The city with many names
RYDER GABATHUSE
Staff Writer
| Friday December 5, 2008 00:00
Depending on generations, other than the official name of Francistown, which was named after a gold miner, Daniel Francis in 1897, Francistown bears names such as Ghetto, Sthalala, Tafa,Toropo or whatever individual residents find suitable to them.
Francis was a director of the Tati Concessions Company, the pioneers of the now popular Tati Company or TC, which owns a chunk of land within the city and its environs.
Except for Francistown, other names are seemingly borne out of the fact that on the outskirts of Francistown of yonder years, were squatter settlements of Matjimenyenga, Maipaafela, Aerodrome, Kgaphamadi, Somerset-East and West, PWD, Monarch and others.
The first time I visited Francistown was perhaps in 1981 in company of my mother. The train was by then a major mode of transport and was also mostly utilised by Zimbabwean migrant workers travelling from the South African mines to their native country.
A lot of Batswana also used the train to travel between towns and villages. It was common to spot Batswana migrant workers travelling all the way and enjoying their hard-earned cash from the mines throughout the journey.
We had arrived in Francistown at a time when the sprawling squatter settlement of Somerset West was just waking up from its slumber. Part of the train had stopped on the side of the settlement giving us a clearer glimpse of the whole place and its activities.
People bathing behind their makeshift structures roofed with cardboard boxes and plastics were a common feature. There was heavy movement here with noise emanating from drinking jaunts like shebeens that never rested especially at month ends.
Used water was disposed of indiscriminately without care as to who was passing by. With Botswana's dream of diversifying her mineral based economy, it was apparent that the whole squatter settlement was an eyesore that could turn away potential tourists and investors. The place was overcrowded.
Those in the know say the city was formed as a settlement near the Monarch mine during the gold rush in Southern Africa. Located 450 km north of Gaborone, the capital city, Francistown provides a valuable gateway to neighbouring Zimbabwe, and provides access roads to the tourism destinations of Kasane, Maun and the diamond mining towns of Orapa and Letlhakane, and the soda ash town of Sowa. It also provides valuable access to Zambia, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and other countries in East Africa. Physical features such as the Tati and Ntshe rivers also give the city another interesting look. With limited access to recreational facilities, the two rivers are popular among children from the low-income locations along the banks of the two rivers who play football and other games there. Sadly many boys have drowned in the two rivers during floods.
One of the city's main features, Nyangabgwe Hill, gives the visitor a bird's eye view of this sprawling city.
From Monarch location to the Gerald Estates, Somerset East and West and through the city centre, abandoned mine installations, which are yet to be rehabilitated, are still evident.
A taxi operator got a rude awakening a few years ago when he was kidnapped by thugs and thrown into a pit, which was a part of the deserted mining site near the Botswana Meat Commission (BMC) industrial area.
'In the beginning, the town comprised one street east of and parallel to the railway line. This street featured a several companies, including a hotel, retail and wholesale shops, and three banks. Behind these were houses of the few white settlers.
Segregated areas were made for coloured and black people in the satellite township and between the railway and the river respectively,' journals say about the Haskins Street of yesteryears.
The Bakalanga, the second largest ethnic group in Botswana, are traditionally centred around the town and its environs. Going out into the streets, one will hear Bakalaka competing for attention with Somali, Ndebeles, Shonas, Chinese and many other nationalities, who ply their trade along the city streets.
Francistown has been nicknamed Ku toropo, which means 'in town' by most Bakalaka who do their shopping and sell some farm produce from the rural areas in Francistown.
Whenever they go to town they would say, Ndo enda ku toropo (I am going to town).
In fact, majority of the people who often line up at the District Labour Offices seeking jobs are from the many areas outside Francistown. Perhaps, tired of enquiries for jobs from many Bakalaka, the gates in the industrial site are inscribed 'A kuna nshingo' or there is no vacancy communicating a clear message to the targeted audience.
Unlike Gaborone, which has vibrant peri-urban areas such as Mochudi, Lobatse, Molepolole, and Kanye, Francistown is described as an 'urban island' because of the absence of such areas at its periphery.
