Shashe

 I have just switched on my TV and watched a South African channel. President Ramaphosa was addressing a gathering or meeting somewhere in the Northern Cape. This was evidently the extreme tail end of his address. He mentioned that the Northern Cape has a great tourist potential. I can not resist chipping in because for a long time I have wished that I could visit the planetorium or observatory somewhere in the Northern Cape, but I could not afford it, unfortunately. However I realize that our citizens in the south of the country, particularly those in the capital Gaborone and in places such as Lobatse and Kanye would be in a much better position financially, to access the Northern Cape. I therefore strongly encourage them to visit the planetorium, if there is one, or just the observatory to just sit and watch the heavens in complete darkness. If you were wholly or partially raised in the country side you will probably experience a highly therapeutic environment in the planetorium....

Relative to the population numbers, our country occupies a large chunk of Earth’s surface. There are only about 2 million of us in a country the size of France. Our country was incompetently divided by the colonialists into tribal Districts that were meant to serve the colonialists’ interests and not ours, the indigenous citizens. The districts have been largely retained after independence, save for a few politically motivated gerrymandering adjustments.  For national news broadcasting to be of value to the sparse population, listeners need to have a good idea as to where the events covered in the news are occurring.  Currently, this is not the case. The news readers sometimes do mention the relevant district or the nearest town/village, but this information could be made even more specific by addition of geographical coordinates. I am told that modern cell phones are capable of displaying their geographical coordinates. Botswana Television (BTv) and Radio Botswana (RB) news c...

 The nearest bye-law enforcement office in the Tutume District, where I live, is sixty (60) kilometres away, thanks to BDP’s constituency gerrymandering which they undertook just before they were kicked out of power at last year’s general elections. The city of Francistown is only forty (40) kilometres away. Farmers around my village do not coral their animals at night, resulting in their belled animals creating a cacophony of sleep-depriving noises throughout the night.  I have asked the Tutume bye-law office for a copy of the law controlling noise in residential areas. All I got was that the law is being amended/edited/revised and so they have no copy to give me. I asked them why they don’t visit the villages within their enforcement area and at least explain to residents what they as law enforcement officers understand the law to be, pending that editing/amendment or whatever. The answer was that they can only do that when the law is finally published, as amended! My reques...