WESTERN BOTSWANA: STILL STRUGGLING DESPITE GOB

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 GABORONE 000235 SIPDIS STATE FOR AF/S,AF/RSA, DRL STATE PLEASE PASS TO USAID E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/19/2019 TAGS: PGOV ECON SENV PHUM PINR BC SUBJECT: WESTERN BOTSWANA: STILL STRUGGLING DESPITE GOB PROGRAMS Classified By: DCM Philip R. Drouin for Reasons 1.4 B & D 1.(U) SUMMARY: PolOff traveled to Ghanzi District and met with local government officials to discuss GOB efforts to improve the local economic situation. However, difficult issues hamper GOB efforts to provide economic opportunities in Ghanzi - including isolation, lack of will by residents and poor educational opportunities. PolOff also discussed the issue of hunting rights in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR) for the San ethnic group. While San with permits can currently hunt in designated areas adjacent tothe CKGR, hunting is currently strictly banned witin the reserve, and poaching concerns make it unikely that this ban will be lifted, even for Sanwith special permits. END SUMMARY. 2.(U) Ghazi District is a large, sparsely-populated area in the west of Botswana, sharing a border with Namibia and including the vast Central Kalahari Game Reserve. According to the 2001 census, Ghanzi District has 32,000 residents, many of whom are categorized as destitute. Economic opportunities, even within the district's largest town, also named Ghanzi, are extremely limited. The town of Ghanzi is isolated. Although located on a good road, which runs around the perimeter of Botswana, it is over seven hours drive from Gaborone to Ghanzi and a three-hour drive from Ghanzi to Maun. In February, PolOff traveled to Ghanzi to meet with government officials, NGOs, and representatives of the Basarwa minority ethnic group, commonly referred to as the San or "San Bushmen" in the Western media. In Ghanzi town, PolOff met with local government officials, including then-District Commissioner Jefferson Siamisang, employees of the Department of Wildlife, and officials from the Remote Area Development Project. Poloff's visit to San communities Xade and New Xade and observations about the San community will be reported septel. -------------- District Commissioner -------------- 3.(C) PolOff met with then-District Commissioner Jefferson Siamisang, who said that many obstacles hamper GOB efforts to provide economic opportunities in Ghanzi. In addition to the district's geographic isolation, the DC cited the social and economic situation of the people as problematic. He explained that most Ghanzi residents had been on public assistance for many years, although this welfare program was only designed to be a short term benefit. He felt that Ghanzi residents were demoralized and were losing their motivation to work. According to Mr. Siamsang, many residents now feel entitled to the free services provided by the GOB. In his view "many people (in Ghanzi) would likely remain categorized as destitute permanently." He said the GOB has tried to offer programs to make residents more self reliant, but there has been little long-term interest from the residents in these programs. 4.(U) The District commissioner also highlighted the region's high HIV/AIDS and alcoholism rates as factors hampering growth. The Commissioner conceded that the GOB needs to do more to improve the quality and the conditions of the education system in Ghanzi, but stated that other stakeholders - parents, teachers and schoolchildren, were not doing their part in improving schooling. 5.(U) However, the District Commissioner did point to many efforts made by the GOB to improve the situation in Ghanzi. The GOB's development budget for Ghanzi District has continued to grow. The GOB will focus on expanding drought relief projects in the area. Additionally, the GOB will look to expand school facilities and government buildings and extend the electricity grid to two new villages, including the San village of New Xade. Plans have also been made to increase the amount of roadwork in the area, including paving the road between Ghanzi and New Xade. According to Siamsang, the GOB emphasizes labor-intensive development projects that can both improve the district and provide employment opportunities, mostly unskilled labor, to the local population. 6.(U) The District Commissioner also discussed Botswana's upcoming 2009 general election. The Independent Electoral Commission held three voter registration drives in the Ghanzi District - one in late 2008, one this past January and one in late March. As a result, the District Commissioner says that GABORONE 00000235 002 OF 003 around 80% of the district's eligible voters are now registered, which is higher than the national average of 50-60%. As the population is spread widely around Ghanzi District, polling stations will be placed in towns, villages, and even on rural cattle posts under temporary tents. 7.(C) Biographical Note: Mr. Jefferson Siamisang is seen as a fast-riser within Government, and at our February meeting he told us he was being considered for a position in Gaborone. He has since been moved back to the capital to become the Deputy Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Works and Transport. Mr. Siamsang is outgoing and forthright in his answers to questions. The Ministry of Local Government has not named a new DC for Ghanzi District. End Note. -------------- Department of Wildlife -------------- 8.(U) Department of Wildlife officials stationed in Ghanzi supervise Department of Wildlife employees throughout the District, including in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve. The Department of Wildlife has three camps within the CKGR to base their anti-poaching, fire surveillance and fence monitoring work. The Wildlife officials told Poloff that they were being asked to do a lot, and sometimes too much, with their limited personnel and equipment resources. In fact, they stated that the Department of Wildlife has no capacity to fight the veldt fires that often burn during the winter in Botswana. In discussing the wildfires of 2008, they stated that while the fires were large, Botswana had suffered larger fires in 1996 and 2001, though they had not received as much press coverage as in 2008. 