The state and extreme poverty in Botswana: the San and destitutes

Abstract

The rise of wealth and power within the cattle-owning economy of Botswana has been accompanied by the creation of poverty and weakness. The impoverishment of the San and ‘destitutes’ was a structured, comprehensive, and long-term process, caused less by phenomena such as periodic drought than by an elite of economic and political power, and the exploitation which they practised. The growth economy of recent decades has not ameliorated the situation, but has strengthened the wealthy while neglecting or worsening the plight of the San. The state possesses the financial resources and developmental capacities to alleviate poverty, but its controllers continue to prioritise other matters.

Thinking About the Politics of Inclusive Development: Towards a Relational Approach

“…Vu argues that a mixture of elite polarisation and mass suppression provided the structural basis for developmental states to emerge in these cases, supporting the broader argument that 'inclusive' political settlements may be less economically productive and offer less social provisioning than more exclusive ones. 13 Even 'inclusive elite coalitions', as in the case of Botswana (Poteete, 2009;Subudubudu with Molutsi, 2009), have imposed structural inequality and destitution on some marginal groups, not by accident but as a direct result of pursuing the interests of certain elites within the ruling coalition (Good, 1999). It might even be that political settlements can become more exclusive and even predatory as long as they are providing security and economic development, as some argue is occurring in Cambodia (Parks and Cole, 2010: 9).…”

Economic Development in Pre-Independence Botswana, 1820-1966: Historical Trends, Contributing and Countervailing Factors

“…When the British introduced the hut tax in 1899, the chiefs became tax collectors for the colonial administrators, and saw their personal incomes increase (Seidler, 2010;Good, 1999).…”

“…4 They required payment from all Botswanan families that owned a hut (Beaulier, 2003), and as such were essentially "imposed on persons simply because they are […] in the society, and not because of any income [or] ability to pay." (Mogalakwe, 2006) In addition to strengthening the political and economic power of tribal chiefs, who could now earn commissions of about ten percent on what they collected (Good, 1999), taxation gradually introduced a cash-based economy into Botswana (Seidler, 2010). There were, however, additional important effects of the newly introduced taxes: increased labor migration, and an exacerbation of economic inequality.…”

Television in Botswana: Development and Policy Perspectives

“…Although Botswana has avoided ethnic tensions as various minority ethnic groups have assimilated within the main Tswana groups, and there has been limited competition for national resources, recent scholars have been concerned about emerging trends of disenfranchisement among minority ethnic groups and the need to address issues of their empowerment (Good, 1999b;Mompati & Prinsen, 2000;Mulinge, 2008). The national language in Botswana is Setswana, and the official language is English, whereas the languages of the minority groups are excluded at national and official level.…”

“…The national language in Botswana is Setswana, and the official language is English, whereas the languages of the minority groups are excluded at national and official level. Although initially perceived as an effort towards nation building, this exclusion of minority languages has been viewed as one of the limitations of Botswana's liberal democracy (Good, 1993(Good, , 1999b(Good, , 2008Solway, 2002). At independence, the literacy rate in Botswana was very low, but had risen to 85% in 2013 (World Bank, 2013).…”