BOTSWANA SHOULD ADOPT TALIBAN HOUSING POLICY

It remains one of the biggest failures of the Botswana Democratic Party. Some 55 years after independence and in a country large enough to accommodate 60 million more people, Botswana can neither allocate land efficiently nor provide adequate and affordable housing to its people. Naturally, the government would be looking to the west for a solution.

However, it won’t find the solution in New York or London or Paris because such a solution is literally in Kabul, Afghanistan. Last week, The New York Times revealed that more than 150 Taliban fighters have officially moved into the luxurious palace of General Abdul Rashid Dostum, a notorious United States- allied Afghan militia leader who was vice president in the government that was deposed last month. As Gen. Dostum plans his next move from Uzbekistan where he fled in early August, the 150 mujahideen are now proud co- owners of a palace which includes an indoor swimming pool, gym, sauna, steam room, and games room.

There are houses in some parts of Gaborone with an indoor swimming pool, gym, sauna, steam room, and games room that can accommodate more than 200 people but are currently occupied by four- member families. This is happening at a time when applications for very residential small plots have been pending at land board offices across the country for more than 30 years.

How is it possible for one person to use land for all those accoutrements when whole families don’t have land on which to build one- room houses? Like we said a couple of weeks back, Botswana really needs to open talks with the Taliban.