Enraged youth vow to fight back

Following the dramatic turn of events in which police beat some unemployed youth and detained others, the members of Unemployment Movement have cautioned the police that they will retaliate if they continue to harass them.

The movement held demonstrations this past weekend at Notwane grounds.Botswana National Front (BNF) Youth League President Khumoekae Richard, who was detained with some of the movement members last week following the Parliament protests, warned the police that they would retaliate if provoked.

“Let me warn these police officers using force on young people for no reason that unemployment also affects their siblings, they should be warned that abusing their powers will get them into trouble; we will be forced to fight them back if they continue,” he said. 

Richard also said that the lack of jobs stems from poor leadership and substandard policies, which he said have failed to improve the lives of Batswana.
Botswana Congress Party (BCP) Youth League Publicity Secretary Pako Madigele encouraged members of the youth movement to protest during the State of the Nation Address. “You should now mobilise stakeholders and target the SONA and the police using unjust laws or you should know that unjust action is the only cure to unjust laws,” he said.

Takula Lenyatso of Botswana Peoples Party (BPP) Youth League applauded the youth for taking a step to ensure that their voice is heard.  “Unemployment is created by the negligent government of the day; they should know they are controlling the resources of the people and that people have the right to hold them accountable and vote them out if they fail to serve the people,” he said.

University of Botswana Student Representative Council (UBSRC) President Bakotelo Mmipi condemned the expenditure of P100 million on BOT50 celebrations.
“We face a similar problem with the unemployed; the government says there are no funds to sponsor new students and it is for that reason we support the movement,” he said.

Mmipi said that he was not afraid to speak out against what is wrong. He also said that it was important for government to provide socio economic empowerment for the youth, adding that the money allocated to BOT50 celebrations could have been instead channeled to education and job creation.