Gaborone - The Southern African Development Community (SADC) indicated the current Minister of Foreign Affairs of Botswana, Pelonomi Venson-Motoi, as the region’s candidate for the position of Chairperson of the African Union (AU) Commission.
This decision was taken during a meeting attended by ten foreign ministers of SADC member states, held Wednesday in the capital of Botswana, and in which Angola was represented by the State Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Manuel Domingos Augusto. The ten ministers received the mandate of the Council of Ministers of SADC, held earlier this month, for selecting the candidate of the Southern Region for the post of Chairperson of the AU Commission, which is currently occupied by the South African Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma. The newly indicated candidate, who should compete for the post of chairperson of the AU Commission with the other regional groups of Africa, was chosen after the evaluation process determined her to be the best that meets requirements, taking into account the established criteria. The ten ministers have also given mandate to the Republic of Botswana to, with the support of the Diplomatic Missions of SADC accredited in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) and the SADC Secretariat to formulate a strategy and develop an effective campaign in support of the candidate of Southern Africa. (source: ANGOP). |
CHIEDZA Musarukwa once had a happy teenage life in a middle-income suburb back in Zimbabwe. Even though they were not rich, her family could afford to live comfortably and she never lacked anything. However, when she was 12-years-old, her father died, his family took over all his belongings, leaving her, her mother and three younger siblings on the streets. "It was a difficult time then, and we didn't know my mother was entitled to all my late father's money and belongings. They (relatives) made her sign some documents and then we were thrown out of our home," she said. Her mother struggled to fend for them but through hard work she persevered and managed to give her children an education. "I was 19 when I started sleeping with men for money and other material things. I had just finished my diploma and was trying to get a job back home," she said. In 2008, life became unbearable in Zimbabwe and her mother could no longer provide enough for the family. Chiedza moved to Windhoek with the intention of getting a job but life in a foreign country proved to be very difficult. "I met some women from my country and we would go out to local bars and clubs, spot the men whom we thought had the most money and then seduce them," she said. She explained that at first it was just for food and she was just experimenting with the sex stuff, but soon after she began trading her body for almost everything she thought she needed at the time. "I just wanted to provide for my mother and sex was the easiest way that I could get what I needed," she said. Things, however, took a turn for the worse when her mother passed away leaving her to care for her three younger siblings who were all still in school at the time. "It was really difficult for me because I was forced to make the transition from a more fun kind of prostitution to what I refer to as street prostitution." Chiedza said she needed more money to maintain the household and put her siblings through school. "My first night on the streets was horrible, but the fact that I saw familiar faces made it easier and from then on I never looked back," she said sadly. However, prostitution remains a chargeable offence in Namibia and those that engage in it could face prosecution. Last year, the City of Windhoek announced that they would not just start arresting prostitutes but will also start arresting their clients. Namibia Police said that the city will start arresting clients of sex workers who are also contributing to the growth of the trade in the country. The harsh economic situation in Zimbabwe has forced many to leave the country and look for better opportunities outside the country. For most of them they leave to go and do odd jobs despite having degrees and diplomas. The number of refugees fleeing Zimbabwe was so high that in 2009, South Africa's Department of Home Affairs declared a moratorium on deporting undocumented Zimbabwean refugees and allowed them to stay in South Africa officially by granting them work and study permits. The hardships found with staying in a foreign country have led many of the women who come to Namibia to resort to prostitution because it is very difficult to find an eight to five job. "I'm a qualified receptionist with a national diploma. “Previously when I stayed in Botswana I never had a decent job, but thrived on casual jobs usually as a cleaner in the construction industry where I earned 50 Pula(5 U.S. dollars) a day," one of the women involved in the trade said. (Xinhua). New Patriotic Party (NPP) Communicator Nana Boakye says President John Mahama's 'tough skin' assertion to the Ghanaian community in Botswana was an affront to the nation. Speaking on Peace FM's "Kokrokoo", Nana Boakye strongly detested the language of President Mahama's comments that he has now developed a "dead-goat syndrome' as a result of the numerous strikes and demonstrations from workers in the country. President John Mahama, addressing some Ghanaians