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BOPA News on 26 November 1999

Accompanied by the British High Commissioner to Botswana, Sir John Wilde, Princess Anne was taken on a conducted tour of Botswelelo Pottery Centre in Thamaga.

Thamaga Western Primary School also treated her to traditional music.

Thamaga Pottery board member Godiramang Makhaya told the visiting British royal that the centre started as a rural development project in the early 1970s.

With the help of a Catholic missionary it flourished and created jobs for many people. But the project later ran into difficulties because of lack of managerial skills among the locals.

He said the project recovered when the UK-funded Skills Share Africa to sent a volunteer from London.

Ms Donna Neseyif, the expert, revamped the project after three years of her stay in Botswana, he said.

Assistant Minister of Local Government and MP for Thamaga Gladys Kokorwe told the visitors that government programmes, among them the Financial Assistance Policy, were designed to help accelerate rural development.

At Kanye, Princess Anne was briefed about the operations of the Rural Industry Innovation Centre (RIIC).

Its General Manager Percy Maribe said the centre's growth had been slow because of lack of skilled personnel.

Senior Immigration Officer Cavin Seru said the majority comprised Baherero who sought repatriation to Namibia after that country became independent in 1990.

Speaking in an interview on migration trends this week, Mr Seru said other Batswana moved to Zambia, South Africa, United Kingdom, United States of America, Portugal, Kenya, Lesotho and Zimbabwe because they married nationals of those countries.

The role of the Department of Immigration and Citizenship when Batswana acquired citizenship of other countries was to help them renounce the Botswana citizenship, Mr Seru said.

United States Embassy spokesperson, Mr Bryan Hunt said 17 Batswana took up American citizenship between 1987 and 1966, while 94 others obtained immigrant visas between 1987 and 1997.

Mr Hunt said people applying for US citizenship were required to obtain the immigrant visas to allow them to travel to the United States where they should become permanent residents.

Applicants for US citizenship should reside in the States continuously between their date of application and the time they became citizens, he explained.

He also said that certain categories of US immigrant visas required specific academic credentials from the applicants.

However, the issuance of most immigrant visas was based on family ties and did not require academic achievements.

Meanwhile, people who apply for British citizenship should have been born in the UK before 1983.

Mr Andrew Bedford of the British High Commission in Gaborone said most applicants had parents who were born in the UK.

Others applied because they married Britons while a few applied because they wanted a change of scene.

He said his office did not have the number of Batswana who might have applied for British citizenship.

Answering a question in Parliament, Minister David Magang said dry-grading involved removing defects such as corrugations, ruts and potholes using graders. Mr Magang said the Department of Roads dry-graded the Lehututu/Ncojane road recently.

The Lehututu/Ukhwi section was dry-graded in June while the remaining portion was done in October.

He was answering a question from the MP for Kgalagadi, Mr Lesedi Mothibamele, who asked him to state whether he would consider privatising the regravelling of Lehututu/Ncojane road to reduce the delays caused by the Department of Roads.

Assistant Minister in the Office of the President, Tebelelo Seretse, said in Parliament this week that women who held positions of responsibility had demonstrated that they were as capable as men.

Ms Seretse, who is the MP for Serowe South, said if given the opportunity, women could help men to develop Botswana and eliminate poverty and unemployment.

She said it was regrettable that women who held high positions in public life must work four times harder than men to prove their worth.

The assistant minister accused the MP for Lobatse, Mr Nehemiah Modubule of misleading the nation by saying communal farmers were doomed because they could not meet the requirements of the European Union, the main importer of Botswana beef.

Ms Seretse welcomed the privatisation of some government functions but urged that it should empower Batswana. She warned that Batswana would remain economically powerless if they fronted or foreigners to take up the privatised government functions.

She urged Batswana to develop the culture of saving money, saying it took a financial discipline to do so.

She complained about the poor state of roads in Serowe.

The government should help the district council with expertise to improve them.

Ms Seretse asked the government to upgrade the Sekgoma Memorial Hospital so that it could cope with the influx of patients from the peripheral villages.

Clinics and health posts in the area also deserved a facelift, she said.

"Reference to the past plans reveals that a district hospital in Kang was never in the national development plan," she said.

She was answering a question from the MP for Kgalagadi, Mr Lesedi Mothibamele, who asked her whether she was aware of the continuous complaints by the Kang community that they had been promised a district hospital.

He also wanted the minister to state when the promise would be fulfilled.

Ms Phumaphi said records showed that government never promised to build a district hospital in Kang.

She said she was not aware of the complaints by the Kang community that they had been promised a district hospital.

The new faces are Rebecca Banika of Chobe and Tapson Jackalas of Northeast who replaced Julius Mologasele and Christopher Masunga respectively.

In Kgalagadi, Kgosi David Toto II and Kgosi Walter Ramoswane retained their seat as representatives of Kgalagadi and Ghanzi districts.

A news release from the House of Chiefs says the elections were held last week in accordance with the requirements of Section 79 (1) of the Constitution of Botswana and House of Chiefs (Election of Elected Member) Regulations.

The elected members' term of office is to last the next five years, and were conducted by the Commissioner of Customary Courts, Patricia Matenge and the House of Chiefs Assistant Secretary, Molatlhegi Modie.

The ministerial conference, which is the supreme body of the WTO, is meeting ahead of what is expected to be a make-or-break WTO conference.

The Third World countries are agitating for more fundamental reforms of the world trading systems in terms of the removal of protectionist measures and correctional imbalances between the rights and obligations of members.

The developed North would like a broad-based round which will balance the rights and obligations of the members.

They would like the round to be concluded within three years as opposed to seven years taken to complete the Uruguay Round.

The developing countries on the other hand would like the proposed round to focus mainly on the implementation of existing agreements most of which are complex and as such take a big chunk from their meagre resources.

Mr Kwelagobe and his entourage return on December 7.

"We must promote our country through our products," he said when debating the President's state of the nation address in Parliament.

Mr Modipane appealed to Batswana to be patriotic to protect the interests of the country, adding that they should not abet foreigners.

He said by so doing, they would be protecting themselves.

He called on the Botswana Bureau of Standards to inspect imports coming into the country to ensure they met the required standards.

He said most goods were faked and presented an unfair competition to locally produced goods.

He urged government to ensure that foreigners did not continue to usurp businesses that were reserved for Batswana. He noted, however, that Batswana were not able to enter the business sector because they were not credit-worthy, especially those banks were reluctant to lend them money.

Mr Modipane encouraged Batswana to take advantage of government assistance schemes to get themselves out of poverty.

He warned against dependency on such schemes. Self-reliance is paramount.

The MP said the use of plastic bags should stop because they litter the environment.

Mr Modipane expressed the hope that unlike some of the previous MPs, the current crop would take Parliament into the next millennium with the dignity it deserved.

He regretted that some of the previous MPs dragged the integrity of the National Assembly in the mud with their deplorable behaviour.

He called on fellow MPs to move in tandem as they forged ahead with the development of Botswana.

He added that MPs should live up to the expectations of the electorate or face the wrath of dissatisfied voters.

Mr Modipane suggested that the government should allow musicians access to funds from the Small, Micro and Medium Enterprises (SMME).

Local artists were unable to record their songs because they did not have money.

Choirs in villages should also be able to record and sell their songs, he added.

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