KalahariLog

I've been paying more attention to the security arrangements that people are putting up in town. I swear there are a lot more electrified fences today than a couple of months ago. As Gaborone is one of the fastest growing towns in Africa, and crime is on the rise, I probably should not be surprised to see more houses and more electric fences. Still, given that the there are only a couple of places offering mobile service and a only a couple of companies offering internet connections, the large number of companies offering electrified fences seems to imply that there is a need.

The pictures here are all taken along my walk to the University. The spiky bits on the top of the fence must be dual-purpose: keep the birds off and make a thief's life a little harder, just in case the electric fence didn't manage to keep them off. People who've lived here for a few years say that until recently there were very few fences and no electrified ones at all. And, of course, in South Africa there are a more of these than here. Sadly, the trends in Botswana seem to be in the wrong direction with respect to safety and security. Instead of South Africa becoming more like Botswana, it's the other way around.

There are numerous stories about how underpaid the police employes are and that there are hundreds of unfilled positions. Given the relatively high unemployment rate, it is not clear to me why these positions don't get filled up. Even if the pay is not that great, there must be some benefits to having a government job and it can't get as dangerous as say, being a policeman in Iraq. There have also been several stories obliquely referring to the rise of corruption in Botswana; yet another development that you don't want to hear about, especially in a country where all of these problems (crime, corruption) were nearly unknown.

As in other countries, the blame for many of the ills is put on nearby Zimbabwe and its (often desperate) citizens. The nightly news regularly shows Zimbabwean murder suspects, or alleged Zimbabwean thieves, or even Zimbabwean terrorists. Just like in the US with Mexican workers, Zimbabwean workers here are accused of taking jobs from Batswana. While many things may be different, xenophobia seems to work well everywhere.