When Serowe sneezes the nation catches cold

Staff Writer | Friday August 13, 2010 00:00

 

No village has had a stranglehold on Botswana politics in the way that Serowe has. Of course, Serowe cannot, like the British Empire in colonial times, claim that it is a place where the sun never sets. But if truth be told, if the sons and daughters of Serowe caught a cold, all of Botswana would sneeze.

Out of the four presidents that this country has had, three, including the incumbent, are Serowe 'homeboys'. The Father of the Nation, Sir Seretse Khama, was from Serowe; Festus Mogae, despite his flirtation with Palapye, is from Serowe. Which gives Sir Ketumile Masire, who hails from Kanye, the appearance of an oddball.

In the current cabinet, no less than seven members are from Serowe. Dorcus Makgatho-Malesu, Nonofo Molefhi, Keletso Rakhudu, Pelonomi Venson-Moitoi, Ndelu Seretse, Vice-President Mompati Merafhe and of course the President Ian Khama.  If you add Gaborone South legislator Kagiso Molatlhegi and Tshekedi Khama, there is a total of nine Members of Parliament from Serowe in the National Assembly, though some of them represent constituencies outside Serowe.

Those uncomfortable with this disproportionate dominance of Serowe in Botswana's political life also say the lion's share of economic development goes to the Central District for which Serowe is the principal town.

On the day Zambian President, Rupiah Banda officially opened the massive Serowe Institute of Health Sciences, a Mmegi team travelled to the village that has been described as the largest traditional village in Africa. But thanks to urban migration, the presidential breeding ground has lost its numerical advantage. In the last population census, Molepolole replaced it as the most populous village in Botswana and there are indications that many other villages could push Botswana's political viceroy further down. It is a Tuesday morning when we drive from Palapye to Serowe. We cannot mistake the many police and military officers along the 44-kilometre route that will be used by Presidents Banda and Khama's entourages from the Palapye airstrip. Infact, Serowe and Palapye have become one village, Serowe-Palapye, that mythical place that stirred controversy when the location of the second university was decided in its favour against the popular choice of Selebi-Phikwe.

On this Tuesday morning, the President of Zambia is here to officially open what is without a doubt the grandest addition to Serowe's landscape, erected on what was formerly an airstrip. The Serowe Institute of Health Sciences (IHS) is adjacent to another magnificent edifice that was recently completed, the Sekgoma Memorial Hospital.

Standing at the entrance to the village, the two structures give Serowe an air of opulence that blends well with the institutional residential houses on the opposite side of the high road.

If your journey ended here, you might as well have been to any other of the world's latest cosmopolitan centres. 'This is a nice town,' observed a Zambian on President Banda's entourage at the village gate. Even senior citizen and Serowe's resident poet of eminence, Radithobane Mokane, said in his poem that Khama has built a magnificent hospital in Serowe that makes him loathe to step on its spotless floors. During the speeches to mark the official opening of Serowe IHS, it must have been the principal Idah Khumalo who pointed out a different tack outside the feel-good factor of the occasion about Serowe. Khumalo talked about the difficulty the institution had in attracting and, more importantly, retaining lecturers, apparently most of whom have not been touched by the allure of Serowe.

Elsewhere in the country, perceptions are strong that all development flows in the direction of the birthplace of the country's most powerful politicians. Steady Sethaba has seen all this flak thrown at Serowe and nothing exasperates him more than what he calls wrong perceptions.

'All this are said by people who have never been to Serowe,' he argues. 'It is not true that Serowe is favoured. Infact, some people think this village loses out on a number of development projects because the leadership of this country comes from here and they are sensitive to accusations of regionalism to the point that Serowe suffers.' According to Sethaba, the village has nothing to boast of except Sekgoma Memorial Hospital. He agrees that the hospital is big but says it was built here as a district hospital and not only to serve the people of Serowe.'This hospital was relocated from the old site where it was almost falling apart,' he says.

