University Botswana Journals
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Gendered Livelihoods, Informal Business Sector and Food Security: The Role of Indigenous Knowledge in Food Production in Botswana
Get PDFThis paper examines gendered livelihoods and women’s contribution to food security at a household levelin Botswana. It focuses on the planting, harvesting, processing, and marketing of the morogo (vegetable/leaves) and dinawa (beans) which come from the cowpeas plant –a member of the legume family. Thiskind of vegetable leaves are also called morogo-wa-dinawa. The current work also assesses the utility oftraditional practices and knowledge systems in the attainment of food security for improved livelihoodsamong rural and urban households in Botswana. It focuses on female-led households, utilizing cases fromboth urban and rural areas to also explore mobility and transformation of society. The paper also analyseshow women access markets in urban informal economy to address livelihoods. In line with similar studies,it is revealed here that food production at the rural household level is highly gendered as most of the workis carried out by women who employ indigenous knowledge systems and practices associated with foodproduction, processing, storage, and marketing. The paper has adopted the case study approach and throughin-depth interviews profiled the agricultural practices of households. The interviews were conducted over along period of time between 2008 and 2021 at different sites in the country, capturing activities of genderedlivelihoods and food security. This is even more imperative with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemicwhich has impacted all the sectors of the economy
Heavy Metals and Arsenic in Sediment and Muscle Tissues of African Sharptooth Catfish (Clarias gariepinus) from Lake Ngami
Get PDFConcentrations of trace elements were determined in sediment and muscle tissues of Africansharptooth catfish (Clarias gariepinus) from Lake Ngami in Botswana. Sediment and tissuesamples were acid digested and analyzed using ICP-OES. Element concentrations followedthe order iron>>manganese>>zinc>copper>chromium>nickel>lead>arsenic in sediment andiron>zinc>arsenic>chromium>copper>lead>manganese>molybdenum in fish. Levels in the sediment werehigher than in fish muscles for all but molybdenum, which was below detection in sediment; and arsenic,which was 2.8 times more in fish muscles. The concentration of arsenic in muscle tissues was also 11 timeshigher than reported in previous studies of catfish from African waters. The cancer risk and target hazardquotient (THQ) for each element in four groups (two Okavango Delta communities, average persons inBotswana and Sub-Saharan Africa) were assessed following the US-EPA risk assessment method. The THQfor only arsenic and chromium were above 1, suggesting that the two elements pose an appreciable riskof deleterious non-carcinogenic effects to human consumers of the fish. The cancer risk from exposure toarsenic in fish exceeded the acceptable level of 10-4 and ranged from 0.0004 to 0.007. These results supportthe need for future research of arsenic and chromium bioaccumulation in benthivorous fish species, whichmay be posing health risks to the Okavango Delta communities who rely on these fish as a protein source
LEADERSHIP AND THE RISK MANAGEMENT CONUNDRUM IN BOTSWANA’S PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOLS
Get PDFThe 21st century school leadership is increasingly challenged by the complex, inherent and residual nature of risks. This paper problematizes school leadership around risk and risk management stewardship. The purpose of the study was to examine school leadership perception of risk, current approaches to risk management, extent of vulnerability to risk, risk response techniques, risk-awareness culture and organisational risk maturity levels. A risk and vulnerability audit for 12 junior secondary school heads in Palapye and a national survey of 34 senior secondary school heads were conducted. Thematic analysis was applied to examine themes and emerging perspectives. From the results, school leadership demonstrated risk vulnerability, lack of a holistic approach, lack of a risk-awareness culture coupled with a risk naïve to risk novice maturity levels. This is in spite of the attempts made so far by the Ministry of Basic Education to manage risks. The paper concludes that, not only is the disposition to overly focus on certain risks too simplistic an abstraction but it is also deficient since it downplays the holistic approach to risk management. Unless checked, this oversight is bound to occasion an irreparable risk trap for the school leadership. The paper recommends a policy that makes provision for a holistic approach to risk management. Such a shift in thinking is envisioned to transform the school leadership and the basic education sector from risk vulnerability to risk resilience. Leadership thereof need to, as a first line of defence, espouse an organisational culture and philosophy which says, “Everybody is a risk manager” (Hopkin, 2012)
Women Chiefs and Pre-colonial Tswana Patriarchy
Get PDFIt has usually been held that in traditional Tswana society women could not be dikgosi (chiefs) in theirown right, though they could be regents. However, the historical record indicates that although it was notcommon, women could in some circumstances be dikgosi. Indeed, one of the traditional morafe (chiefdomor polity) founders (Mohurutshe/Lehurutshe) is said to have been a woman. Female chiefs seem to haveconstructed themselves as ‘social males’, which helped resolve the problems posed by agnatic successionbut which may have increased the tendency to erase the memory of them. Comparisons with other Sotho-Tswana societies can be helpful in analysing the issue
Holding Ground Against Winds of Change: The Story of the 122-year-old RA Bailey Store in Palapye, Botswana
Get PDFPalapye is a village or town that has become well known for a retail explosion that has seen high-classmalls spring up throughout the village, jostling for both the increasingly wealthier local population andabundant AI highway traffic. At every strategic intersection in the village, a new shiny mall is rising,millions of Pula being spent on modern designs and finishes. The billboards and insignia of trendy retailbrands are emblazoned at the malls, indicative of the fierce competition being waged for the hearts andminds of consumers
Social media influences on Zimbabwean Catholics in Botswana and subversion of the mainstream traditional Catholic religious norms.
