Going to one of the country’s top tourism addresses and then returning into a 48-day lockdown must count as one of life’s curious ironies. The juxtaposition of the two cannot be more stark, a poles-apart experience with surreal luxury and...
That Nchindo heads Debswana Diamond Company, the largest earner of Botswana’s foreign exchange, is only part of the story. Picture this. He has been close to Mogae since they were students at Oxford University. He still has the...
If the economy is a cake, many would argue that indigenous Batswana have not been receiving their fair share. Historically, the country’s economic structure has leaned towards capitalism on one end, as espoused by free market policies and...
Batsweletse ‘King Can’ Mogabala first arrived in Gaborone in 1996. He was just a 17-year old Form Two dropout from Moshopha in Tswapong, coming to fight off the vicious poverty circle that was consuming him in the village. Six...
FRANCISTOWN: The un-rehabilitated mining sites around the 123-year-old city of Francistown, popularly known by its moniker ‘the Ghetto’ are a clear reminder of the gold rush of the late 1800s. It was the gold rush that attracted...
However, the informal sector in the city faces several problems. For years those eking a living in the informal sector, particularly vendors (operating within the city’s main CBD) have accused the Francistown City Council (FCC) of failing to...
FRANCISTOWN: The clatter of cars and people from different places in and around the city pervades the environment at the Francistown transport terminus. People from different parts of the city congregate to sell different wares at the terminus,...
Omphemetse ‘Queen’ Kebotswang, who has been trading as a street vendor for the past 13 years, is amongst the underprivileged members of the society here that were pushed into the corner by the mandatory lockdown. Queen sells fruits and...
Any time now, the results of post-mortems into the deaths of nearly 60 elephants in the far northwest are due. Since March, elephant carcasses have been found in the lush veldt around Seronga and Eretsha villages, with wildlife authorities quick to...
Only a few will get to read through this simply because of their fear and/or hate for snakes. It is Setswana tradition that when a snake is spotted, it is killed. The killing is typically an epic show, with wild shouting, heavy weapons, stones, logs...
Last week dozens of residents along the Boro River, from the Buffalo Fence to Maun, defied coronavirus (COVID-19) lockdown regulations to rush to the river to meet Leleme as the water travelled down to the Thamalakane River. Many came with bottles...
MAUN: Yesterday (Thursday), the “tongue of the water” as the locals here call it, streamed past Boro II village after stalling on the upper Boro River for two days in a big and wide bend. It is now on the narrow and steep part of the Boro...
Recently, social media in South Africa was abuzz, as citizens there noted a large star in the sky, appearing in the late afternoon and early evening. PANIC OVER STRANGE STAR screamed the Daily Sun on April 30, quoting residents as saying the...
FRANCISTOWN: Mmegi spoke to some of the local social workers to get their expert opinions on the psychological impact of coronavirus on the people during the pandemic, after 28 days of practising extreme social distancing and recording 23 positive...
At the Nyangabgwe Referral Hospital in Francistown recently, nurses and other health workers in one of the busy wards at the hospital, scurried for cover after they were warned not to access a ward because a patient who had succumbed to a respiratory...
FRANCISTOWN: Dr. Mompati, a seasoned medical practitioner who has been in practice for four decades now, has witnessed that in the neighbouring South Africa the country started with only seven cases but within no time the virus had rapidly...
FRANCISTOWN: In 2008, during the presidency of Ian Khama, government introduced new liquor regulations that amongst others regulated the sale of alcohol from bars, bottle stores, liquor depots, discotheque/night clubs and homes. The...
Various interventions such as comprehensive public education by the police specifically designed to curb and flatten the rapid upward trajectory of rape in the village, have failed to bear any fruit. According to police figures, 106 rape cases...
In the midst of the coronavirus that is ravaging humankind, Gabolekwe, former deputy commissioner of police (support services) surrendered his service uniform on April 1, 2020 as a top cop. He was a career police officer who enrolled as a police...
The world is left wondering, “what could we have done differently to stop this enemy?” Ironically, as the enemy advances, with a vengeance, all countries, both big and small, are taking cover indoors to save their dear lives. Covid-19 is...