BCL a cautionary tale
Mmegi Editor | Tuesday October 11, 2016 10:34
From labour, to the financial services sector, to the Botswana Power Corporation, precious few sectors will escape the contagion effects coming out of Selebi-Phikwe from the collapse of its economic mainstay.
Thousands of miners face a bleak future, while their families, their creditors and others brace for the domino effect of a loss of formal employment. Selebi-Phikwe, with more than 50,000 residents, faces its long held spectre of becoming a ghost town. As the nation wipes its collective tears and braces for an uncertain future, it is appropriate to note that the closure of BCL Mine and the impact on Selebi-Phikwe will be replicated in several towns across the country in a few years to come.
Jwaneng, Orapa and Sowa Town are in similar symbiotic relationships with mines, whose reserves are finite and in the case of the first two, on a sharp decline. The towns were built for and around mineral resources, which by nature, will run out at some point. The good news, however, is that during the lifespan of the mine, prudent authorities have an opportunity to embark on initiatives to ensure that the town and its standards of living, opportunities and investment allure, outlive the mineral resources.
In Phikwe’s case, to some extent, authorities in local and central government foresaw the decline in the 60-year-old operation and again to some extent, planned for it. Volumes of studies have been done and the sectors available to diversify away from BCL Mine are known.
The reason, however, that people in and around Phikwe are panicking right now is because despite the studies, very little has been achieved on the ground, certainly not to the level of replacing the hole left by BCL Mine.
From the Selebi-Phikwe Development Programme of 1985, to the establishment of the Selebi-Phikwe Diversification Committee in 2001 and SPEDU today, little has been established that could assuage the fears of residents in and around Phikwe.
In the nearly three decades since the Selebi-Phikwe Development Programme, a few industrial and agricultural projects under the diversification efforts have been established, but none of these goes anywhere near the level of support BCL was giving Phikwe.
That situation is symptomatic of the harm official lethargy does on noble intentions, where prudence and foresight are undermined by foot-dragging and procrastination.
The European Union foresaw the situation and moved quickly to fund SPEDU’s activities, but their sense of urgency was clearly not matched by action on the ground.
This will be the fate of Jwaneng, Orapa and Sowa Town should government, the private sector and civic partners fail to agree on and implement concrete plans starting today, to avoid disaster in the near future.
Today’s thought
“A stitch in time saves nine”
- Traditional adage