2nd September 2021
Sello Motseta
Ditshwanelo – The Botswana Centre for Human Rights says personal interviews with Basarwa in Salajwe, Ghantsi and DaKar constituencies in Botswana with the highest Basarwa populations shows COVID-19 has hit marginalized communities hardest with many complaining about poor access to information on COVID-19, inadequate access to testing facilities and limited social distancing.
“The mobile clinic is sometimes closed for two months and we struggle to do COVID tests as the health officials are not always available,” one interviewee revealed.
Lifestyle issues also make social distancing difficult with many Basarwa pensioners taken to Ghantsi, a settlement with a big Basarwa population in a truck every month to get their old age pension.
“They travel so at the back of the truck crowded with no social distancing or sanitizing,” one Mosarwa pensioner revealed in an interview for this publication.
Basarwa in Dkara community say they were given food during lockdown and nurses were increased at the clinic helping to improve service at the clinic. But there is a lack of consistency with one Basarwa elder saying implementation capacity of Councils is frayed and questionable.
“I was not given food, I ended up going to the council to check why I was not given food, they sent me back and promised to give me food and they never did,” one Mosarwa community member revealed, in a state of despair with COVID-19 pandemic bringing Botswana’s diamond dependent economy to a standstill. With the slow roll out of vaccines it appears it will be a long night for some communities.
Foreign travel seriously curtailed economic fortunes of many Basarwa in informal sector who sold traditional idols to tourists. Many are now struggling to generate income and their challenges are worsened by the acute shortages of water making washing hands regularly impractical.
Employment relationships for those in Basarwa communities are often highly exploitative and the fact that they are not sufficiently mobilized to join unions means they are regularly exploited. Alcoholism is rampant amongst Basarwa and social discrimination by other tribes is common practice.
Botswana has a strong and long-standing commitment to state-led social protection. Programming for poor, vulnerable and excluded groups are comprehensive by African standards, while efforts to tackle HIV/ AIDS and its impacts have been lauded globally.
Be that as it may, COVID-19 (coronavirus) has led to a contraction of real gross domestic product (GDP) by 7.9% in 2020 (the largest on record). The contraction reflects the impact that reduced global demand, travel restrictions and social distancing measures have had on output in key production and export sectors, including the diamond industry and tourism.
Botswana’s fiscal deficit is set to widen to 11.3% of GDP in FY2020/21, from 5.6% in FY2019/20, reflecting a sharp decline in mineral revenues, a sticky public sector wage-bill, and the impact of the COVID-19 spending. Similarly, the current account deficit is estimated to have widened to 8 percent of GDP in 2020 following the sharp decline in diamond exports.
This has compounded challenges Government has faced in addressing the plight of Basarwa. The situation has not been made any easier because the decision – making of central Government was largely confined to Office of the President. The Government never sought the input of San Non Governmental Organisation’s(NGO) as key stakeholders in the development process.
“We have different customs, traditions and life styles, so it was improper to have standard restrictions for the lockdown. The main challenges we faced were with the fact that we are a sharing community, we have a close contact with nature and it was gathering season and most households do not have facilities such as toilets hence the need to go out at any time which was unlawful,” said Mangana Mangana, Co-ordinator of the Kuru Development Trust.
Most Basarwa in Botswana continue to work menial jobs on farms as labourers often supplementing their income by selling handicraft, meat or foraged products such as grass or firewood.
“We are aware and know that Batswana Government has tswanalised everything, then how would be easy and possible for us to identify ourselves according to customs and traditions. We have been relegated beyond the realm of civilization to remain marginalized. This is something which is in the public domain that we systemically, socially and structurally oppressed,” said Mangana Mangana, Co-ordinator of the Kuru Development Trust.
He said, “It is and will not easy to measure when there has never been difference with how we lived a decade ago and now. We are living a life of beggars in our mother earth, a land that we will acquire dual citizen neither cry the law that nature to be passed.”
