I can relate to how far we have come

Dorcas Makgato, former Minister of Trade and now Minister of Health was born on 5th January 1966. This past weekend in Gaborone she celebrated her 50th birthday in a major way, holding nothing back. This 50th milestone meant a lot to her, it reminded her of the past and a time which she says was filled with ‘nothingness’.  

“I can relate to having nothing to having something,” says the woman who continues to be a force to reckon with in the local political and professional arena. She remembers the early 70’s when she started school at Camp Primary in Gaborone; the days when they would line up at school for plates of ‘Malutu and Mokhungulo’.

Her father, Timothy, was a Policeman based at what they used to call ‘Depo’ which meant the Depot, or the Police camp based in the Village area in Gaborone. “This was the time when my father or the police wore short khakhi pants and rode camels and bicycles.”

Together with her brothers and sisters, they would venture out to the villages at certain times of the year which meant catching a train from Gaborone to Mahalapye or Palapye depending on which set of grand parents they were visiting, paternal or maternal.

“On our way to Chadibe, where my father comes from, we would catch a train to Mahalapye; sleep at the waiting rooms of the train station and then catch a truck in the morning to take us across the Taupye River to Chadibe.” She smiles when she recalls how there used to be no tarmac roads ‘go sena sekontere’ and they would make the drive on the dusty roads in their battered and bruised ‘Toyota Stout’.

On their way to Serowe, to see their mother’s side of the family they would catch a train to Palapye and then, “Re palama di bus tsaga Wright, tse di yang Serowe.” In 1976, she was wearing ‘shorts’ together with multitudes of other students at the 10th year Botswana Independence day celebrations. “We were instructed to march at the stadium in front of dignitaries such as then Tanzanian President, Julius Nyerere.”

During 1978, the then Police Mobile Unit or PMU was converted to the Botswana Defence Force or BDF. “I remember this moment because I was very upset that they only wanted men at the BDF at the time.” In 1984 she headed to London to study further.

At the time the airport was based near where the University of Botswana (UB) is currently located and the largest plane they had was an 8-seater which flew them to Johannesburg where they connected to London.

“On the eastern side of the UB is where the airport was.” When she came back for a short vacation from London in 1985 she started to see significant developments in Botswana. “In 1985 I found an airport, which had international flights coming through such as the British Caledonian. Another major development was, the Sheraton Hotel’ now called The Grand Palm. Developments were springing all over.”

She spent ample time during her youth at “The Mall” or the Gaborone Main Mall. This was the place where they would hang out and ‘be seen’ taking the long walk from one end of the mall to the other.

“The era then and the era now are like chalk and cheese. I am very proud to have lived in that era. It helped me to appreciate the nothing we have and what we have achieved. My greatest concern is the abundance we seem to be living in. I worry for my children because of this abundance.”

Due to this she is steadfast about raising her boys to hunger for something, to teach them humility so they can appreciate what they have. “It is a privilege to be a Motswana. The power is in us to make Botswana what we want it to be as a people. Collectively that attitude will make a better tomorrow for all of us.”