People flock to a city where there is no law and order in place. I have just returned from an impressive five days’ visit to Botswana.
As it was my first return during the last 10 years, I was pleasantly surprised how this country has since my last visit transformed itself into one the fastest growing economies in our region, if not the world, with also close to 15% of the residents living in Gaborone.
Yet people don’t live in tin shacks. Indeed, one does not need to spend weeks or months in Botswana in order to understand why this country, despite being landlocked, has walked away with the “Best Run Country in Africa” award, for the second consecutive year.
Driving through the country it is very obvious that natural resources are well managed in order to ensure that a considerable or portion thereof does reach the poor.
The following small observations are testimony of the above statement:
1) I did not observe a single shack dwelling in that country.
2) You hardly find a local Motswana working as a domestic worker for others, as the majority is self-employed.
3) It is my understanding that every young Motswana after successful completion of high school gets a grant of around P200k in order to start own business. I also did not observe a single beggar on the streets.
In addition, with the Pula being approximately 35% stronger than the Rand/N$, indeed Botswana is a living example that all African countries have the potential to drastically reduce poverty, if natural resources are well-managed for the benefit of all citizens and zero tolerance on corruption is maintained.
Brian Black