in Botswana, told them that he has since become immune to the agitations from Ghanaians, most of whom were against the poor living conditions in the country. "I have seen more demonstrations and strikes in my first two years. I don't think it can get worse. It is said that when you kill a goat and you frighten it with a knife, it doesn't fear the knife because it is dead already. "I have a dead goat syndrome," he told the Ghanaian community in Botswana where he is on a three-day official state visit. To Nana Boakye, the President insulted Ghanaians in their faces because of his seemingly insensitive reaction toward the plight of the Ghanaian populace. In the wake of the power crises amidst other economic challenges, Nana Boakye expected President John Mahama to offer words empathizing with their problems. Citing some challenges that Ghanaian workers and various households are experiencing due to the erratic power supply, Nana Boakye sensed no tinge of humour in the President's remarks. “This is an insult to Ghanaians. Chairman, this is not humour…Now you have that luxury of time to laugh and make mockery that you have now become a dead goat…The main campaign issue is economic mismanagement and corruption which has brought us this far. So when somebody says something like this, it’s an insult to us,” Nana B said. (Source: Peacefmonline) Imagine a single drug that could prevent human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, treat patients who have already contracted HIV, and even remove all the dormant copies of the virus from those with the more advanced disease. It sounds like science fiction, but Salk scientists have gotten one step closer to creating such a drug by customizing a powerful defense system used by many bacteria and training this scissor-like machinery to recognize the HIV virus. "Evolution has led to some of the most astonishing mechanisms for protecting organisms against their natural pathogens," says Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte, a professor of Salk's Gene Expression Laboratory and senior author of the new work, published March 10, 2015 in Nature Communications. "Understanding the immune responses by which bacteria protect themselves against viral infections has allowed us to engineer novel platforms for the targeting of devastating viruses, such as HIV, in human patients." When a copy of the HIV virus sneaks into a human cell, it can cause havoc. It co-opts the cell's own molecular machinery to made copies of the virus's genetic material and then buries these copies in the cell's own genes. From there, the host's cell becomes an HIV factory, making new copies of the virus to spread throughout the body. Existing HIV drugs target individual steps of this lifecycle; some stop the virus from integrating into cells' DNA, for instance, while others try to stop the affected cells from producing more virus. The problem with these drugs, explains Hsin-Kai (Ken) Liao, a research associate in the Izpisua Belmonte lab and first author of the new paper, is that they don't actually remove the copies of the virus that are hidden within cells' DNA. These copies can remain dormant for years and then activate again. "Patients normally need to drugs every day or every week for their whole lives, because of the HIV that can be latent," says Liao. "This costs money, time and effort." To combat this problem, Liao and Izpisua Belmonte turned to a molecular defense system called CRISPR that bacteria use to cut up foreign DNA at specified spots. Since its recent discovery, scientists have started using CRISPR to edit genes. But Liao and Izpisua Belmonte were also intrigued by its defensive ability and wondered if CRISPR could be programmed to slice and destroy viruses inside human cells. CRISPR uses bits of genetic material called guide RNAs to dictate its cuts, so the scientists developed guide RNAs that bound to unique spots on the HIV virus. They added CRISPR, the guide RNAs and other molecules needed for the system to work to immune cells that had been infected with HIV, and found that CRISPR successfully cut the right spots in HIV's genes, inactivating the virus. This resulted in the virus being completely removed from up to 72 percent of cells. Not only did CRISPR chop up loose copies of the virus as they initially infected the cell, but it also cut up HIV that was hidden and dormant within the cells' DNA. While other research groups have taken similar approaches in targeting CRISPR to HIV, the new Salk study showed that the method is effective against active, full-length HIV rather than a shortened, inactive version of the virus. The Salk team also illustrated in a more complete way how CRISPR targets HIV in living human cells, verifying that it works both before and after the virus is embedded in the genome. "CRISPR can actually excise the virus out of the human genome," Liao says. Next, Liao and his colleagues tried adding the CRISPR system to human cells before they becoming infected with HIV. Having the system in place, they showed, prevented an infection—CRISPR chopped up any copies of the virus before they could start replicating. "The main advantage of this technology is not only that viral DNA integrated into the human genome can be eliminated but perhaps, most importantly, the prophylactic application," says Izpisua Belmonte. "By eliminating the virus at