Toil and hardship in impenetrable Gantsi farms

Some of the families who stay at the squatter camp keep warm around the fire PIC KAGISO ONKATSWITSE
Some of the families who stay at the squatter camp keep warm around the fire PIC KAGISO ONKATSWITSE

Like many other fathers around the world, *Baxho Qhuam harbours dreams of a better future for his children. However, the 34 year-old resident of Gantsi acknowledges that his dreams for his three daughters are a little more fragile than those of many fathers. Qhuam dreams that one day his daughters, two of whom are in lower primary school, with the youngest just two years-old, will one day work as teachers or nurses.

As one of the thousands of workers who eke out a living on the sprawling farms located just outside the Gantsi township, Qhuam readily admits that he struggles from month-to-month to provide for his children. 

His two eldest live with their aunts, while he shares his one-roomed house with his wife and youngest daughter.

Editor's Comment
Get back what was stolen, and lock the door

That a single private law firm pocketed P6.5 million for just four cases, out of a total P11.1 million paid for 25 matters, reeks of a system that was not merely disorganised but open to abuse.Bayford has taken a welcome first step by telling the Public Accounts Committee the truth. Now he must act decisively to ensure it never happens again and that any money lost to wrongdoing is recovered.The figures are staggering. Whilst ordinary Batswana...

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