Tuesday, 3 June 1986: A Quick Primer on Botswana from Two Friendly British Accountants

June 4, 4:10 PM, Thornhill Government Guest Flats, Gaborone, Botswana 

I wanted to spend some time here in Gaborone because it is the capital of one of Africa’s most economically and politically progressive states.  Also, Gabs (as it’s called by some ex-pats here) was the site of a South African anti-ANC raid a couple weeks ago.  I thought it would be interesting to get some local response to the raid.

My Africa on a Shoestring guidebook recommended the bar at the President Hotel as a good spot to meet people.  The bar was fairly lively when I arrived around 7:00 PM last night.  All seats at the bar were occupied by smartly-dressed African men, so I found a table next to a couple of white guys roughly my age.  We got to talking, and I learned they are Gordon and David, two British accountants who work for the Botswana Development Corporation (BDC).  They immediately started making cracks about my being a CIA agent.  This has come up before and my response is usually something like, “Gee, I wonder if it would be possible for an American traveling abroad to prove he is NOT a CIA agent.”  Perhaps the CIA could write a short “to whom it may concern” letter explaining that the bearer, Mr. W. Mahoney, is not now nor has he ever been affiliated with this agency.  Of course, they couldn’t do that for every America traveler who wanted such certification because they couldn’t do the same for the real agents.  Their lack of a letter would make them suspect.  If, on the other hand, they were issued a letter, and were later discovered to, in fact, be a CIA agent, then all the letters would be worthless.  Thus, any American who travels is a suspected CIA agent and there is nothing he or she can do about it.  About every 10 minutes or so throughout the evening, Gordon would turn to David and say, “I don’t know why we are bothering to tell him this as I’m sure he was already briefed on it by his cousins in Washington.”  At first I laughed; later I joined in the game.  I declined to participate in the 5^th round of drinks (I was getting pretty buzzed) because, “There are American Embassy people here in this bar watching me.  I’ll be in hot water if they notice me getting at all tipsy.”  Gordon tried to be helpful by making appropriate comments in the direction of the hidden mike in my shirt sleeve.

Botswana is all about rapid development.  The new national stadium under construction on the outskirts of Gaborone in June 1986.

 

One of the more interesting pieces of “intelligence” revealed to me concerned the recent South African mini-raid on a supposed ANC post near Gaborone.  Gordon termed it a “non-event”.  Then David explained why there could have been some very serious consequences.  The raid was carried out and essentially botched by a handful of South African Army goons.  David was returning by car from a weekend with his Johannesburg girlfriend at 7:00 AM, the day of the raid.  He drove past three large, heavily armed convoys of South African troops parked and waiting just on the South African side of the border only 20kms from Gabs.  Gordon and David claimed they troops were waiting to make sure nothing went wrong.  They also alleged that the Botswana Defense Force had been informed about the raid ahead of time and warned not to interfere.  But what if something had ”gone wrong?”  Gordon asked.  Who would have given the order for three convoys of heavily-armed South African troops to invade Botswana and possibly attack its capital?  How would the rest of the world have reacted to a South African invasion of a peaceful, weakly-defended African neighbor?  The British have a small contingent of Special Forces troops stationed here to train Botswana forces.  What if they were caught up in the fray?

We’ve seen the reaction of the world to P.W. Botha’s silly little raids on Gaborone, Harare, and Lusaka.  It’s unclear what he has expected to accomplish other than showing the South African right wing his “toughness” against communists.  And not only was South Africa roundly condemned (even by Uncle Ronnie Reagan), but the rand has plunged from around US$0.50 three weeks ago to below 40¢ today.  That alone must have cost the South Africans millions.  The rand has now lost most of the ground it gained around the time of my arrival after the government paid off some large foreign loans.  When is P.W.’s government ever going to learn about the follies of its policies as they affect world opinion?  Don’t be surprised if they don’t learn, if some of my recent conversations have been any indication of South African public opinion.

The morning after the recent raid, I was in Bloemfontein staying with a retired Jewish couple, Woolfie and Irene.  Woolfie, president of the local Rotary Club, describes himself as a liberal.  Yet he immediately compared the South African raids with “your government’s raids on Libya.” After the condemnations began pouring in, several people echoed South African Foreign Minister Pik Botha’s question: “Why is it okay when the U.S. does it, but not when South Africa does?” I came up with the following response:  “I suppose most of the world considers Kaddafi a ruthless animal who needs to be dealt with harshly.  On the other hand, most of the world considers the ANC a legitimate organization fighting for black rights in South Africa.  They feel that the ANC tried unsuccessfully for nearly 60 years to bring about peaceful reforms in South Africa.  It was only after the Sharpeville Massacre in 1960 that they turned to violence in despair.”  My left-wing white South African friend, Tony MacGreggor told me not to bother with such an explanation.  Instead he suggested that I tell people that the U.S. can afford to operate with a double standard whereas South Africa cannot.  OK, back to the President Hotel Bar.

