Mixed reactions over rhino relocation to NG 32

By Solomon Tjinyeka 

The recent relocations of white rhinos into the NG 32 wildlife management area (WMA) have been received with mixed feelings by the communities.  Some members of the communities view the development as a dress rehearsal for their ultimate removal from their ancestral area while others view the rhinos’ presence as a boost to the local tourism sector. Those who are fearful of the development decry a lack of prior consultations and increased security activities in the area, which impact negatively on their day-to-day lives.
The councillor for Bojanala ward, Luke Motlaleselelo, has maintained that the rhinos’ relocation into their area was carried out without their knowledge and that this has caused confusion among the communities. Motlaleselelo explained that residents also fear that their personal security is at stake and their social life will be negatively affected. The councillor also explained that the first batch of rhinos was relocated into their area in September and the second batch came in early November and that all have since been released into the concession. “As the community   leadership, we are concerned because we were not consulted and this will negatively affect us in the long run,” he said.
He further stated that since the arrival of rhinos in the area, residents’ social life and freedom of movement have been disrupted by security personnel, particularly soldiers, who are always searching them. “People are not living free as they used to because wherever they go they are always searched and repeatedly told not to go where the rhinos are,” he said. He added that this has increased human/wildlife conflict in the area. He cited an incident in which a rhino attacked a mokoro belonging to a community poler and “in another incident a disabled man from Ditshiping was harassed by soldiers as he was forced to offload the grass from his vehicle.”

Read more athttp://www.ngamitimes.com/index.html

Heat Wave Characteristics in the Context of Climate Change over the Past 50 Years in Botswana

By Oliver Moses

Abstract

Heat waves have impacts on human health, society and the economy. This study seeks to improve the understanding of their characteristics in Botswana. For their identification, a heat wave is defined as a period when daily maximum temperatures exceed the normal maximum temperatures by 5 0 C for at least five successive days. Four heat waves variables: (i) mean severity, (ii) mean frequency, (iii) mean duration, and (iv) mean number of heat wave days, have been estimated. Daily maximum temperature observational data for nine synoptic weather stations, which have been used in the study, were obtained from the Botswana Department of Meteorological Services. The stations had data records falling within the period 1959 to 2015 (56 years). The selected heat waves variables have been analysed for trends, whose statistical significance have been assessed using the Mann Kendall test. It has been found that the stations’ mean severity and mean number of heat wave days (the more robust heat waves variables) generally had rising trends over the period 1959 to 2015. The Mann Kendall test revealed that two of the nine selected stations’ mean severity had trends that were statistically significant at 10% significance level. It also revealed that a different pair of the selected stations had statistically significant trends in their mean number of heat wave days. The trends in the other stations’ mean severity and mean number of heat wave days were not statistically significant. With regard to the trends in the mean duration and mean frequency (the less robust heat waves variables), the test indicated that they did not have statistically significant trends at the chosen level of significance.

Read more here http://journals.ub.bw/index.php/bnr/article/view/973/589

Innovative information services in the digital environment — Reference and Information Services Section

Abstract:
With the explosion of information and the popularity of the Internet, librarians have faced new challenges to look for new ways to meet the user’s new demands and expectations. The need to bring information to various users has encouraged the creation of many innovative services linking new technology with traditional library information services. This article explores information pushing programs, other E-reference services and knowledge service as potential sources of innovative reference programs in the digital environment on the basis of practice of the NLA’s reference services.
Read here https://www.ifla.org/past-wlic/2011/197-li-en.pdf

All I Know - Fosta Juliano & HT Tautona

Rural Livelihoods and Community Local Knowledge of Risk of Malaria Transmission in the Okavango Delta, Botswana

By: Dirontsho Maphane, Barbara Ntombi Ngwenya, Moseki Ronald Motsholapheko, Oluwatoyin Dare Kolawole, Lapologang Magole

Abstract

The Okavango Delta in north-western Botswana is a malaria endemic area. Most livelihood activities in this area are seasonal, usually coinciding with malaria season (November-April). The objective of this paper is to assess community perceptions of the relationship between rural livelihood sources and risk to malaria transmission in Shakawe and Ngarange villages of the Okavango River Panhandle in north-western Botswana. Primary data were collected through participatory rural appraisal methods using tools such as seasonal calendars and livelihood rankings. Key informants interviews were also conducted and secondary data were sourced from both published and unpublished materials. Qualitative data were thematically analysed, while simple descriptive statistics were used to analyse quantitative data. The results show that fishing is perceived to increase the risk of malaria transmission more than other livelihood activities. Fishing activities take place at particular times which vary, with social groups. People’s exposure to mosquito bites depends on their proximity to the river and potential mosquito breeding sites. Communities that depend on water-based livelihood activities face diverse and distinct risks resulting from ecological conditions, which are largely driven by climate variability and change. An integrated approach would improve malaria prevention and control strategies and take cognisance of malaria transmission routes which often have to do with livelihood activities.