the early steps of its life cycle, we can altogether prevent the infection of human cells in an analogous manner to how conventional vaccines work." Still, more research is needed to determine how the technology could be used in human patients and whether HIV will quickly evolve to escape CRISPR. With that in mind, the team is studying the effectiveness of adding more guiding RNAs to the CRISPR mix so that the defense simultaneously recognizes more areas of the virus. "The HIV virus can mutate very quickly," says Liao. "If we target multiple regions at the same time, we reduce the chance that the virus can develop resistance." (Provided by: Salk Institute ) PUNE: A sessions court here has rejected the revision application by a 32-year-old US citizen of Indian origin and his NRI parents living in Botswana, Africa, challenging the lower court's order on maintainability of provisions under the Domestic Violence (DV) Act, 2005 against them in a case filed by his 27-year-old wife, who hails from the city. The court of additional sessions judge N G Gimekar also directed the magisterial court to expedite the plea by the husband and his parents against certain interim reliefs granted to the wife and to settle the issue of applicability of DV Act. The couple, belonging to Punjabi Hindu families, was married on December 27, 2010 in Haryana and lived in Chandigarh for a week before going to Botswana on January 4, 2011 to be with the husband's parents. On January 9, 2011, the husband (name withheld), an MBA graduate, left for the US to join work, his wife, who is BE and MBA graduate, stayed back with her in-laws. She returned to India on January 25, 2011 after complaining that she was being subjected to domestic violence in Botswana and filed a case here against the trio under the DV Act. Lawyers, representing either sides, are since debating before the courts various questions of law as to whether the DV Act has any extra territorial applicability and whether the offence alleged to have been committed by a US citizen against an Indian person in Botswana, can be taken cognizance of by the courts in India. The case has been heard at different stages by the magisterial court, the sessions court and the Bombay high court prior to the latest order by the sessions court. After the wife had filed a plea on her return to India, a magisterial court granted her certain reliefs including an interim maintenance of Rs 20,000 per month and a restraining order on the husband and the two in-laws from committing any domestic violence. The husband and the in-laws have since appealed against these reliefs and the same is pending consideration before the court. In a related move, the husband and his parents filed an application before the magisterial court arguing that the proceeding against them under the DV Act was not maintainable and be dropped. They argued that the husband is a US citizen and, hence, not amenable to the jurisdiction of Indian courts while the parents are NRIs and the act of domestic violence, as alleged, occurred in Botswana. Hence, it is not cognizable by Indian courts. On January 4, the magisterial court rejected this application on the grounds that "the allegation and counter-allegations could be considered at the time of final hearing." The trio then moved the revision application before the sessions court challenging the lower court's order and the same was heard by judge Gimekar. In a 17-page judgment pronounced on December 6, judge Gimekar observed, "The magistrate has kept open the issue of maintainability to be decided at the time of final hearing and therefore the order did not decide the rights of the parties finally. As such, it is not a final order but, an interlocutory order and hence the revision petition is not tenable." Lawyer Abhijit Sarwate, who is appearing for the husband and in-laws, told TOI on Thursday, "The lower court will now frame specific issues, arising from the matter, for determination on whether the DV Act is maintainable in the case. We will articulate our position before the magisterial court when the next hearing is expected to take place on January 3." On June 6, 2014, when I presented my credentials to the President of the Republic of Botswana, Lt Gen Seretse Khama Ian Khama, we had very jovial conversations. By Julius Peter Moto We discussed a number of things, which included the AU mission for peace building in Africa, notably AMISOM, the Pan African Parliament, the crisis in South Sudan, regional political economy and the co-operation between Uganda and Botswana. He inquired about the number of Ugandans living in Botswana to which I responded about 3,500. He highly regarded the Ugandan professionals working in Botswana, describing his country’s satisfaction in service delivery by Ugandans in Botswana. A number of Ugandans have private health practices in Botswana. When Botswana got independence on September 30, 1966, after almost 80 years under the British administration, there are facts that clearly indicate her transformation: She had about 550,000 people. Now it has a population of 2,127, 825 (July 2013 estimate) She had only 22 college graduates, with 100 secondary semi-skilled labour. Now it has about 1,288,000 skilled labour force. She had only 12km of tarmac roads. Now it has 6,616kms of tarmac roads. Currently, she commits a minimum of 30% of national budget on