapse of our health and education sector. President Khama should shed his military uniform and tactics and approach labour issues with a sober mind. His reminder to the workers that he is a soldier and shall fight them to the bitter end was most unfortunate and not worthy of the office he holds. This is the main reason for the endless feuding between government and the unions. There is need for government to return to the bargaining council and engage the workers in a constructive manner.

We note in paragraph 23 of the address by the President that there has been a consultancy on ways to improve conditions of service for the public service.  If this consultancy was not sanctioned by the bargaining council, our view is that the findings or recommendations of the consultancy should be tabled before the bargaining council for adoption.  Any changes to the conditions of service that are not a product of bargaining with the unions will further result in unnecessary tension.

There is need to review the factors that influence the minimum wage that a worker should get in any given sector.  The current reality is that a number of Batswana on the minimum wage are unable to meet the costs of basic amenities.  We need to introduce a living wage that is aligned with the cost of living.  A motion to this effect will be sponsored from our side of the house during the current session of Parliament.  It is not acceptable that companies that operate in Botswana and in some of our neighbouring countries pay higher wages in some countries than they do in Botswana and yet they make some of the highest profits in Botswana. 

We hold the BDP (Botswana Democratic Party) government accountable for the collapse of BMC, BDC and all the above sectors because of her failure to act in the interest of Batswana by providing leadership. Quite clearly, we are in this crisis on account of the fact that the BDP led government lacked foresight coupled with institutionalised corruption (‘eating’ as the BDP Secretary General puts it.)

That the southern part of this country is not endowed with perennial rivers and that ours is a semi-arid environment are facts known to all of us including the BDP leadership from time immemorial. That the majority of Batswana are populated in the eastern strip of this country along the railway line is a fact known to us from way back. It is equally a notorious fact that the northern part of this country is blessed with many perennial rivers and conducive for building dams. Why did it take the BDP government so long to make adequate water infrastructure to convey water from the north to the south? Why did it take forever for the BDP government to realise that recycling of water is a must to complement our strained water supplies? Why did it take so long for the BDP government to realise that it was necessary to make an elaborate plan to integrate our underground water reserves into our mainstream water supply? This is simply because there is no foresight and strategic planning and thinking on the part of government.

That we were given a dose of how it feels like to be in a failed and war torn state by the power outages also speaks to lack of leadership and foresight on the part of the BDP. How on earth can a country so blessed with a huge coal reserve fail to be self -sufficient in terms of energy defies logic. If this country was properly managed, we would be powering the whole sub region.

 

Land And Housing

In the last State of the Nation address of November 2012, we raised concerns pertaining to the backlog of land allocation in the urban and peri-urban areas particularly with regard to SHHA where the waiting list stood at 11,368 in Gaborone and allocation had been last done in 2009. We had expected the President to appraise the nation on the measures that his government has taken to address the land allocation backlog.

We also pointed out to government that while many Batswana toil in landlessness, there continue to be huge tracts of land owned by absentee landlords that lay idle and not used for any productive purposes. While government is flagging the Draft Land Policy as the panacea for addressing land challenges in this country, we are yet to see how it deals with this thorny issue.  Any failure by the envisaged Land Policy to comprehensively deal with this issue will be unacceptable and unpardonable.  Gaborone and Francistown have huge tracts of undeveloped plots held by absentee landlords and yet there is a serious shortage of land in the two cities.

Attention was also drawn to government on the unfairness of compensation prices of land held under the different tenure systems in cases of compulsory acquisition for public purpose, with holders of Certificate of Customary Land Grant often compensated very lowly. Parliament needed to have been appraised on the progress government has made in reviewing the prices for compulsory land expropriation since we put it before this House in November 2012. The address proceeded as if these concerns do not exist and the draft policy does not address the issue.

In responding to the State of the Nation address in November 2012, we drew to the attention of government the artificial shortage of serviced land as result of failure by government to avail sufficient land. This artificial shortage of land has resulted in distorted land and housing prices, with relatively higher prices for land, housing and exorbitant rentals that are out of reach for the youth, first time home buyers and the middle class. Exorbitant rentals resulting from the artificial shortage of land that government has no interest in resolving is a major stumbling block to government programmes intended to assist wholly citizen-owned small, micro, medium enterprise businesses.  High rentals of business premises arising from this situation adversely affect the uptake and sustainability of SMME businesses, as well as the competitiveness of locally produced goods and services, which in turn stifles the growth of businesses in Botswana.

