An ounce of prevention

Mmegi Editor | Wednesday January 7, 2015 14:14

The National Disaster Management Office (NDMO) has quickly stepped into the heart of the situation and is providing forms of relief, from shelter to the provision of food basket.

While the Office’s actions are commendable, it is necessary to also consider that with progressive planning or prudent interventions, these disasters are avoidable.

Certain communities across the country are perennial victims of flooding by virtue of living either in flood-prone areas, or having the misfortune of possessing structures easily breached by rainwater. This information is known, these people are known and the rain patterns are equally predictable. That regular flooding occurs in these areas, necessitating relief efforts, is thus indicative of a planning failure. These people are the victims of a planning process that has figuratively put them in the “eye of the storm” every rainy season.

With burgeoning population numbers, some of these people have been unable to move away from the flood prone areas and are thus at the mercy of errant rain cycles and the benevolence of the NDMO. Some of these flood victims, such as the residents of Makabanyane and Thotayamarula settlements of Kweneng District, are still awaiting compensation from the National Disaster Relief Fund for flood damage dating back decades.Nearly 40 families in the two Kweneng settlements have been waiting for compensation for floods that took place in 1994.

Where land allocation and building control is strictly controlled in the cities and other urban areas, a historical laissez-faire approach in the rural areas has meant some dread the rainy season. Land authorities, the NDMO and village leaders need to come up with more visionary interventions to pluck affected villagers out of the cycle of floods.

 

Suffer the little children

 

 

Our first two issues of 2015 contain harrowing stories of children suffering; from the burnt corpse of an infant, to the rape of a five-year-old allegedly by her father over Christmas.

For what does our society exist, if not to ensure its self-preservation through future generations? These incidents indicate that elements within our society either do not share these noble aspirations or are actively fighting them through their deeds.

Let 2015 be the year we unite to condemn, root out and excise all behaviours that threaten our children and the future of this country.