03 Jun 2014

Ms Kesentse Kedidimetse's frail figure, especially her face, tells a sorry ordeal. Though lucky to have benefited from destitute housing, she still has no means of production to sustain her.

She had pinned her hopes on her son’s backyard garden. Unfortunately, the garden lies desolate and looks every inch a tale of a shattered dream. Ms Kedidimetse saw the garden under construction but only grass grows there now.

Surprisingly, all is in place except the vegetables. A tour of Sehunou, approximately 40 kilometres south of Serowe, which hosted the second poverty eradication workshop last year showed that many gardens were non-functional but only one did – for tomatoes. 

However, BOPA could not interview the beneficiary because she was reportedly engaged in Ipelegeng duties elsewhere.

“A long time ago he cleared the garden thinking that they (those responsible for poverty eradication) will come and handover seeds and or seedlings to facilitate him to forge ahead but to no avail,” said the 85-year old Kedidimetse as she expressed her frustrations about her son’s garden.

The beneficiaries are up to now enjoying water from the package but the green water tanks and the shade nets lie idle as the hopes slowly vanish.

“These people occasionally come here, make empty promises and then disappear,” Ms Kedidimetse, whose daily life include shifting with tree shade in front of her cream painted house.

Some beneficiaries have become so desperate that they had cut shade nets to use for other domestic purposes while awaiting the take-off of their gardens. 

A random interview found that many of the beneficiaries were engaged in Ipelegeng or were toiling elsewhere trying to eke a living. One of the beneficiaries where the shade net was cut was reportedly attending school in Gaborone.

Ms Chabongwa Lesetedi, the district commissioner for the Central District, said they had helped plant during one of their community service days due to the realisation that there was a backlog and their gardens were many.

“We helped the beneficiaries to start-up and then the expectation is that they keep doing it themselves with some help from relevant public officers, especially from the department of crops,” she said. Ms Lesetedi said the beneficiaries wanted them to help all the time. ENDS