It is quite paradoxical that the same government that, on one hand, continues to encourage Batswana to fight poverty and create employment by starting businesses is, on the other hand, contributing to exorbitant rentals by steadfastly perpetuating artificial shortage of land. This situation puts in serious doubt the commitment of this government in assisting Batswana most of whom face worsening unemployment and resultantly wallow in poverty. We note with concern that, as government drags its feet in addressing the real causes of poverty, such as lack of access to land to enable Batswana to use it to earn a living and diversify their livelihood strategies, it continues to pre-occupy itself with focusing on the President’s pet projects such as Ipelegeng and Backyard Gardening. If government continues with these pet projects, poverty eradication will remain a mirage. To mitigate the adverse impacts of poverty, many Batswana will continue selling their land, particularly in the peri-urban areas to raise income. This will inevitably result in landlessness among the poor and dispossession by foreigners and Batswana who have the economic might.

We note with concern that the BHC continues to build houses for sale that are beyond the reach of many Batswana. This is anomalous. In our view, a publicly funded housing corporation such as BHC should mainly be targeting providing affordable housing for low and middle income earners.  Given the abundant prevalence of building technology, there is no plausible reason why BHC should not be doing this.

We state that in order for government to address the artificial scarcity of service land it has created, it should proactively embark on robust programmes of availing serviced land to Batswana, particularly though acquisition of tribal and freehold land around urban areas, as has been done before by  BHC acquiring land in Tlokweng, Bokaa, Serowe, Palapye, Maun and Mahalapye. The envisaged land servicing programme will benefit first home seekers, especially the youth and the low and medium income earners, who are currently excluded from the housing market. Our view is that, to identify the extent of land required for the programme and establish the target beneficiaries, there should be a comprehensive land audit.  We will be presenting a petition to Parliament on the need for a comprehensive land audit.

We continue to note with embarrassment, the continuation of the Presidential Housing Appeal. We are particularly concerned that, as one commentator recently put it, the President has usurped NGOs responsibility. There is also the possibly of mortgaging the country to the donors, especially foreigners, of the Presidential Housing Appeal. Human nature being what it is, we wonder, what is in it for donors?   We hope that as the world turns, the President won’t find himself facing a situation of demand for favours in return for these housing donations, as was the case when a certain Motswana demanded that former President Mogae protect him from prosecution because he had previously helped the BDP to raise funds for paying the debts of some BDP leaders.  In our view, the President should concentrate his efforts in driving a robust national housing policy and strategy for the poor, rather than a piece-meal approach that gives him individual credit.

 

Rule Of Law And Human Rights

Botswana is in the news again in the international community for the wrong reasons. It continues on its agenda to persecute Basarwa communities of Ranyane by driving them out of their ancestral land. The BDP led government is employing its trade mark scotch earth tactics to starve the Basarwa in Ranyane of all basic necessities of life such as water, health services and other essential amenities in order to force them out of their ancestral land to the land of the government’s own choosing. The same tactic was employed by the government to force the Basarwa out out the CKGR a few years ago. The BCP condemns this inhumane and cruel treatment of Basarwa by their government.

It appears that despite consistently losing legal battles against Basarwa in Courts of law, this government is so determined to evict Basarwa from their ancestral land by any means necessary. This time around the government was so vicious and cruel in its fight against Basarwa that it manipulated its immigration laws to strike a devastating blow to the Basarwa by preventing their counsel, Gordon Bennet from representing them in court through unreasonable and unjustified visa requirements. Fair trial gives Basarwa a right to appear by counsel of their choice at their own expense and they had exercised that right to choose Gordon Bennet as their preferred lawyer.

The decision by government to prevent Bennet to represent his clients was taken in bad faith and with the sole aim of disabling Basarwa in their legal tussle with government. To use immigration laws to hamstrung Basarwa in their legal battles with government smacks of sheer ruthlessness and amounts to a government bullying its people. It is clear from the determination of this government that, it intends to completely destroy their way of life (culture) and forcefully assimilate them into mainstream Tswana society. This reminds us of the dark ages of colonialism when some colonial powers employed a policy of assimilados specifically to try and eliminate the black race whom the considered to be of inferior stock. The BCP believes that Basarwa are not inferior but have a different way of life. They have the right to practice their way of life and preserve their heritage. We are now witnessing a repeat of the policy of assimilados by the BDP government in modern times. The BCP appeals to President Khama to borrow a leaf from the Australian Prime Minister, who acknowledged the inhuman and degrading treatment by government on the aborigines and apologised to them. Not only should President Khama apologise but he must compensate Basarwa for the untold hardships and miseries that they have had to endure at the hands of successive BDP governments. We appeal to President Khama’s conscience that Basarwa are people too and deserve to be treated like fellow human beings. All they want is to live their own lives in the way they know best without government interfering with their way of life and attempting to assimilate them into foreign cultures. This is cultural genocide.  

* Dumelang Saleshando is the Member of Parliament for Gaborone Central and President of the Botswana Congress Party.