infrastructure development that is required for opening markets and reducing poverty in the country. It was one of the poorest land-locked agrarian economies in the world, with per capita GDP of $70. But now, it is heralded as one of the fastest growing economies of the world, with the highest per capita income averaging $17,000 per year and it is not about to stop. There was no airport. Now it has seven major international airports and six other airports recognised under the SACU and 20 aerodromes, spread all over the country’s major tourist destinations. To date, these airports are responsible for over 2,500,000 tourist arrivals and the figure is climbing steeply. There was no hotel. Now there are over 30 world-class deluxe hotels, run by both the government and the private sector. There are also a number of budget hotels, tent and camping facilities for low spending tourists. There was no university. Now there are 12 world-class universities. In 1976, under the leadership of the late President Sir Seretse Khama, a nationwide campaign using Motho Le Motho Kgomo (one man, one beast) slogan, over $1m was raised to start the University of Botswana from scratch in 1982. All able bodied Batswana contributed. Now, the University of Botswana ranks number 12 in Africa. The Limkokwing University of Creative Technology received more than 400 million hits on its creative website in 2013. What did the Batswana do differently to register such tremendous successes over the years? There was virtually no hope for this land-locked country. Had it not been for the visionary statesman Sir Seretse Khama (July 1, 1921 – July 13, 1980), the country would not have seen the light of development. Where there is no vision, people die. Here was a leader who suffered discrimination due to interracial marriage but set his feet to steer the present day Botswana to greatness. In the immediate past and presently, there are highly motivated public managers, good politics and rule of the law, hardworking and less corrupt citizens both in rural and urban settings. A combination of these factors are recipes for success in any organisation. Botswana has maintained one of the world’s highest economic growth rates since independence. It is one of Africa’s most stable countries and has the continent’s longest continuous multi-party democracy. The Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) has been in power since 1966 and it is not about to stop ruling. During the elections of October 24, 2014, the BDP won a comfortable margin of 58% and it is currently forming a Government that will see the country grow in the next five years. All the 57 elected Members of Parliament (MPs) and four specially elected MPs took their oath of office on October 30. However, the office of the speaker and deputy speaker remain vacant pending the outcome of a case that is still before court. The Clerk of the National Assembly, Ms Barbara Dithapo, explained that parliament business would not proceed without the substantive speaker as per Section 59 (4). The discovery of diamonds in the sands of Motloutse River 12 years before independence did later trigger the establishment of the world’s wealthiest diamond mines and the immediate inflow of much needed revenue to the young state. However, it was the bedrock of social and economic policies adopted by the country’s post-independence leaders – to ensure that all citizens benefited from the diamond revenues – that began the real economic miracle. Other products exploited and exported, for the benefit of all citizens, include copper, nickel, salt, soda ash, potash, coal, iron ore and silver, livestock processing and textiles, all valued at $6.011b (2012 estimates). Despite their small population, in the private sector, the Botswana brand in financial services is reaching far into other African countries, including Uganda. A company called Letshego Uganda was launched in 2005 and it is a subsidiary of Letshego Holdings Ltd Botswana – a Botswana Stock Exchange listed company. With the enabling laws on competition based on regional economic blocks, Uganda’s businesses can be established in Botswana. In the extractive industries sector, Uganda can learn from Botswana. The Government of Botswana passed new laws that prohibit exporting of unprocessed products to outside countries. Had this been done earlier, the country would have grown by leaps and bounds. The Government established the Diamond Trading Company Botswana in partnership with the De Beers, a major diamond consortium. The DTCB established a modern diamond processing plant in Gaborone - Botswana. With respect to Uganda’s oil and gas sector, a similar pattern of investment with both public and private shareholding, with a determined forward looking board of directors, who shall direct the National Oil Company, will see a robust beneficiation of the sector, triggering direct growth in primary and secondary value chains, for all the citizens of Uganda. The tourism sector of Uganda can grow faster. There is only one limiting factor that is affecting the growth of the sector and that is the cost of reaching the tourist attractions. The Government of Uganda should, as a matter of urgency, invest in a national airline and upgrade the aerodromes in the national parks into international airports that will facilitate direct flights of tourists, thereby cutting the cost