13 Jul 2014

Botswana’s second city, Francistown, has become a place for fortune seekers. 

Gone are the days when Zambians truck owners used to operate from Francistown to Zambia without competition from Batswana.

“Batswana have found a way of making ends meet through trucking business,” said Mr Duncan Morapedi, the chairperson of the trucking committee in an interview recently.

He explained that they started the trucking business in 2008 at the airport bus stop where they transported luggage from Francistown to Zambia, before moving to the Haskins Street in 2010 where they are now fully operational with a committee that is under the Bus and Taxi Association.

Nevertheless, he said that they faced difficulties in 2009 when some Zambian drivers brought big trucks from their country into Botswana solely to transport their customers’ luggage back home and this made them to write to the Ministry of Road Transport and Safety and also to send delegates to the permanent secretary to complain about the Zambians who possessed BA permits and transported luggage from Botswana to Zambia.

After winning their case, he said Batswana and Zambians reached an amicable understanding in which Batswana transport customer’s luggage from Francistown to the Kazungula border upon which Zambian transporters would ferry them to the town of Livingstone. Their journey, he noted, starts at Haskins Street where they load their consignment and it is here where the scene that unfolds is similar to what transpires at the Johannesburg’s Park Station.

The street, he said, is the spot where Batswana, Zimbabweans and Zambians meet the Chinese, and the encounters are strictly for business.

“The people who do business here,” he highlighted, “are always in a rush and often bump into each other as they criss-cross paths to and from Chinese shops.”

It is here also that mini trucks and vans owned by Batswana are waiting eagerly on parking lots along the street to load and collect the ever-increasing luggage comprising clothes, shoes, digital video decoders, plasma television screens and fridges bought from Chinese shops. The main buyers are Zimbabweans and Zambians while Batswana are transporters and hawkers while the Chinese are the leading suppliers.

Some people have dubbed the area Botswana’s China town, Bulawayo, little Harare or little Livingstone. 

Men and women of different ages and heights lift bags twice their size to load into mini trucks headed to Zimbabwe or Zambia while others collect cardboard boxes and plastics to sell to recycling companies.

In the intervening time along the Haskins Street, Batswana hawkers buy their merchandise from Chinese shops and immediately mount their stalls in front of their suppliers.

For Ms Dolly Morapedi, a vendor on the street who has been running her business since 2008, the problem with Batswana is that they do not want to be innovative and end up pursuing similar businesses which undercuts profits because the market is saturated with similar products.

On the other hand, Ms Mmakaunda Kgopa, the secretary of the trucking committee, said although business used to be good, the currency exchange rates have made it to be slow due to few customers coming to purchase goods in Botswana.

She also stated that even if there were people of different cultures meeting in one place to do commerce, they cooperate with one another well.

She however stated that there were few Zimbabweans who have trucks registered in Botswana and transport luggage to their country, but noted that the committee works hand in hand with the police and transport officials to curb illegal transporters.

Owing to the influx of Batswana, Zambians, Zimbabweans and Chinese suppliers, Haskins Street has changed character and on a given day looks like a neglected market area with little environmental care. It is not uncommon to find boxes, plastics and food leftovers strewn everywhere with a strong stench. The noise from the hawkers’ radios and the yelling customers and their Chinese suppliers also makes the place inhabitable.

However, the trucking committee’s treasurer, Ms Lenna Bakanithe said they try by all means to clean up the place because filth is not good for business. She also stated that they have tried to engage the Chinese shop owners so that they can advise their employees to help in cleaning the place. 

The Francistown City Council has also engaged private companies that help in cleaning up their commercial centre. ENDS