The pornography of poverty

| Wednesday May 1, 2013 00:00

 

I have observed, on both government media of BTV and the Daily News in the past year or so, the handover of houses built for some chosen ill-housed or houseless people in our society. This is done by the national leadership, especially the President Ian Khama. I often watch the joy painted on the faces of the new owners and the accompanying ululations from the crowd with a sense of disappointment. Disappointment at our level of acceptance of the poverty surrounding us, coupled with our lack of duty, to come up with a solution to the housing problem that our society is facing.

The approach to the housing problem that has been adopted by the national leadership does not reflect a sense of commitment or understanding of the feelings of destitution of people who do not have houses as a result of poverty.

Could this be a reflection of the typical deceptive capitalist attitude of seeming to sympathise with the poor and needy just to merely hoodwink them into a sense of comfort? The tendency to choose one ill-housed person in a ward, township and destitute community is to merely instill a sense of gambler's hope in the rest of their type that 'maybe next time it will be me (who wins the lottery).'

It is important that we debate these issues of national interest with the seriousness they deserve. Should we not trace the problem to its source? When did the problem of being un-housed start? What is the problem? Why are more and more people failing to create shelter for themselves. Before Botswana got as rich as it is today adult people were able to, with locally available materials, create decent shelter for themselves. As society grew its young, they were also taught life skills that allowed them to build their own shelter. Today even such basic skills as constructing a hut are sourly missing in our 'educational' programmes. But in the sixties we saw how students at Swaneng and Madiba were able, under the leadership of Patrick Van Rensburg, to build robust buildings for their school. The government that was too scared of the independence that such activity inculcated, took over the schools and destroyed them.

Now if we continuously pursue a policy of selectively building accommodation for the poor by volunteers, when with little assistance they can build their own, we are indirectly saying they are really not part of the national problem.

But to be a little casual, let us go out of the major centers and go to places with pathetic housing like the west, in most parts of Dukwe, and Manakanagoree, north of Nata clinic and primary school. Would any of our leadership feel free to take some foreign visitors there to demonstrate the culture of our 45years of independence and democracy of a country with a population of only two million people? I am tempted to believe after having spent a night in a five star hotel in the capital the visitor would be shocked.

The above mentioned locations are just a stone-throw from the tourist routes to the north and western Okavango swamps. They are not really the worst housing disasters as compared to some others deeper into the more remote areas which are only known to our leaders during election years. The pomp and ceremony with which ribbons are usually cut to mark the official hand- over of these shelters to their chosen owners reflects an inner sense of self acceptance that the real problem still remains unresolved.

Housing is a national disaster that needs to be approached and tackled with a national housing policy in place that prioritises the needs of accommodation of low-income groups and the poor and the unemployed majority. The current housing policy that is pioneered by the Botswana Housing Corporation, like all other government-aided corporations is more profit oriented than service minded to the nation.

The corporation needs to be replaced by many small and localised housing cooperatives that would have the involvement of the people who really need the accommodation. It is my ardent belief that no citizen would prefer to permanently sleep under a tree. It is the responsibility of a caring government to stop abusing its citizens and help them solve the more urgent problems they face such as housing for the people who voted them into office.

If this is too hard a demand then they should stop pretending to be sympathetic to these poor people simply to attract publicity and catch their votes during elections.

At least, at last, the ruling party has accepted failure to improve living conditions as indicated by the problem of poverty it is touting to 'eradicate.

They cannot blame the poverty on anyone since they have been in power for the last 45years. They cannot shift the blame to anybody else but themselves.