9.(U) During the past year, Botswana newspapers reported on an outbreak of rabies in the CKGR. The Wildlife officials were quick to say that they thought rabies had been present in prior years, but that no testing had been done to confirm this. However, this year Wildlife employees conducted monitoring and sampled dead animals to determine the cause of death. They stated that they thought this would become more useful in future years, when this year's sampling might form a baseline for scientific study and comparison. 10.(U) Wildlife populations in the CKGR are generally stable, with the exception of springbok and giraffe, which are declining. There are currently seven functioning boreholes within the CKGR to support wildlife populations. One area of concern that the Department is monitoring is the "edge effect" - where predators from within CKGR leave the reserve and hunt on the easier prey found on the farms bordering the CKGR. Reports of predators killing farm animals are increasing, as are tensions with the local farmers whose animals are being killed. 11.(U) Poloff also asked the Wildlife officials about whether or not the San have been allowed to hunt within the CKGR. According to the Wildlife Department, no permits have been issued to members of the San community to hunt within the CKGR. Instead, they have been given permits to hunt, at subsistence levels, in three specially designated areas that are adjacent to the reserve. Access to these areas is extremely limited, and it might take a San hunter living in the CKGR a day or more to walk to the designated hunting areas. However, the Wildlife Department officials thought it was unlikely that the San living in the CKGR would be issued licenses to hunt within the CKGR. There is an existing ban on all hunting within the CKGR. Also, the Department of Wildlife is having difficulties monitoring the hunting limits in the three specially designated areas adjacent to the reserve. They are concerned that the San may not be accurately reporting the animals they have killed, as is required under their current permits. The Wildlife Department officials observed that often the San do not report a kill unless Wildlife officials directly question them about it. Finally, the Wildlife officials have discovered both poachers and licensed San over-hunting and selling the animals. -------------- Remote Area Development Program -------------- 12.(U) PolOff met with two women who work with the GOB's Remote Area Dweller Project ("RAD") in Ghanzi - Mrs. Lesgo GABORONE 00000235 003 OF 003 Soutie Visagie, who has worked with the project for 28 years, and Ms. Patricia Keolobale Tirelo, who has worked with the project for 11 years. The RAD project was begun in 1974 and focused exclusively on the Basarwa people, but was expanded in 1978 to focus on all people who were remote dwellers. The project hopes to create economic opportunities in areas where few, if any, exist. In Ghanzi the RAD program has 19 staff, all but five of whom come from Ghanzi District. 13.(U) The RAD project contracts with a training and innovation center in Kanye (near Gaborone) to provide training to the participants in its Ghanzi program. Vocational training is available in numerous areas including: sewing, baking, carpentry and brick molding. Mrs. Visagie says that her office lets the remote dwellers decide what economic opportunities interest them in order to increase the chances of success. The initial, beginner level, training typically last six weeks and is held in Kanye. Graduates of the program are given the opportunity to work in their field using start up supplies supplied by the RAD project. After working for four to six months and improving their skills, participants are offered an "upgrading" course, which also lasts 6 weeks to further improve their skills. 14.(U) Mrs. Visagie pointed to two success stories. The first is the New Xade sewing group. This six-women group has been in existence for a couple of years and is now taking orders from the GOB to provide school uniforms to some of the local schools. The second success story is a brick molding company. Although the gentleman who owns the company is blind, he has been very determined and has been able to establish a thriving brick molding business, which now supplies many local building projects. 15.(U) However, these are some of the few projects that have been successful. Mrs. Visagie admits that the vast majority of RAD's projects do not work in the longer term. In the majority of failed cases, lack of commitment by the participants was the key reason for failure. 16.(U) In an effort to educate remote dwellers about the RAD project, project employees hold workshops at remote farms to tell people about their work and to promote self-sustainable economic opportunities. The RAD project also holds educational campaigns to tell people who are still living in remote areas about the programs and about governmentally funded settlements available to them in town. -------------- COMMENT -------------- 17.(C) COMMENT: While it appears that the GOB is making some efforts to improve the economy and create jobs in the remote and poor Ghanzi District, all government employees with whom PolOff spoke complained about district residents' lack of motivation to improve their standard of living and to become self-sufficient. However, it seems that there are only a few types of employment in Ghanzi and envorons that are being offered to the residents, and too many of them tend to revolve around bottle shops pr shebeens. Even jobs through government-sponsored training are sparse and lacking promise. Perhaps as the GOB improves Ghanzi District's infrastructure, additional economic opportunities may be created. Currently, Ghanzi is one of the largest beef producing regions in Botswana, but its cattle must be shipped to Botswana's only meat-packing plant in the eastern part of the country for slaughter and processing. Perhaps another slaughterhouse closer to where the beef are being raised would be advantageous. If not, some other type of larger scale industrialization or job creation will likely be needed to truly propel the district out of poverty. END COMMENT. NOLAN