Seisa suggests the easy marketability of BHC houses is a testimony to their affordability. For truth's sake I attended BHC house sale promotion at Tlokweng early this year, and all the cheap houses were gone even before Botswana public had knowledge of their sale. Perhaps, we need to investigate BHC for their secretive sales policy. We need to know who the real buyers of BHC houses are. With a P8, 300 per month salary you can't afford a mortgage to buy the cheapest BHC house at any of the commercial banks. How many Batswana earn that much? Batswana are betrayed by the likes of the Communications Manager in their promotion of corporate interest at the expense of national interest. My question to the Housing Minister is, are Batswana in his opinion only good for old BHC houses?
The US National Association of Realtors (NAR) completed a systematic review of academic research about the benefits of home ownership. It concluded that there is 'a strong case for public policies that promote home ownership as an unbeatable way to provide the kind of stable housing that leads to a wide variety of household benefits and, by extension, social benefits for the community.' Therefore, in Botswana we need to rally both media and civic society behind MPs who stand for citizen economic empowerment in getting us what BHC and their partners failed to provide in the last 30 years.
This country needs serious subsidized housing policy not jokes like SHAA and BHC. Like the government has done for the business community we need a Citizen Mortgage Fund to help us build decent places to call home.
According to NAR, home ownership equals good life. In addition to the wealth gain that comes with home ownership NAR lists benefits of home ownership as follows:
Call for Citizen Mortgage Fund, Part II
Higher educational performance and better behavior of children
l Lower community crimes
l Lessened welfare dependency among households
l More households participation in civic affairs
l Better household health
When you look at the above benefits it's like a summary of Vision 2016. You also see a solution to the voter apathy we see in this country. People are tired of a government that doesn't work for them, and they find no motivation to go to the polls. In finance they say the primary job of the CEO is to increase the net worth of shareholders. In like manner, the primary job of the government is to increase the net worth of citizens thus improving their quality of life.
It seems the 'business special interests' is too strong in this country - it's clear if you look at how long it took to bring DTC to Botswana. To our MPs citizens of this country are asking, how long shall we wait before the government start working for us?
The government will pay millions to a foreign economist to have the information contained in this article, and turn a blind eye on essential information that can change the quality of life in Botswana ka gore go buile Batswana.
When will we have confidence in fellow citizens? How valuable is the contribution of the civil society in our development? Are citizens only needed to cast votes to put the honorable ladies and gentlemen of the Botswana Parliament into the corridors of power? Batswana want to feel that someone is watching their back, and they expect those they elected to do so.
"When you discover that you are riding a dead horse, the best strategy is to dismount and get a different horse," says Dakota Native American tribal wisdom.
The government can ride BHC and SHAA with the largest stick they can find. But what Batswana need is access to funds and they will build. Fa e le gore bahumi ba kgona go fiwa CEDA Mortgage ke eng rona Batswana re sa thusiwe ka madi a go ikagela?
Keneetswe B. Setlhare, MD