Read more http://journals.ub.bw/index.php/bnr/article/view/981/599

Of Botswana’s Administrative Centres and their Movements: Vryburg, Mahikeng and Gaborone, 1885-1966

Part Themba Mgadla

Abstract With Botswana celebrating a milestone 50th anniversary of Independence in 2016 a lot of activities took place in the country’s capital Gaborone –the unique History of which this paper refl ects on. This paper uses primary and secondary sources to make an enquiry into the reasons why it was thought prudent by the colonial Botswana (Bechuanaland Protectorate) administration to have an administrative base of the territory outside its boundaries. It also argues that the establishment of the administrative centre of Botswana outside its boundaries was motivated by factors of expediency, top among which were economic and infrastructural while those that later motivated the movement to inside the territory encompassed both economic and political reasons. The paper further argues that the latter factor particularly, linked with the fervor of the rise of African nationalism and its emphasis on equality for all and condemnation of racism and colonialism of which Botswana was part, became instrumental in the movement of the administrative centre from the then Union of South Africa into Botswana in the mid-1960s. The secession of South Africa from the Commonwealth in 1961 to become a republic with a legally racialist ticket added impetus to the movement from Mahikeng into the territory. The agitation of the African leadership together with that of the minority European settlers in Botswana also contributed to the movement of the headquarters to its present location. The paper fi nally examines the nine locations earmarked for the headquarters of the country and why Gaborone, the present capital of Botswana, was considered the most appropriate at the time.

Introduction 
Quite often the seat of administration of the Bechuanaland Protectorate in Mahikeng, South Africa, is referred to as the capital instead of an administrative centre. In addition to the defi nitions of a capital below, a brief history is necessary in order to understand why the seat of the administration of the Bechuanaland Protectorate was outside its boundaries. There is need to defi ne, albeit briefl y, the terms administrative centre and capital town or city in relation to the seat or headquarters of colonial Botswana. It is important from the outset to defi ne these terms because there is a general misconception as to whether Vryburg and Mahikeng were capital towns in the true sense or just administrative centres of the Bechuanaland Protectorate. In that way the readership will be able to understand and appreciate whether colonial Botswana had administrative centers or capital towns outside its boundaries.
read more at http://journals.ub.bw/index.php/bnr/article/view/851/480

Former Botswana President Quett Masire deserves to be remembered as one of the greatest post-colonial African leaders

Quett Ketumile Joni Masire, President of Botswana from 1980 to 1998, died late on 22 June 2017 at the age of 91.  Masire is by no means a household name, even among scholars of Africa, yet he deserves to be remembered as one of the greatest African leaders in post-colonial history, for three reasons.

First and foremost, Masire responded very capably to a seven-year long drought in Botswana that began the year after he took office, which is the country’s longest drought in recorded history and which led to a drop in per capita foodgrain production from 58kg in 1980/81 to only 7 in 1983/84.  Botswana’s drought coincided with ones in Ethiopia and Sudan which attracted far more attention since they contributed towards famines that killed hundreds of thousands of people.  In contrast, there is no evidence of any deaths in Botswana due to famine under Masire’s watch, largely because of his pro-active Labour Based Relief Projects that focussed on creating jobs on such projects as constructing dams, planting gardens, digging trenches and building fences and houses.  His government provided food supplements for children – which was distributed only at schools for school-aged children, thereby encouraging higher school enrolment – as well as for the destitute, disabled and elderly, meaning that some 45 per cent of the population received food relief at the height of the famine in 1984.  The drought also coincided with a national election in 1984 where members of Masire’s ruling party ran on their ability to provide food relief and at least some claimed (falsely) that the food relief came from the coffers of the party rather than the state.  Indeed, as one opposition candidate said at the time, “how do you convince a man that he should vote for you if he has a bag of food in front of him?”

Masire’s second accomplishment was to continue the economic success of his predecessor, Seretse Khama.  Despite the 1980s being known as the “lost decade” for much of Africa, Botswana continued to see some of the highest levels of economic growth in the world throughout the decade and into the 1990s.  This growth was due to the country’s diamond production under the control of the Debswana Diamond Company, which is jointly owned by the government of Botswana and the South African diamond company De Beers.  Perhaps Masire’s biggest accomplishment in this regard was the policy of pegging Botswana’s currency, the pula, to a basket of other currencies to make Botswana exports competitive, alongside serious devaluations of the pula in 1982, 1984, 1985, 1990 and 1991.  These devaluations made imports more expensive, which is why so many other African countries tended to overvalue their currencies, but Masire was able to resist these pressures and thereby overcome a drop in global diamond prices in 1981 and 1988 that could have been disastrous otherwise.

Masire’s final accomplishment is perhaps his simplest yet most profound: he retired from office at the end of his third elected term in 1998, thereby making him the country’s first President to resign voluntarily from office.  (Seretse Khama died of cancer in office in 1980.)  The peaceful and democratic transition to Festus Mogae’s presidency set the precedent for future peaceful transitions in Botswana, such as Mogae’s retirement in 2008 and the current President Ian Khama’s presumed retirement next year.  For a continent where too many Presidents too often overstay their term in office – including in Botswana’s troubled neighbour, Zimbabwe – Masire’s accomplishment in this regard should not go unnoted.

Of course, like all politicians Masire had his weak areas, most notably as regards his lack of public discussion of Botswana’s terrible HIV/AIDS epidemic.  In his defence, however, it is hard to see how Botswana could have avoided the epidemic considering the fact that it is well documented that mining and labour migration – both major parts of the Botswanan economy – are highly conducive to the spread of HIV/AIDS; he also thankfully never emulated South Africa’s Thabo Mbeki by promoting pseudoscientific theories about the disease.  Another relative failure was his inability to halt the country’s rising levels of income inequality, which remains among the highest in the world today.

In the end it would be nice if Masire’s death led to a re-examination of his legacy, not just for Botswana but for other developing countries in Africa wishing to emulate Botswana’s success.