associated with the hub-and-spoke aviation concept, a policy I do not agree with. The Ministry of Works and its Civil Aviation Authority should prioritise and invest in this necessary condition that will stimulate growth along the tourism value chains. The Governments, world over, do business in strategic infrastructure. A mix of policy is the best way forward that will ensure survival of private businesses and stimulate growth of the private sector. Uganda cannot be an exception not to do business. The Uganda Development Cooperation (UDC) should be quickly revamped through appropriate refinancing and its priorities aligned with government’s policy direction to remain committed to developing the Uganda’s industrial capacity, as well as playing a major role in facilitating job creation through industrialisation to produce goods along the value chains in competition in the regional market. UDC should not work on potentials. Potentials are there and what needs to be done are actions. UDC should not function as a Government. UDC should function as a business in facing competition with others in the market place for in business quick decisions win customers for you lest the other business gets the customer and you do not make sales. There are already competitors for UDC, notably the South Africa’s Industrial Development Cooperation (IDC) that is state owned and state funded with strings of multiple businesses in Africa and in Europe. IDC makes very good profits while doing so. IDC is financing tourism and infrastructure projects in Uganda. A quick look at the Chinese companies that obtain lucrative infrastructure projects in Uganda will show you that these companies are state-owned and state-funded. In the agriculture sector, Botswana has one of the best cattle industries in Africa and she produces her own vaccines for treating the herds. Environmental factors determine the kind of crops grown and animals reared. A greater part of Botswana is occupied by the Kalahari Desert, with dry and drought-prone desert climate and more or less 20 sq km of irrigated land. Primary crops are corn and wheat that are grown in the wetter eastern part of the country. More than half of the population lives in the rural areas and is largely dependent on subsistence crop and livestock farming. The national herd is estimated at slightly above 2.3 million head but the cattle industry is experiencing a decline. Doing business in Botswana is on a steep rise, thanks to the regional economic block SACU from which large revenues are obtained. The Standard and Poors credit rating for Botswana stands at A- while the Moodys rating for Botswana sovereign debt is A2. Ugandans are encouraged to do business in Botswana due to the World Bank’s doing business 2014 ranking that puts Botswana at 56 out of 189 global economies on ease of doing business, up by nine points from 2013. Investment opportunities exist in the renewable energy sector notably solar, irrigation-based agriculture, manufacture of consumer goods and in the mining sector notably in diamonds, coal, copper and nickel, where government recently lifted a moratorium on the issuance of the mining licenses. The major business challenge include the narrow market of only two million, which makes Botswana a small market but has a gateway to the SADC market of 277 million people. Another challenge is the narrow skills base of the work force, partly due to a low population base or inadequate opportunities for workers to gain industrial experience. Broad band cost of the Internet is high but is expected to decline. The other challenges that Botswana has to address include overgrazing, desertification, limited fresh water resources and the HIV/AIDS scourge. The writer is the High Commissioner of Uganda in South Africa, accredited to the republics of Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe and the royal kingdoms of Lesotho and Swaziland After months of prevarication, Botswana’s President Ian Khama finally decided on a deputy. Meet Mokgweetsi Masisi, formerly minister of education and now the man almost certain to succeed Khama in the top job. But he wasn’t Khama’s first choice – even the president can’t have it all his own way. By SIMON ALLISON.
Finally, on Wednesday afternoon, Ian Khama made up his mind, and presented his choice for vice president for ratification by parliament. It had taken Botswana’s president a long time to get to this point – so long, in fact, that he actually campaigned without a running mate, and governed the country for two weeks without a deputy in place. To understand why he agonised over this decision, it’s necessary to understand a strange quirk of politics in Botswana – and to understand this, we must go back to 1998, towards the end of President Ketumile Masire’s fourth term in office. Masire did a strange thing. Eighteen months before his term officially ended, he resigned, but not before amending the Constitution to limit all future presidents to a maximum of 10 years in office (he’d been in power for 18 years by that time, so the amendment was perhaps a little hypocritical, but no less laudable for it). He also made sure that the vice president automatically succeeded the president should the president step down. “By resigning before the end of his term, Masire triggered the new ‘automatic succession’ provision. He also disconnected presidential term