University Botswana Journals
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USING ELECTRONIC POSTERS TO ASSESS FIRST YEAR STUDENTS’ RESEARCH PROJECTS
Get PDFWith the influx of digital technologies into students’ lives, what it means to be literate is rapidly changing. This demands that educators should explore pedagogies that can enhance the development of academic literacy skills that are relevant to the 21st Century learner (The New London Group, 1996). Using open ended questionnaires, students’ use of and views on the electronic posters for presenting research projects were explored. The results indicated that students enjoyed the experiences of using electronic posters for presenting their projects. Also, they valued the skills they perceived to have acquired through the use of electronic posters to present their research. It was concluded that using electronic posters can engage and motivate students to learn, thus enabling them to become self-directed learners
Reforming Malawi’s Law on Abortion: A Criminal Law Perspective
Get PDFThe article examines Malawi's law on abortion against certain key principles and values of criminal law. In the final analysis, it finds that the current state of the law has failed to achieve its avowed policies of protecting women from the dangers of unsafe abortion, and to protect unborn children from unjustifiable destruction. It also finds that the law offends key criminal law principles and values, including the principle of maximum certainty, principle of minimum criminalization, the equality principle and the principle of legal moralism. The article calls for the reform of the law. However, it further argues that the reform of the law on abortion is not a silver bullet against the scourge of unsafe abortion in Malawi. To achieve meaningful change, legal reforms must be accompanied by the provision of safe, affordable and easily accessible abortions services throughout the country
The Myth of Devolution in Zimbabwe: The Reality Post – May 2013
Get PDFThe 2013 Constitution of Zimbabwe provides for a devolved system of government, comprising national, provincial/ metropolitan and local governments. On the face of it, this is a departure from the Independence Constitution which did not provide for devolution of power. This paper, however, seeks to demonstrate that there is in fact no marked difference between the current framework and the pre-2013 constitutional dispensation. Weak and unsatisfactory legal and constitutional provisions on governance at national, provincial and local government levels, combined with the antidevolution stance of the current ZANU-PF government, have conspired to make devolution of power nothing but a mirage. It is contended that a truly devolved system of governance in Zimbabwe may be realized through constitutional amendments establishing realistic sub-national tiers of governments that are democratically legitimate and have clear law making and implementation powers of their own
Reflections on Botswana’s 2015 Land Policy
Get PDFThis is a study and an interrogation of the Botswana Land Policy approved by the National Assembly on 16 July 2015. This is a review from a legal perspective, appropriately so, because if the Policy prescriptions are faithfully implemented, most of the land tenure laws of the country will be due for revision or overhaul in the coming months. This process commenced with the publication in April 2017 of Bills to amend the Deeds Registry Act and to repeal and re-enact the Tribal Land Act. The objective of this study is to inform and persuade those responsible on areas or issues on which there is need to proceed with extreme caution. The study takes issue with some of the prescriptions in four out of the six substantive parts of the Policy, but it recommends that there is need to think again before formulation of laws that will replace Land Boards with Land Authorities or “de-professionalize” conveyancing in Botswana
Japan’s Resource and Energy Diplomacy in Southern Africa: Botswana as a Conduit
Get PDFJapan primarily relies on resource diplomacy to address its energy and resource insecurity. The Fukushima nuclear disaster in March 2011 exacerbated Japan’s energy insecurity, and forced it to aggressively explore and extract resources worldwide. The resource-rich Southern Africa has become Japan’s target. In January 2008, Japan opened the region’s largest embassy, by staff compliment and size, in Gaborone, Botswana, to strengthen its bilateral relations and resource diplomacy. In July 2008, Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation (JOGMEC) set-up a Geological Remote Sensing Centre in Lobatse; Botswana; its sole centre in Africa. It is Japan’s exploration base for minerals and oil in the region. This article examines Japan’s energy and resource diplomacy in Southern Africa using Botswana as a case study. It argues that Japan uses Botswana as a conduit to build a business empire for its firms (private and state-owned) in the natural resources sector in the region. The article provides another dimension in understanding Japan-Botswana relations by situating the analysis within the resource and energy security paradigm
The Sir Ketumile Masire Factor in the Making of Botswana as an ‘African Miracle’
Get PDFEconomic growth and development are associated with or caused by many variables one of which is leadership. The functional approach of leadership holds that leadership is not about an individual and his/her attributes. Rather, it is about a group and its attributes. However, it is unwieldy to focus on the role of the entire leadership in impacting macro-economic outcomes such as economic growth and development. Therefore, this paper discusses Sir Ketumile Masire’s role in shaping Botswana’s economic and development trajectory as founding Deputy Prime Minister, founding Vice President and Finance Minister and, latterly, President. It concludes that he provided leadership which very favourably circumstanced Botswana to become a relative economic and developmental success. In the process, the country earned accolades such as the ‘African Miracle’. However, serious macro-economic challenges such as persistent poverty and massive income inequality detract from these economic and developmental achievements. Hence, there is a need to determinedly address them to ensure prosperity for all or at least for the great majority of the country’s citizens
President Festus Mogae: The Regent Who Became King
Get PDFThe watershed moment came on 4 November 1995. By the time delegates made their way back home, it was all over. In an extraordinary year, the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) had met twice in congress. Four months earlier, in July, the faithful had descended on the dormitory village of Mogoditshane for another bout of factional bloodletting. The congress came two years after Kanye, at which the polarity in the ruling party had reached crisis level. This particular congress came in the wake of the gravest crisis the party had ever faced
Johnson Motshwarakgole: A Portrait of the Kingpin of the Labour Movement in Botswana
Get PDFWhen he retires Johnson Motshwarakgole would have left an indelible mark on the labour front and opposition politics. His contribution cannot be equalled to any other. Meeting Johnson Pekenene Motshwarakgole –the Godfather of Botswana’s labour movement and the man who has dedicated his entire life to fighting for the workers welfare –is a labourious task. Traffic of Chief Executives, political leaders and ordinary people from all walks of life form a bee line in front of his spacious office at the upmarket Central Business District, Gaborone –the official address for National Amalgamated Local and Central Government and Parastatal Workers Union (commonly known as the Manual Workers)
UNDERSTANDING AIDS PANDEMIC BEYOND THE SCIENTIFIC EXPLANATION: AN AFRICAN PERSPECTIVE
Get PDFCurrently, the fight against the AIDS pandemic in Africa depends unilaterally on scientific knowledge that is based on methods of observation and experimentation. This one-sided approach prevents people from knowing and understanding the pandemic holistically. Consequently, medical doctors fail to play their preventive and curative roles against the pandemic. Preventive and curative scientific efforts have been made to address the problem but all in vain. If the approach to the pandemic remains only scientific, the world in general and Africa in particular will continue to suffer from the pandemic. I argue that the spiritual cause of AIDS as understood by Africans beyond the scientific explanation is also important for knowing and understanding the pandemic holistically