Poverty still grinds on in Sehonou

Botho Baputaki | Friday October 25, 2013 16:52

 

SEHONOU: After spending P1,509,788 in a poverty eradication workshop that had all the pomp and ceremony with Vice President Ponatshego Kedikilwe performing the official opening, this remote village in Serowe South constituency has reverted back to its grinding poverty.

This amount was revealed by the Minister of Presidential Affairs and Public Administration, Mokgweetsi Masisi, at a September 12 Parliament sitting.

Other places where similar workshops were held and Masisi revealed the figures spent were a Letlhakeng Sub-district village of Diphuduhudu where P937,080 was spent and Struizendam in the Kgalagadi District where P2,191,396 was used.

The total amount used in the workshops, excluding others held subsequently was P4,638,264, according to Masisi in response to a question that was asked by Member of Parliament for Francistown South, Wynter Mmolotsi.

In Sehonou, at least 14 villages from the four sub-districts in the Central District were expected to have benefitted from the workshop.

Masisi said 400 public officers participated at each event, spending anything from three to 10 days away from their normal stations.

Government said the goal of the workshops were to give programme beneficiaries intensive skills training to start up and grow micro-enterprises in ecotourism, backyard gardening and bee-keeping.

'Mokete ke wa eng? Why can't they just be trained without having directors and permanent secretaries present?' Mmolotsi had asked.

Masisi had answered that the workshops were work, and not celebrations as Mmolotsi had suggested.

But when Mmegi visited Sehonou, exactly a year later, only vivid memories remained for the poverty-stricken residents, who were definitely awed by the over 500 well-heeled experts and government officials who had thronged the workshop.

Officers in suits, women in stilettos and others in outdoor wear that included broad-brimmed hats that shielded them from the sun were in contrast with residents dressed in patched-up trousers, some of whom could not even afford a cheap pair of shoes in a Chinese shop.

The village has only one tuckshop and one functioning standpipe out of the three available ones.

With the village youth facing an uncertain future of joblessness and extreme poverty, Sehonou headman Madala Sianang Gabogopolwe felt that the government was giving up on them.

This was one of the issues the aging Kgosi brought up in a wide-ranging interview in which he also reflected on the origins of the village, his Basarwa tribe, and the poverty eradication workshop that brought no change to their lives.

Though Gabogopolwe said the poverty eradication workshop was the best thing that the government has ever done for them as a village, he felt that there had been little change, as the backyard gardening could not take off due to severe water shortage in the village.

However, he appreciated the fact that it opened their eyes and showed them that as Basarwa they too can enjoy sustainable livelihoods.

Apparently, immediately after the workshop the government assisted some of the villagers to plough, harvest and sell their produce. But there are those who are still waiting for such assistance, especially in connecting water to their homes or for it to be brought to tanks that were left behind by the workshop attendees.

As for those given livestock, the headman said they had been left with nothing after people confiscated the livestock, which had strayed into ploughing fields.

When giving the history of Sehonou, Gabogopolwe said he was born in a place called Monkgaphokojwe into a family of hunters and gatherers.

The area was later incorporated into Sehonou, which before that was not in existence.

Gabogopolwe's father was a herdboy for whites from Serowe who later moved with the old man to Motshegaletau upon realising that he had a grasp of both English and Setswana.

Gabogopolwe said by that time white people used to take pictures of his people (Basarwa) after which they were rewarded and that was how they met his father who was also a hunter and gatherer.

By then Gabogopolwe said they did not know anything about maize meal, rice and other foodstuffs found in shops. They lived on melons and meat.

Theirs was a nomadic existence as they never stayed for too long in one place unless there had been a big kill, or the place had plentiful food which would mean they would first finish eating what they found there, especially meat, and then migrate somewhere else.

However, the drilling of boreholes brought them to one place because they needed water for their livestock and themselves.

Although most of them were brought together and stayed permanently, there were those who still lived deep in the forests and came only to fetch water and then went back.          In the run-up to the 1966 elections, they were requested to register their names so that they could vote and they did not know how to read and write.