limits from the electoral cycle. Unless and until the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) loses an election, each president will choose his own successor,” observed Amy Poteete, an associate professor at Concordia University and an expert on Botswana’s politics. That’s what Khama is doing now. He’s not just choosing a deputy – he’s choosing the next president of Botswana. Step forward Mokgweetsi Masisi. When Khama resigns in three and a half years, as he must, Masisi will take over (barring an unprecedented political reshuffle before then). Masisi will then enjoy 18 months of unchallenged incumbency before having to contest any elections. He’ll take the benefits of incumbency – the name recognition, the access to state resources – into those elections with him. It’s a genius political strategy. It also encourages continuity of policy across administrations. Former president Masire, it seems, knew exactly what he was doing when he stepped down early. So what do we know about the new VP? Xinhua has a brief profile: He’s a teacher by training, but has spent most of his career on the administrative side of education, specifically curriculum development. He picked up a postgraduate degree along the way, and did a stint with the United Nations Children’s Fund before getting involved in politics. He lost his first contest, failing to get past the ruling party primaries for a parliamentary seat in 2003. In 2008-2009, he tried again, eventually winning the seat for Moshupa, a district not too far from Gaborone. He rose quickly in government, first as assistant minister for presidential affairs and public administration, then as minister for that department, then as education and skills development. Now he’s vice president, with the top job in his sights. But he wasn’t Khama’s first choice as successor. That honour went to Khama’s brother, Tshekedi Khama. If Tshekedi had been appointed, and subsequently became president, then three of Botswana’s five post independence presidents would have been from the Khama family (founding president Sir Seretse Khama sired both Ian and Tshekedi). The family connection seems to be Tshekedi’s main drawcard. As the Mail & Guardian observed in 2012, when he was elevated suddenly from inconspicuous backbencher to minister of wildlife, environment and tourism, a position he continues to occupy, “Tshekedi is a low profile MP who has not distinguished himself in Parliament and it is unclear what qualifications he has for the job”. But opposition to Tshekedi was stiff, even from within the ruling party. The VP pick must be ratified by parliament, but Khama feared that Tshekedi would be rejected in a secret ballot where parliamentarians could defy the president without fear of retribution. So Khama pushed for a vote by show of hands – a method that would allow him to see exactly who voted with him, and who didn’t. In an encouraging show of independence, the judiciary was having none of this. The court ruled that parliament should continue to vote in secret, forcing Khama to change his pick or face a party revolt. Sensibly, he opted for the former option, submitting Masisi instead. DM Last month, the ruling Botswana Democratic Party narrowly won a majority of seats in parliament. In an email interview, Gape Kaboyakgosi, senior research fellow at the Botswana Institute for Development and Policy Analysis, discussed Botswana’s domestic politics. WPR: What are the reasons behind the ruling Botswana Democratic Party’s (BDP) recent decline in support? Gape Kaboyakgosi: A number of factors led to the electoral decline of the BDP. First, for the first time ever, the BDP broke apart, leading to the formation of the Botswana Movement for Democracy (BMD) by several longtime BDP members. Their resignations deprived the BDP of experienced, credible campaigners. By joining with the Botswana National Front and the Botswana People’s Party to form the coalition Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC), the BMD averted splitting opposition votes, which had hitherto weakened the opposition’s electoral performance. Second, Botswana’s largest-ever strike in 2010 led to widespread discontent among the sizeable civil service. The government’s unwillingness to engage constructively with the civil service led to further aggravation, including the civil service trade union BOFEPUSU openly calling for regime change and mobilizing public servants against the BDP. Third, respected former presidents Festus Mogae and Quett Masire openly criticised the BDP in the run-up to the elections. And finally, rising unemployment, particularly among young Botswanans, together with a slowing economy, also hurt the BDP, which has become organizationally weaker. WPR: How strong are the opposition parties in Botswana, and what demographics do they represent? Kaboyakgosi: Botswana’s opposition parties have grown stronger. In 2014, they fielded more educated candidates with better name recognition—a departure from their previous inability to recruit high-caliber candidates. Better branding and cross-generational appeal helped the opposition grow. Altogether the UDC received nearly 53 percent of the votes, while the BDP obtained 47 percent. However, the first-past-the-post electoral system means the BDP has the majority of seats in parliament, 33 of 57. The youth and the urban middle class, particularly in