There is hardly a peri-urban area with transitional patterns of land use and human settlement. Journals show that this is due to the fact that as from the late 19th century, 'most of what is today Botswana's North East District has been held as freehold land by the TC. The mining concessions and White-owned commercial farms have extended right to the city boundary.' Unmistakably, urban squatter areas, like the sprawling Somerset West have been encroachments on Tati Company land.'
In the Francistown case, therefore, the conceptual boundary between town and village is very much a spatial reality. The absence of a peri-urban fringe has implications for the ritual articulation between town and country.
Francis had emphasised on the design of the city, which turned 111 years this year, to adopt a grid pattern on its Central Residential Area (CRA) and the Central Business District (CBD). The grid system is a concept of development in which streets are lined in a square pattern. This pattern is visible mostly along the Bluejacket Street and Haskins street designed in a linear form.
The old CRA was conceptualised at the same time as the old Central Business District (CBD) whilst new CBD comprises of shopping complexes which are mostly owned by a consortium or individuals. The new CBD includes the Nzano shopping complex, Galo mall, Nswazwi mall, Barclays Plaza, Fire station, Thapama Hotel, the bus rank and other areas.
To the many villages in the city's outskirts, Francistown is a major transport hub. In fact, there are stories that some people just come all the way from the border villages of Maitengwe and others to view trains and enjoy ice cream.
An old and perhaps boring story has it that in the past, a man from Sebina decided to enjoy his money after selling his cattle at the Botswana Meat Commission (BMC) abattoir here. Because the man had never tasted ice cream, he was tempted to order one from a street mobile vendor.
Because he was not familiar with the cold beverage, he ended up piercing his teeth right through it and only to withdraw his bite shouting loudly that 'ndeke nditi ndo shaka ino pisanyana (I said I wanted a warm one)' to the vendor, forcing people who were there to laugh their lungs out as ice cream implies that the beverage is otherwise cold.
Haskins Street, named after a local trading dynasty nearly as old as Francistown itself used to be the principal shopping street, and it is here that we find the retail outlets of old patronised by Africans.
The major ones are still owned by the Haskins Company and the Tati Company. It is one of the city's two main streets, Bluejacket which lies east of Haskins which has gained control of the city's core business entities.
It is along the Bluejacket Street that the commercial banks of Barclays Bank, Standard Bank, Bank of Baroda and First National Bank are located. Capitol Bank will soon open its doors to the northern clients along the same street. Unlike Haskins which has a high number of Chinese shops, which has left the street crowded, Bluejacket is tidy but busier.
Eighty-year-old Beauty Magula, an author and retired primary school teacher, first settled in Francistown in 1967 from Maun. The town was totally under the Tati Concession Company now Tati Company. She was renting in town. The main street then was Bluejacket, which she says stood out then as the centre of activity.
During her early days, the octogenarian says that Mma-Blackie of the Cash Bazaar shops owned a combined shop which sold almost everything they needed.
'Zimbabwe supported our city with its regular supplies of vegetables, which were sold at a market place behind the railway station. The market place gave the Haskins place the complexion of a real market place. Batswana of mixed races-Indians, Jews, Britons and others owned shops here,' she reminisced. She even remembered shops that are no more, such as Donna Cafe, Shoe Box and the Railways Cash Store amongst others.
There was a time when Magula and other city dwellers used to collect bones from the streets and sold a sack full at the light industrial site.
She also reminisces that the Soppa stadium, which was located at the Area-W location and was popular for hosting schools sporting activities and the independence celebrations. From the early 1970s Magula says, she saw Minestone developing into a clean and upmarket suburb at the time. After it was duly set up, that is when other locations sprung up like Area-A, Area-G, Area-H and others.
'Compared to several decades ago, Francistown has grown into a very big place, which is not only important to the North East, but to the entire northern Botswana,' she asserts. Magula has the opportunity of seeing institutions like Francistown College of Education (FCE) and all the modern schools developed.