Luckily, the whites that had boreholes nearby helped them to register for the elections.

After registration, the census office also paid them a visit to make its population count. 

Gabogopolwe said that during the winter of the same year Sir Seretse Khama visited them and urged them to group themselves in order to be able to enjoy government services like other tribes.

After Sir Seretse's visit the residents started receiving food rations from the government and that made those who were living in the forest to come out and settle closer to others.

He said that is how Sehonou became a village after some thorough research and investigations to see if the area had no absentee landlord and that it was good enough to be a settlement.

After it was gazzeted as a village, developments such as a school, borehole, water and electricity started coming one after the other and the kgotla was also built.

Social workers from the Social and Community Development (S&CD) also came to assist in improving people's lives to what it is now.

Gabagopolwe said even now, there were some Basarwa who still did not want to move to developed areas and others who still did not have national identity cards.

He said although some of these people used to own livestock, it was taken from them and though they reported the cases, they were never taken seriously.

He further added that his late father, who was the headman before him, always encouraged Basarwa to be hard workers who took care of their properties in order to better their lives instead of being beggars eternally.

Gabagopolwe's father also encouraged his people not to sell their things since that was their children's inheritance.

The chief further said what they needed was a concerted encouragement from the government. He also added that government employees used to hold workshops in the village of Sehonou but they have since stopped as he felt  'they are giving up on us'.

He said the youth faced a bleak future, as there was no employment. He also said if it was not for monetary constraints, the government could be giving them cattle again and drilling another borehole so that they could water their livestock.

He also said his village faced shortage of accommodation for government employees saying there was a police officer who was on the verge of leaving since she had no place to stay.

The chief also wished his kgotla could be upgraded so that they could have a court clerk to avoid travelling long distances for some services.

He also wished they had a clinic in their village since the one in Motshegaletau was far, adding that there had been incidents of sick people who died in their homes and pregnant women who gave birth on the way to the clinic.  Another problem the village is facing according to the chief is illegal shebeens that sell dangerous concoctions to the people and also operate beyond stipulated hours.

As for crime Gabagopolwe said the situation has stabilised since he was installed as the village headman.

The chief was beside himself with worry as he felt his village was developmentally lagging behind neighbouring villages.

He also said as Basarwa they also wanted to plough and they expected the Landboard to allocate them farms, adding that they had realised the benefits of farming and wanted to avoid looking up to the government at all times.

A fully-fledged village, Sehonou is in MP Pelonomi Venson-Moitoi's constituency.

Venson-Moitoi was initially uncooperative when reached for comment, though she later called and seemed to have a change of heart.

Together with Baikokobetsi Lorato, the administration officer at the constituency office, they said they were not aware that some Sehonou residents had never applied for identity cards.

They said despite having held numerous meetings at the village, no one ever told them that people there did not have their Omang.

'There is no way we cannot assist people in our constituency when they speak up.

We were not aware that the issue of national identity cards was so serious because residents never raised it during kgotla meetings,' said Venson-Moitoi while the officer murmured how Sehonou residents were slow learners.

Responding to a Mmegi questionnaire, Central District Council (CDC) spokesperson Oaitse Serite said the poverty eradication that Sehonou hosted last year brought some improvement in the lives of residents of the village who benefitted from the programme.

She further stated that departments from different ministries monitor projects in the poverty eradication programme.

The bee-keeping project is overseen by the Ministry of Agriculture's Crop Production, kiosks by Gender Affairs (Ministry of Sports, Youth and Culture), small stock by the Animal Production Department, to name a few.

She also said that through the affirmative action plan CDC is currently assisting students to secure spaces and sponsorship in various institutions in the country.

She said currently there were four students from Sehonou at the Serowe Brigade, one at the University of Botswana (UB), one at Botswana Accountancy College, four at ABM and another two at GIPS.

She further added that in the back-to-school programme they have one student in Standard Seven, 13 at Junior Certificate, seven at senior school level, one at tertiary level and 11 are employed though she could not specify what kind of employment.