Francistown: Capital of the North

EDWARD BULE
Correspondent | Friday February 12, 2010 00:00

 

With a population of about 113, 315 people, according to the 2001 population census, it is the second largest city in Botswana. Named after a gold digger, Daniel Francis, the town has the dubious distinction of being the only town in Botswana bearing a European name. Historians say the present town was founded in 1897 as a settlement near the Monarch mine.

Incidentally this is the year that Cecil John Rhodes’ railroad, the Cape-to-Cairo railway line reached Monarch.

There is, however, evidence that even before the discovery of diamonds in 1868, which made Francistown the epicentre of Southern Africa’s first gold rush, there had been human settlement and economic activity in the area including mining by the locals.

Francistown connects Botswana to Zimbabwe, through the A1 road which road has, regrettably, not been busy due to the collapse of the Zimbabwean economy. It also connects Botswana to countries in Central Africa such as Zambia, Congo-Brazzaville and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) through the Francistown-Kazungula road.

This road is a critical artery to the economic well-being of this country as it facilitates the transportation of, among other things, salt from Sua Town to the central African countries, bricks from South Africa to Zambia as well as copper concentrates from the Zambian Copperbelt to South Africa. South Africa buys some of its beef from the Francistown BMC.

The economic importance of Francistown to this country and to others dates even as far back as the discovery of gold in South Africa. As a result of the need for cheap labour on the South African gold mines, Francistown became the centre for the Witwatersrand Native Labour Association (WENELA), an agency that recruited migrant labourers for the gold mines in South Africa.

The WENELA “barracks” in Francistown gave temporary accommodation to recruits from Angola, Namibia, Northern Rhodesia (Zambia), Nyasaland (Malawi) and Tanganyika (Tanzania) on their way to and from South Africa. The miners spent a considerable amount of their earnings in the local shops.

In his book, Under Two Flags in Africa, George Winstanley, who worked in Francistown as a cadet district officer in 1954, says that then, Francistown consisted of only one street, parallel to the railway station and a few houses, mainly to the east of the railway line housing the white colonial administrators. He also notes that there was then only a single row of shops owned mainly by Europeans and Indians. Now, Chinese own most of the retail shops.

Racial discrimination defined Francistown then as there were certain areas such as the Tati Hotel, the Grand Hotel and the Francistown Club, which were the preserve of the Whites only. Fifty years later, the town has transformed greatly. In the first instance, Botswana is an independent country now therefore obviating the absence of white colonial administrators. With three constituencies and 19 political wards, the population of Francistown has grown in leaps and bounds.

During the 1960s, Francistown became the crucible of opposition politics in Botswana. The nationalist Botswana Peoples Party (BPP), formed in 1960 on the platform socialism and pan-Africanism, came into confrontation with the settler regime over the government’s racial practices.

The Tati Company, a prospecting company formed, by among others, Daniel Francis, attracted the attention of the BPP for owning all the land in Francistown, while the people were overcrowded due to shortage of land. Further, this company, which ran a beer hall, forbade, with the support of the government, Africans from brewing and selling beer.

Industrial strikes and boycotts became the order of the day as the BPP demanded evenhandedness and racial equality. The result was the imprisonment of several BPP members and their leaders.

The history of Francistown is intertwined with the history of the liberation struggle of Southern Africa. Many nationalist leaders from the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU), Zimbabwe African People’s Union (ZAPU), South African National Congress (ANC), Pan-Africanist Congress (PAC), South West People’s Organisation (SWAPO), either used Francistown as a transit point on exile or as a rendezvous to consult with their comrades.

Among the most notable were Sam Nujoma, former president of Namibia, Herman Toivo Ja Toivo, a government minister in Namibia, Dumiso Dabengwa, a government minister in Zimbabwe and the late John Mabunda of FRELIMO, Mozambique.

Preaching the politics of liberation, these freedom fighters found willing hosts in the BPP leadership and individuals such as Meshack Mathumo, a qualified guerrilla who had trained in Algeria under the auspices of the Zimbabwe African Peoples’ Union (ZANU) and became its clandestine representative in Botswana.

Like the other cities in the so-called developing world, Francistown is reaping the seeds of misdirected development policies, inappropriate planning and neglect especially by the capitalistic colonial administrators who had no regard for possible future expansion.

During the colonial era, the colonialists, aware that they were not going to stay forever, created towns for their short-term convenience wary not to invest a lot of money in their development. The under-secretary general and executive director of the UN Human Settlements Programme, Ann Tibaijuka, is quoted in the 2010 Africa Report blaming African leaders for continuing to use planning laws inherited from the colonial masters.

She feels that African governments should come up with policies whose objective would be to reduce urban drift by improving the living conditions in the rural areas, supporting the informal sector by protecting it from police harassment and making available a credit facility to the informal sector.

A deliberate effort should be made to upgrade slums and shanty townships. Above all, she advocates for the devolution of powers to the councils so that they have the autonomy to raise funds and even approve projects themselves since they are, “on the ground.”

African cities, due to the neglected agricultural and rural development, are said to be growing at an alarming rate of 2.5 percent annually.  This is because towns are regarded as areas of opportunity where the underemployed and unemployed migrate for economic betterment.

The biggest challenge for every African government is to minimise slums, which are the most visible dimensions of poverty in the cities. Within this context, the people of Francistown still begrudge the powers that be for not making Francistown the headquarters of Botswana Railways (BR). They feel short-changed that the second university is not being built here.

The construction of the Francistown stadium, the expansion of the existing airport and the upgrading of infrastructure at Gerald Estates and Monarch, have, hopefully served as a kind of reparation for the losses. The nickel mining activities by Tati Nickel mine at the Selkirk and Phoenix mines in the vicinity of Francistown have somewhat eased the vexing problem of unemployment in and around the city.

Francistown is home to many government departments as well as big private companies that, no doubt offer employment and educational opportunities.

Tertiary institutions as well as primary and secondary schools, hospitals, clinics, reliable transportation no doubt offers sufficient attraction to somebody looking for means for a better life.

Despite the glamour offered by the bright lights of Francistown, the economy is not growing fast enough to cope with the demand for employment. 

The people of Francistown have been agitating for the building of a district hospital in Francistown arguing that the Nyangabgwe Referral Hospital is not a substitute. Clinics, schools and other social institutions are not expanding fast enough to cope with the demand either. In addition, there is the problem of inadequate housing, shortage of serviced land, environmental pollution, crime, and juvenile delinquency.

Motorists continue to be haunted by traffic congestion and potholes. Taxi men and bus owners are clamouring for a spacious taxi and bus rank while vendors are demanding a market where they can sell their goods in a decent environment. The youth are crying for recreational facilities. The list is endless.