southern Botswana, tended to vote for the opposition. Of the 20 constituencies won by the opposition, 16 came from southern Botswana. Worth noting also is that major villages, including some traditional BDP strongholds, voted for the opposition. WPR: What are the major issues facing Botswana during President Ian Khama’s second term? Kaboyakgosi: The new Khama administration must deal with a number of pressing issues. First, Botswana urgently needs to diversify its economy. The country faces a fiscal cliff in the next decade due to declining diamond production. Botswana also has a big unemployment problem, particularly among the educated youth. HIV/AIDS continues to pose a socio-economic challenge, especially with the sizeable public expenditures on treatment efforts. Domestically, there are more perceptions that corruption is growing, and that the government needs to adopt a tougher, more proactive anticorruption stance. Implementation of major projects is also a challenge. The failures of a number of significant infrastructure projects have caused widespread discomfort among citizens. - WPR. Brittany Maynard, 29-year-old terminal brain cancer patient plans to end her life on 1 November.10/30/2014
Brittany Maynard was diagnosed with terminal cancer at the beginning of the year. She feared that the drugs she would need to take to manage her brain tumour would limit her quality of life while her age would allow her body to continue to survive even when the pain may no longer be bearable. With her husband and her family, she opted to move to Oregon from her home state of California as it allows her to end her own life. She recently completed a bucket list visit to the Grand Canyon and will celebrate her husband, Dan's birthday today (30 October), before ending her life on Saturday. She does mention that she will still make that final decision but that she hopes that by sharing her story others will be able to make the choice for themselves too. Not everyone supports her decision and are hoping she decides not to take her life. I am so lucky to have known the love of an amazing husband (my husband Dan is a hero), a loving, caring mother, and an incredible group of friends and extended family. As my time draws closer, I hope you will all take up my request to carry on this work, and support them as they carry on my legacy. I'm so grateful to you all. South Africa does not make provision for individuals who would like to choose when they would like to die although the issue was raised after MP Mario Ambrosini died recently after a long battle with lung cancer. (Colin Cullis). The government of Botswana is relocating the last few dozen San Bushmen out of the Central Kalahari Game Reserve. For more than 20,000 years, the San have lived in the region as hunter-gathers. The government says the Bushmen are no longer true hunter-gathers and shouldn't live in a wildlife reserve. (Copyright © 2005 NPR). LIANE HANSEN, host: The government of Botswana is in the process of relocating the last few dozen San Bushmen out of the Central Kalahari Game Reserve. The move will end human habitation in an area where the San have lived for more than 20,000 years. The government says the Bushmen are no longer true hunter-gatherers and shouldn't live in a wildlife reserve. Though other small groups of Bushmen remain in Southern Africa, few live as hunter-gatherers and the Bushmen say this move could wipe out their ancient culture. NPR's Jason Beaubien reports. JASON BEAUBIEN reporting: Kumana Lintouri(ph) has only been at the government relocation camp of New Xade for one day and he's ready to leave. (Soundbite of crowd noise) BEAUBIEN: Lintouri is one of 25 Bushmen trucked by Botswana wildlife officers out of the Central Kalahari Game Reserve the day before. The government sealed off the vast desert reserve in August. Lintouri says officials are blocking the remaining Bushmen from gathering roots, berries or water. Hunting was banned several years ago and he said he had no choice but to move out. Sitting in the gray, sandy soil of his newly allocated plot of land, Lintouri pokes at the bags of cornmeal and long-life milk he's been given by the government. Mr. KUMANA LINTOURI (San Bushman): (Foreign language spoken) BEAUBIEN: `I don't know what I'm going to do to survive,' he says. `The government is ending my life by sticking me with this maize meal, this milk. I'm going to be depending on them, which makes my life very difficult. I don't want to be dependent upon someone.' Inside the reserve, Lintouri says, he knows where to find fruits and water-rich roots. He says life is easy for him in the desert, but he's unfamiliar with this new area. The Central Kalahari Game Reserve covers more than 27,000 square miles, making it about the size of South Carolina. The relocation camp of New Xade is just outside the western edge of the reserve. Lintouri's wife moved here three months ago with their children. Lintouri says his very first night in the camp he and his wife got into an argument. Mr. LINTOURI: (Foreign language spoken) BEAUBIEN: `She went on drinking alcohol all night with our seven-month-old baby,' he says. `That's one of the things I hate about this area. It seems my wife and I are going to be divided. That's not the kind of life I want. Inside the reserve, she cannot go for alcohol and we are always together and planning for our