A 'power struggle' in winter

Whereas the main concern has been over warm clothes in past winters, this time around, energy - or the lack or shortage of it, to be precise - will exercise the minds of most as fuel prices burn holes in the minds of people and increasingly set tempers at tinderbox levels in cities around the world.

With prices going through the roof, authorities have been impounding firewood - the cheaper alternative for warmth and cooking for the poor in Botswana and the rest of the developing world that is becoming progressively scarce - from people who depend on it even as a source of income. As temperatures drop, Kgomotso Thebeetsile wonders what will happen to her. She has no electricity in her Block Two house in Francistown. "I have always depended on firewood during winter - for cooking, for heating water for my bath, and for keeping warm," Thebeetsile says.