The old trading stores

Churches looked like churches, houses looked like houses, and anything with pillars was obviously either the office of the District Commissioner or the house of the Kgosi or of some other eminent personage. Today anything goes and there is little to distinguish one from the other. Everyone and his aunt has a pillared entrance to their home.

Churches look like banks, and great blocks of building could be almost anything from Ministerial offices to the headquarters of a major corporate. The one building type that is still recognisable is the specialist shop which is still so easily identifiable because of its show windows. But specialist shops are a relative newcomer to this country. Prior to Independence, Gaborone had none, and the same was true of Francistown, so far as I can remember.