‘We want a fair share of ESP’ says poverty stricken Naledi, Machana residents

Five years ago, Mmamoshale Senkang and her seven children erected a shack inside the bushes of Machana, along the Sese-Jwaneng road.

She has a 13 year-old plot in Sese, but she says she cannot afford to develop it. As she points at donkey biltongs hanging on a fence, Senkang, 52, says life is hard. “When it rains, we get soaked in our shack and surrender ourselves to God whether we’d still be alive the following day. Again, we sleep with snakes here,” she says. One of her children attends school at Kgosimpe Junior School in Jwaneng. Sadly, he finds himself walking to school for more than 12 km to Jwaneng every morning.

He has the potential of changing his mother’s sordid conditions as he obtained an impressive B in standard seven. “I want to be a lawyer, but my lack of school uniform and transport money makes me lose hope. The situation at home isn’t conducive for a student,” he says in an interview with Botswana Guardian.

He is aware of President Ian Khama’s housing appeal initiative, and his plea is for the president to remember his (Senkang) family in Sese. “I read in newspapers that he builds houses for the poor. If he could come and rescue us, I’d be the happiest child ever and concentrate on my studies,” he says.

Less than 100 people stay in Machana and Naledi settlements. Currently, they do not have any developments in their area and they go to Sese and Jwaneng to access better living facilities. What is impressive though about them is that they are aware of government’s poverty eradication programmes. Ntebogang Raletsobane, 37, would like to start a poultry farm. However, the fact that they are now recognised legally makes her dream almost impossible.

“Government has good programmes in store for Batswana but here the problem is land issues,” she states.

Another unemployed resident Molete Botsweletse says that even illiteracy is rife in their area, they are aware of government’s Economic Stimulus Programme (ESP) that was launched last weekend. Actually, they would want to have a piece of the programme. “We also want to start businesses and take ourselves out of poverty,” he says. He says that ESP has the potential to change the lives of Batswana for the better. They buy water from Sese and Jwaneng residents or do piece jobs for water.

Official response
Chairman of the Southern District Council Mephato Reatile told BG News that residents of Naledi and Machana settlements have been incorporated under Sese village. He revealed that a water tank was going to be installed in the area this week. “Very soon, land board will be allocating plots for them. As it stands, they now qualify for government’s poverty eradication programmes,” he said.

Income growth in rural Botswana reduces poverty
Thousands of Batswana rose out of poverty thanks to increased growth in rural areas driven in part by rising agricultural incomes and welfare improvements, according to a World Bank Study released in December 2015. The Botswana Poverty Assessment report found that the number of poor people in the country declined by nearly 180 000 between 2002/3 and 2009/10.

This denotes a poverty rate decrease of 19.4 percent from 30.6 percent when using the national poverty line. In this period, 87 percent of the decrease in poverty occurred in rural areas, where 158,000 people rose out of poverty.

Based on two nationally representative household income and expenditure surveys conducted by Statistics Botswana in 2002/2003 and 2009/10, the report analysed recent trends in the monetary and non-monetary aspects of poverty in Botswana. It examined the drivers of poverty reduction by systematically looking at the demographic, labour, and human capital dimensions of poverty.

The report showed that increased agriculture income strongly supported by government subsidies and substantial changes in the demographic structure including the reductions in household sizes and dependency ratios were responsible for Botswana’s poverty reduction.

It found that the decrease in the incidence of poverty was accompanied by a significant decline in both the depth and severity of poverty. Further, the poverty gap eased from 11.7 percent in 2002/03 to 6.2 percent in 2009/10, indicating that consumption has improved among the poor. Real consumption per capita rose by 47.6 percent in rural areas compared to a nationwide real consumption per capita increase of 13.3 percent during the same period.

The study also revealed a decrease in inequality although with a Gini coefficient of 60.5 percent, Botswana remains one of the world’s most unequal countries. The level of inequality in Botswana is the world’s third highest, after South Africa and Seychelles. But between 2002/03 and 2009/10, the Gini fell from 64.7 percent to 60.5 percent. Most of the decline occurred due to welfare improvements in rural areas, while inequality in cities increased.

It also found that large numbers of people still live just marginally above the poverty line and at risk of falling back into poverty. Vulnerability was significantly reduced between 2002/03 and 2009/10. However, half of Botswana’s population remains either poor or vulnerable, with close to 31 percent classified as vulnerable.

“We see from our research that agricultural support programmes were clearly a big part of the progress achieved during the period under review,” said World Bank Senior Economist Victor Sulla, adding that going forward, investments in human capital and efficient safety-net targeting will be critical to accelerating poverty reduction and reducing inequality further.

The study also showed that the combined effect of labour, education and social protection improvements could help halve projected poverty by 2018 and eradicate it by 2030. It projected a fall in poverty levels of below 12 percent by 2018 and below 6 percent by 2030. However, inequality is not expected to fall significantly unless there is continued, broad-based employment growth.

The report recommended improving the quality of education and raising skills levels in order to close the skills gaps that dampen labour demand. It also recommended the development of a dynamic and productive private sector which is fundamental to creating more and better jobs and a greater focus on the most disadvantaged populations