Bigger vision or nightmare
Friday, July 10, 2015

Hopeful investors during a field tour of the area that would later become Boseto Mine
For years, residents of Botlhatlogo, Sehithwa and Toteng, were among the poorest in Botswana; in 2014, according to the government-run Statistics Botswana, found that 46.2% of the district’s residents lived in abject poverty.
But the 2010 advent of a first ever copper mine in their midst raised hopes that perhaps things would turn out for the better. But that hope has all but fizzled out.
As the new Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) government takes charge, it must act decisively to equip the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime (DCEC) with the tools, laws, and resources needed to combat graft. The time for half-measures is over. DCEC Director-General, Botlhale Makgekgenene’s, recent address to the Public Accounts Committee paints a stark picture. Over five years, leadership instability, chronic underfunding and weak...