lives together.' The San Bushmen were the first humans to live in Southern Africa. For thousands of years they flourished as hunter-gatherers in the Kalahari Desert. Eventually, their territory was constricted by Bantu farmers, who moved south from equatorial Africa. Their numbers dropped dramatically after European colonialists pushed north from the Cape of Good Hope. Recent estimates put the number of remaining Bushmen at less than 100,000. Only a few hundred of them have been living in the Central Kalahari Reserve. Tribal elders say that after the recent removals, only about two dozen Bushmen remain in what was once the heart of their territory. Ruth Maphorisa, the district commissioner for the part of Botswana that includes the Kalahari Game Reserve, says the Bushmen, like all other residents of Botswana, shouldn't be allowed to live in a wildlife refuge. Ms. RUTH MAPHORISA (District Commissioner): People have always argued that these who are the last hunters and gatherers, whatever, and out--argue that their lifestyle have changed because within the game reserve they've been keeping livestock, they've been cultivating land. So it's not like hunting is the main means of providing livelihood. BEAUBIEN: Maphorisa denies that the Bushmen are being forced out of the game reserve. She says the 70-odd police and wildlife officers who descended on the Bushmen's villages in early September are there to enforce a goat quarantine and to assist any Bushmen who want to leave. Maphorisa says most of the Bushmen are moving voluntarily to government camps because they've run out of water. Since the government sealed off the reserve at the end of August, journalists aren't allowed to enter the park. A video of the removals that was shot by the Botswana government shows the Bushmen arguing with the officials. It doesn't, however, show anyone being ordered out at gunpoint, as some Bushmen have claimed. (Soundbite from video) Unidentified Man #1: (Foreign language spoken) Ms. MAPHORISA: I know you cut down on the license. Unidentified Man #1: (Foreign language spoken) BEAUBIEN: In one sequence on the video, Maphorisa is chastising the village chief over the lapsed registration of his Toyota pickup truck. Besides illustrating the way bureaucracy can penetrate even the most remote parts of the globe, the confrontation shows how the Bushmen have become caught between two worlds. They want to track game and gather monkey oranges, as their ancestors did for thousands of years, but they also want to keep their pickup trucks. The government says they can do all of this at the relocation camp, but the Bushmen argue they don't know the wildlife patterns in the new area. They also say they need to remain in the Central Kalahari to be near the graves of their ancestors. (Soundbite of cow mooing) Mr. GENE DEFUF MONTSUMA(ph) (Bushman): ...issue that the people have been living... BEAUBIEN: Back at the New Xade relocation camp, it's not yet noon, but Gene Defuf Montsuma is blurry-eyed drunk. He was part of a convoy of Bushmen who a few weeks earlier had tried to defy the government's quarantine of the reserve and deliver supplies to the relatives inside. Mr. MONTSUMA: My uncles inside there, five of them. I like them. That's why I wanted to travel, to seek exile to Masimono(ph), to give them some water and food. BEAUBIEN: Botswana security forces fired tear gas and rubber bullets at the Bushmen to keep them out of the reserve. Alcoholism, unemployment and HIV are widespread in New Xade. The government has built a health clinic and a school, but there are few opportunities for work. The arid camp is an hour and a half's drive by four-by-four from the nearest town. This youngest bushman is one of the lucky ones. He has a job as a civil servant in New Xade. But overall, he says the future for the Bushmen is bleak. Unidentified Man #2: For instance, like this current situation, our sisters have got fatherless children--a lot of them, you know, and they are victims of HIV and AIDS. So after that, you know, I can't see any future with us. BEAUBIEN: He doesn't want his name used because he's afraid of losing his government job. He was educated as all Bushmen children are required to be at a government boarding school outside the reserve. The 34-year-old says he could get work in the capital, but stays in New Xade to be near his aging parents. He adds that the Bushmen who move into town change quickly. Unidentified Man #2: They find that, you know, their culture has changed somehow there, e--that ethnalities have changed somehow, you know. they can go out cavalierly. You know, some of them even go to--extent of forget--you know, kind of forgetting their real--their own languages. BEAUBIEN: He says that the only hope for the Bushmen to survive as Bushmen is for some of them to carry on their traditional lifestyle in remote parts of the Kalahari. His people may have children and grandchildren in the camps, but that next generation, he says, won't be Bushmen. They'll be something else. A court case in Botswana is set to resume early next year to determine whether the Bushmen have the right to return permanently to the Central Kalahari Game Reserve. Jason Beaubien, NPR News. HANSEN: You're listening to WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. (2005 NPR). . |
AuthorBona Africa Group
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