Water crisis: Move capital to Palapye?
Wednesday, May 27, 2015
“Relocate the country’s capital to Palapye because it has good supply of water,” screams a recent post on the wall of a Facebook account of Ketlhalefile Motshegwa, the fiery trade unionist.
“I feel that there is good supply of water in the northern part of the country, which will be cheaper to utilise for development in Palapye and its hinterland than carrying it down south,” reasoned the deputy secretary general of Botswana Federation of Public Sector Unions (BOFEPUSU), strengthening his arguments for designating the village as the administrative capital of Botswana.
It is a warning flare to every Motswana who logs onto social media. As a country, we have reached a point where the line between robust debate and outright destruction has become dangerously blurred. At face value, Mabeo’s response, which seeks an apology and threat of a defamation suit, might seem severe to some. But we cannot ignore the context. The comment in question did not offer a policy critique or question a political decision.It...