KalahariLog

It is not easy to pay bills in Botswana. The water and electric people never know how much money you owe. The situation is similar at the University. I know I owe some money in overdue fees for library books and I know I owe some money for my office telephone service. What I don't know is how much. Moreover, nobody seems to be interested in collecting my money. I don't receive mail or email telling me that I owe money. My phone service continues working. I can still check out books from the library.

But as I am leaving soon and don't want to set a bad example and take off with unpaid bills, I go to the central administration where bills are paid. As usual, there is a line in front of the cashier's office: about a dozen or so students, clutching bills and listening to mp3 players or sending messages on their phones. Only one of the four counters is open. The workers behind two of the other counters are having a lively discussion about something related to computers as I catch snatches of technical English in the flow of Setswana; but they had no interest in speeding things up by postponing their chat until there are no people in the queue. Half an hour later I get to the counter, hand my staff ID and ask how much I owe. The woman behind the counter looks at me as if I am from another planet: "Where's your bill?" I tell her I don't have one but that I know I owe money in overdue fees. She explains to me that her system doesn't allow her to access the library system. I am supposed to go there, find out how much I owe, and then come back and pay. Same thing about the phone bill. Talk about honor code.

A few days later I managed to find the amount of money I owe the library (12pula or about $2). However, my efforts to find out how much I owe for my phone service have yielded nothing so far. I've talked with people about it, called people on the phone about it, emailed people about, many people promise to call/email back with the information but, I got nothing to show for it. I think I'll fish a bill at random from my wallet, line up, and pay it -- who needs the correct amount, anyway.

Clearly, the University is not strapped for cash. I've been told (but have failed to verify) that every year the University returns money to the government. That is, every year the government allocates a certain amount to the University and every year the University fails to spend all of it. This might explain the lack of concern about bills. Or it could be that bills are mailed to me regularly, but fail to make it to my pigeon hole in the printer room.