LAND OF ONE- HIT WONDERS

In case you have forgotten – or were not conscious of the world around you at the material time, Botswana had to ditch the first strapline of its national brand. The material time was 2007 and some powerful person - who had evidently been a member of a debate club at a government school, was still experimenting with big words. The result was a strapline that said “Opportunity and tranquillity beckon.” Those who understood the meaning of “beckon” and were familiar with a pre- independence naming convention among some of Zimbabwe’s blacks, would have thought that Opportunity and Tranquillity were the names of Ndebele twins living in Bulawayo. That strapline was deemed cumbersome and soon replaced with “Our pride, your destination.” The latter is itself problematic because it sounds like an invitation to foreign lion poachers to come to Botswana.

Evidently, we need another strapline for our national brand and here is a suggestion: “Land of one- hit wonders.” That would be the most appropriate strapline ever because we are indeed the land of one- hit wonders. After 56 years of independence we have had only one international beauty contest win, one Olympic medal, one Zebras team participating in AFCON and one political party in power. And in all honesty, most of Botswana’s music stars are one- hit wonders.