It may not be in the tradition of the Libyan and Egyptian revolutions, but it is involves a revolutionary change nonetheless. Councillors of Botswana's second city agreed to change the names of the city's streets to make them more in tune with its indigenous heritage.
Beginning with its name, Francistown echoes the happy colonial post of Europeans who settled it, pushing the natives to the fringes. The councillors who advocated for a clean break with this opprobrious aspect of their city have realized the importance of the politics of space; that people who occupy a space must stake their title to it.
The point is that Francistown's African history has always been shielded from view because of our collective amnesia as a nation and a poorly articulated - and misplaced - fear that any expression of African pride would scare foreigners away. We think the councillors, being the more grassroots representatives of the people, are well placed to understand this holdover and do something about it. This is because beyond the immediate post-independence period during which confidence building between the natives and the settler communities might have been necessary, it is difficult to understand why the streets of Francistown should still carry the burden of our colonial past when we enjoy the status of being Africa's oldest democracy.