Get PDFThis paper explores how social media has facilitated the Zimbabwean diasporan Catholics to integrate in Botswana community whilst remaining active in discourses in the country of origin. It further seeks to establish how social media has gradually subverted the hierarchical structures within the Roman Catholic Church by expanding the arenas for a significantly larger number of actors to participate in church discourse. For example, the literate, illiterate, men, women, children, and other minorities are now able to utilise the social media platforms to evangelise, share the word of God and contribute to other conversations in the Roman Catholic Church. The paper relies on data gathered from the Gaborone Catholic community originating from Zimbabwe. Data was gathered from key informant interviews, group WhatsApp chats and videos including church websites from mid-January 2019 to end of April 2019. The information was analysed qualitatively through content and discourse analysis. The proliferation of social media has potential to result in increased religious interface and tolerance. Social media specifically WhatsApp as the faster and cheaper means of transacting ideas can be a double edged sword, watering down and in some cases potentially promoting extremist positions. Whilst it can promote other players, social media can also be harnessed to build and cascade more consensuses building. The paper concludes that migrants specifically Zimbabwean Catholics in Gaborone, utilise WhatsApp platforms to establish and maintain relationships with family, friends, and other Catholics in various communities globally including the home country. The study established that the WhatsApp platform has also facilitated the participation of laity in the evangelising roles that had previously been dominated by the ordained members of the church
The Effects of Social Media on Personal Identity and Human Dignity: An Evaluation of the Botho Perspective
Get PDFOver the years, social media has grown into a modern way of socializing. It has become a platform where people exhibit their living experiences and allows them to create their own community as well as enabling them to present themselves to others and determine how other people perceive their identity and that of others. It also affords them the security of showing their interests without feeling that they will be persecuted. People utilize social media in different ways for different reasons like creating online self-identity to enable them to be recognized in the society. Some may choose to use their real names while others choose to use pseudo names. The main objective of this paper is to evaluate effects of identity construction on social media from Botho perspective. Does the online self-construction limit personal identity or broaden it to an extreme point? What are the positive impacts of online constructed identity on human dignity and how does it jeopardize the dignity of the human person? Botho is a Setswana term meaning personhood or the essence of being a human person. Botho says people are what they are because of, with and through other people
UNSATISFACTORY PERFORMANCE IN THE JCE FRENCH: THE ROLE PLAYED BY THE ASSESSING TOOLS
Get PDFLearners’ academic performance is always defined in terms of examination performance, or rather, it is solely gauged through examination results, yet examination is rarely taken into consideration when seeking to identify obstacles impeding good performance of learners. Given the significant role of examinations in assessing learners’ academic achievement, the reliability and validity of examining tools need to be addressed to ensure that examining tools are adapted in assessing learners’ ability. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate French Junior Certificate Examination (JCE) assessment tools in order to identify variables of these tools that could potentially affect performance of learners through a thorough analysis of the JC French Syllabus, JCE French Assessment Syllabus and past JC Examination Papers. Based on the observations made, recommendations on measures intended to improve the situation will be provided.
 
COMPLEMENTARY AND ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE IN BOTSWANA: INSIGHTS FROM PRACTITIONERS AND CLIENTS
Get PDFMany people in Africa and the world at large continue to use their traditional health care systems along with the dominant western health care system. In response, the World Health Organization encourages and supports integration of the traditional and the western health care systems. The exercise reported here was an effort to acquaint graduate psychiatric nursing students to the place of traditional medicine in meeting the health care needs of clients. The paper is informed by literature review and dialogues with healers and users of the system. It is evident that clients use traditional medicine use it along with western health system. However, there has been very little effort in Botswana to integrate the two systems. The authors recommend strengthening of the efforts to incorporate traditional healing in graduate nursing curricula, increased research on traditional medicine, and regulation of the traditional health care practice
THE INTERNAL COLONISATION OF THE SAN PEOPLES OF BOTSWANA
Get PDFThis discussion critically examines the socio-cultural and linguistic condition of the San peoples in Botswana from a postcolonial theoretical framework and an internal colonialism perspective. The San come from historical hunter-gatherers existence in southern Africa. The Bantu populations that later arrived systematically encroached into their lands, dominated them and exploited them as serfs. They were forced to abandon their languages, and have largely been assimilated by other dominant groups. Thus, there is nothing, at present that can help them to revitalize their distinct identity; they are, therefore, a highly endangered ethnic group in post-colonial independent Africa. This paper will argue that when the San clamour for language and cultural rights, for land and hunting rights, they express emotions that African societies expressed against European imperialism. It is the thesis of this paper that the socio-political hegemony exerted on the San people by mainline society is analogous to internal colonialism in a post-colonial state