David, Gordon, and I were discussing the insensitivity of South African whites, and particularly Afrikaners, to other cultures.  Gordon related a story about some English friends of his who work for the SASOL (synthetic fuels) plant at Secunda, South Africa.  One Sunday afternoon, the Afrikaner family next door was playing backyard rugby.  The ball kept getting kicked or thrown into Gordon’s friends’ yard by mistake.  At first it was cheerfully returned.  After a while, the errant ball became a pain in the ass.  After one retrieval too many, the English wife took the ball into the house and refused to give it back to the Afrikaners until the next day.  Apparently, taking a rugby ball away from an Afrikaner is on a par with stealing a cowboy’s horse.  The Afrikaners called the police.  Then the cops arrived, the woman asked the police to wait outside the gate for a minute until she put their big dog away as she didn’t want someone to get bitten.  The police warned they would shoot the dog if they were not let in immediately.  The dog was not shot, but the woman has to appear in court on charges of stealing a rugby ball.  She has told her husband that this is the last straw.  She had taken enough crap from Afrikaners and wants to sell their house and move back to England as soon as possible.  If Afrikaners can’t get along with white English neighbors any better than this, how will they ever get along with blacks?

Back to Botswana:  According to Gordon, when the Tswana people sent representatives to ask the British government for their independence back in the 1960s, the British responded with amazement:  “Are you sure you want independence?  There’s nothing there.”  Nevertheless, the Tswanas were insistent and preparations began for independence.  According to Gordon’s humorous version of the story, the Brits were going through their pre-independence check list – “Ah, let’s see.  They’ve got political parties.  They’ve got postage stamps and currency.  They’ve got…hey, wait a minute.  Where’s the capital?”  Then they remembered that the capital of the Bechuanaland Protectorate (the colonial name for Botswana) wasn’t in Bechuanaland.  It was in Mafeking, 20 miles across the border in South Africa from which the British nominally administered the locally self-governing, nearly Texas-sized territory.  So the Brits said, “Right, we’ll have to build you a capital before you can be independent.”  They found a site adjacent to a sleepy railroad stop and quickly threw up a new capital, Gaborone, before independence.  That’s something of an exaggeration as Gabs is a planned city, with government buildings at one end of a commercial pedestrian mall.  Streets radiate out from the government center and there are half circle streets running perpendicular to the radiating streets.  Rich and poor neighborhoods were intentionally spread around the city to avoid polarization of the population according to a University of Botswana geography professor I chatted with this morning.

Botswana became independent in 1966.  A year later, diamonds were discovered – there was something “there” after all!  Now, the country produces so many diamonds (currently even more than South Africa) that they have a surplus of foreign exchange which could keep the country running for a year and a half if all exports ceased today.  They need the money – Botswana only produces 10% of its food.  Almost all the imports come from their hostile neighbor to the southeast as evidenced by the local grocery shelves.  The same goes for many of their other consumer goods.  Botswana may be a relatively rich country, but unfortunately, the South Africans have this landlocked nation by the scrotum.  And when the South African government decides to disregard their border, what can Botswana do? 

My two favorite Botswana beers.  The same brands are also produced in South Africa by the parent company of Kgalagadi Breweries.  

 

Turn these cans around and you have the commemoration of 20 years of Botswana independence with an historical timeline on the Castle can.   

David, Gordon, and I spoke about the beer we were drinking.  Good stuff - It’s produced locally by Kgalagadi Breweries which is run by South African Breweries.  The Botswana government has figured out how to use capitalism to their advantage.  You want to invest in Botswana?  We’re glad to have you.  You put up the initial investment.  The people of Botswana will own 51% of your enterprise and you will own 49%.  We will largely let you run the business as you see fit as long as you hire local workers and allow us to set prices for your products.  Profits from our 51% share will go into the national treasury to pay for infrastructure projects, our national police force, and education.  We will also tax the profits on your 49% share but, in many cases (such as the brewery), we will guarantee you a monopoly.  Thus, both the government and the investors have a sweet deal.  It is my understanding that the government has the same arrangement with their diamond mining company, Debswana, a play on the words “DeBeers” and “Tswana”.      

As we were sitting at the bar, David and Gordon pointed out a couple of young African women getting friendly with customers.  They noted that one can pick up some very interesting diseases here and joked about a new local scourge they called BAIDS, the B standing for Botswana, of course.  Vice here is apparently very open and inexpensive.

Speaking of young women, Gordon said that local females are getting better educated than the men.  Increasing numbers are, for example, receiving their Bachelor of Commerce degrees from the University of Botswana.  Companies like BDC are hiring them.  So, these guys think the women may eventually take over the country even if the men continue to hold figurehead positions of power.

David and Gordon said that the business community in this part of the world feels very good about the way Ronald Reagan has gotten the international economy going again.  “Isn’t it a shame that a sensitive humanitarian like Jimmy Carter was ineffective, and a callous gunboat diplomat like Reagan is able to get things done,” I replied.  I must admit that the strong American dollar make my trip much easier.  And, I should add, the weak rand.  I heard last night that the rand is down to US$0.38.  Where is the bottom?