I haven’t heard of this happening in recent years but I certainly knew of a number of occasions when this had happened in and around Mochudi in the distant past. And let’s remember that the phenomum was corroborated by no less a figure than the British Resident Commissioner, Col. Rey in the 1930s who recorded that one of his staff in Mahikeng had been doing the same thing.
So far, no newspaper, however, appears to have reported recently on such an indicator of social distress. But then our newspapers can be very strange. Given that the water situation and the heat are currently the two favoured topics of conversation, it is surprising that none has sent reporters to Palapye or wherever the latest break has occurred in the north-south carrier, to describe what is happening and talk to those who have the unenviable job of repairing it yet again. Very naturally, each of us believes that we are the ones who are really enduring the brunt of the current hard times. But bear a thought for those WUC people who are being called on, again and again, to fix that line. They are out there in the sun in temperatures, which must have been, in the past week, in the 39 to 42 degrees range. Presumably there is no nearby shade to which they might occasionally retreat. It seems to me that these people must be the unsung heroes.