'This is not a new project but the relocation of an old project. What else is there? This IHS? It was also relocated from the small decrepit buildings at the old hospital site. Other than the village library, which is currently under construction, I do not know of any on-going projects. There is no favouritism here.' Sethaba points out that the Serowe Administration Authority is forced to use the dilapilated buildings of the old hospital. 'Is this what people call favouritism?,' he queries.

Resident Letlhogile Loeto similarly decries lack of development in Serowe which he says is worse than for villages of comparable status in Botswana. His biggest gripe is the state of internal roads and poor water reticulation.

Loeto argues that if his village enjoyed partiality in terms of development projects, these are basic amenities that the people of Serowe would not be complaining about.  Talking about internal roads, the Chairman of Central District Council, Lesego Raditanka, says Serowe has only about 30 kilometres of internal roads, which he describes as a far cry from what the village requires. The situation, he says, is compounded by the fact that the village sits on a rocky and clay terrain, which makes many of its routes impassable, particularly during the rainy season.

On the other hand, those who believe Serowe is favoured invariably mention the fact that it is the only place in the country that will have two sports complexes or stadia.

There is, of course, reference to the sports complex that was built on unsuitable clay soil so that shortly after the project was handed over to the community, it developed serious structural defects that rendered the stadium unsafe to use. The government subsequently decided to re-build the stadium on a different site. According to Raditanka, this is hardly favouritism. 'Ga o rekela ngwana borukgwe bo be bo sa molekane, ga o rwale mabogo mo tlhogong o bo o re o tla' ipona,' he says. 'O batla jo bongwe.'

Where were community leaders when the stadium was built on soil everyone knows to be unsuitable? Raditanka concedes that the stadium debacle will lead to double expenditure and that this is frustrating to everyone.  But he maintains that it would be wrong to put the blame on the people of Serowe or their leaders. 'When we informed the contractors about the unsuitability of the soil at the site, we were told by experts that they would excavate, import suitable soil and do the necessary soil examination,' he says.

'This was not our mistake. Hence it would be unfair to punish the village and the district for a mistake not of our doing.'  Raditanka says from the perspective of a council, there is no way Serowe can hog the development budget because the planning process is decentralised. Each sub-district is responsible for its planning while the council only deals with a consolidated plan before passing on to the ministry, he says.

There are subdued murmurs among those who believe that Serowe is favoured.  They say an airport that was meant to be built somewhere between Serowe and Palapye has since been mothballed so that it is eventually taken to Serowe when the tender is re-issued. Raditanka says neither he nor the council has ever been informed of what is delaying the construction of the airport.

The last he heard of the project, is that it was going to be built on a site directly over Morupule Mine and he believes that is why the project was stalled. 'I do not know where it will eventually be built,' he says.

Long-time Serowe councillor Modisakgotla Makwati takes issue with those who hold that Serowe dominates the political leadership of the country. In his view, the fact that Serowe sends many of its sons and daughters to cabinet should be celebrated rather than looked at askance. 'If I am not mistaken, all MPs of Serowe constituencies have always made it to the cabinet save one,' he says.

'Starting with the first MP Bakwena Kgari, Dr Gaositwe Chiepe, Collin Blackbeard, Roy Blackbeard, Tebelelo Seretse, Ndelu Seretse, Ian Khama, Venson Moitoi.

I think the only Serowe MP who has not made it to the cabinet is Tshekedi Khama. If you look at all these MPs, they are quality MPs that made it into the cabinet not because they are from Serowe but on account of their substance and leadership qualities.' Makwati thinks it is a good thing that although Serowe sends its sons and daughters to serve the country in lofty positions, the village has never demanded a pound of flesh or exerted pressure on the leadership to take it home.

In his view, this is what makes Botswana different. 'Notwithstanding that the country's leadership comes from this village, we agitate for development like everyone else in the country,' Makwati says. 'We have never wanted to be treated differently, and that is how it has to be.'