Gaborone City! What City! - Pt 1 :: Mmegi Online

Is Gaborone your ideal city? If you had the means and the power, what would you change about this city? What would you like to see in Gaborone that you have appreciated in other cities? What is required to transform Gaborone from a functional but sterile city to an intriguing and quintessential melting point abuzz with enduring elements of humanity and social life, writes KEVIN MOKENTO*

Cast your mind, if you can, some 36 odd years back. Do you remember the buzz that went along with the unanticipated declaration of Gaborone a city? That year, the GDP growth rate for Botswana stood at 8.5 percent, down from 13.1% the previous year.

Excitement levels reached fever pitch as finally, after two decades of endurance, Gaborone was brought on par with Maputo (formerly Lourenço Marques), Johannesburg, Harare (formerly Salisbury) and Lusaka.

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