The Duma Boko School & Clinic in Block 7 will officially be unveiled on September 5 during a tightly controlled launch event, according to an invitation and information published by African Hero, the infrastructure initiative behind the project. African Hero belongs to Boko’s friend, South African businessman Zunaid Moti, who financed the Umbrella for Democratic Change’s (UDC) 2019 General Election bid. The school and clinic development marks a dramatic turnaround for a project that was previously flagged by the Ministry of Finance as financially costly, prompting the government to reject the initial proposal and insist that it preferred open competitive bidding. Appearing before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) last year, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance Tshokologo Kganetsano confirmed that indeed they received a proposal from an investor to build clinics and schools.
He disclosed then that the investor was proposing to put funds into the project and rent out the clinics and hospitals to government after completion. Kganetsano said they made it clear from the beginning that the financial implications in the deal were huge, and that is why they had to send it back. Kganetsano told the PAC then that the Finance ministry made it clear that government was not at a stage where it could borrow money to fund the project. Yet barely months later, the pilot has emerged as the first physical “proof point” of African Hero’s continental infrastructure vision and has been publicly branded around the Head of State. According to the African Hero website, President Boko is the Founding Chairman of the initiative and the Botswana project represents the organisation’s first on-the-ground demonstration of an African-led model aimed at rapidly delivering schools and healthcare facilities. “The Duma Boko School and Clinic development in Block 7, Gaborone, stands as the first physical proof point of that vision, a real site, with real construction progress, designed to serve real children, families and communities,” African Hero states. The invitation describes the September 5 gathering as the official unveiling and launch, with attendance apparently restricted to guests, making it one of the first major public events surrounding the project. African Hero says the integrated development combines a modern 4IR-enabled primary school with a primary healthcare clinic within one community campus.