'It used to be easy for us to cross the road just anywhere, but today with huge traffic within town, it can be frustrating to some of us whose legs cannot move any faster.
Francistown has grown so big,' she said as she gestured with both her hands.
Boikhutso ward councillor Motlatsi Molapise came to Francistown in 1963 as a 23-year-old young man and settled at Somerset West location. As a 64-year-old man today, his impressions about the city is that: 'Francistown has grown in terms of population, but in terms of the needs of the people, we still have so many people here struggling to make ends meet.'
He is worried that the same problems they encountered still persist today as the city battles with unemployment. To him, for the city to depend on commerce with very few manufacturing companies leaves it vulnerable.
When he arrived in town in 1967, BCL mine was recruiting a lot of young Batswana as it was surveying outside town. WENELA- a native recruiting company for the South African mines hired a lot of people then. The Tati Company farms hired a good number of people too.
'But, still a great number of people came from all over the country in search of elusive opportunities. Well, I can see some developments but unfortunately they do not reflect on the lives of ordinary people,' he says.
He challenges government to recognise that 'Francistown is the second city and requires urgent attention just like Gaborone'. Although he did not have empirical evidence to support his assertions, Molapise stated that the Botswana Railways headquarters, was initially earmarked for Francistown before it was taken to Mahalapye. Just like the second university, which was supposed to be built in Francistown, was taken to Palapye.Formerly a mayor in 1994-97, Molapise expected Francistown to have doubled her efforts in attracting foreign investors who specialise in manufacturing. With the city's population of about 84,000 people, Molapise does not find the idea of setting up businesses there a bad one because the city even supplies Zimbabwe and Zambia with services.
Another former mayor, nominated councillor Peter Ngoma argues Francistown should never have had a name change. 'The gold-digger found physical features like the Nyangabgwe Hill standing out as the place did not have sky scrappers like it is the case today. Locals of that time called this area Nyangabgwe so the name could have been maintained,' he argues, dismissing Francistown.
At some stage, Ngoma moved a motion in which he preferred a change of the city's name to Nyangabgwe but the motion was defeated as the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) politician did not get support from his fellow party members who are in the majority.
'I still argue that Francis found this area called Nyangabgwe and should have not changed it in anyway. I would be very happy if the name could be retained at some stage,' he said.
Although I settled in the city only some 14 years ago, in my view the city has seen a lot of changes in terms of infrastructure development, which were pushed by government's urge to have permanent offices. The decentralisation of services by government has seen many of its regional offices established in the city. Government offices used to be scattered around town but now majority of them are under one roof, which has smoothened service delivery. It was even worse for the magistrate and High courts, which saw some people missing their appointments when it mattered most.Modern and spacious offices for the High Court, the Magistrates' Courts, integrated government office block at the Ntshe House and the emergence of shopping complexes like Nzano, Galo, Super Spar and Nswazi malls, amongst others, was done within my 14-year stay here.
The only drawback about Francistown is its badly planned roads, which in most cases are one-way and confusing to a visitor.
The few manufacturing industries have not been of much help because private sector companies do not create enough jobs for the many rural migrants, who end up squatting in town and contributing to the rising crime.Before the global financial crisis reared its ugly head, the resurgence of mining outside Francistown promised to solve the issue of unemployment as a good number of youths were employed at the mines under the Tati Nickel group and Mupane gold mine.
Things took a nasty turn last June when nearly 1,000 employees from the construction site of the Activox Refinery, which was supervised by the Botswana Metal Refinery (BMR) - a subsidiary of the Tati Nickel Mine, were retrenched.Just last week Tati Nickel Mine, on behalf of its parent company, Norilsk Nickel International, announced further possible job losses on December 31 as 133 BMR workers have been warned about the impending retrenchments.
The resurgence of the mining sector has meant a lot of benefits to the communities in which the minerals are extracted. The Tati Nickel Mine and Mupane Mine have been playing a crucial role through their corporate social responsibility endeavours. Tati Nickel Mine has a standing empowerment for science and mathematics students in the schools around the northern region whilst Mupane is so passionate about assisting the underprivileged.