Young, Jobless And Angry

On September 30, it will be 50 years since the birth of one of Africa’s most prosperous independent nations. Thrifty Botswana has vast currency reserves but faces a rising generation that is educated, unemployed and fed up.

- Jaycaboz

In 1966, if you drove through Gabor one and blinked you would have missed it. It was little more than a barren railway stop, in the middle of nowhere, on the way from Cape Town to Cairo. Those living here would have said there was nothing more to it than termite mounds and elephants.

At the time, this landlocked country was considered to be the poorest in Africa, with a GDP per capita of $70. It had nine secondary schools, 50 university graduates, a railway line built by Cecil John Rhodes, and five kilometers of tarred road that stretched between Lobatse Station and the High Court.

From this backwater beginning Botswana has emerged as one of the fastest growing economies in the world and moved into the ranks of upper-middle income countries. Real GDP shows an average growth of 5% per annum over the past decade, at a time when the most advanced economies have been falling apart. In 2015, GDP stood at $14.39 billion. This remarkable growth, according to the World Bank, is because of diamonds hidden deep in Orapa, 521 kilometers north of Gaborone. The discovery was made in 1967, months after Botswana’s independence was declared on September 30, 1966, and the proceeds went to the state rather than colonial coffers.

But, if you look closely at the white walls and fresh cement of Gaborone, cracks appear. In the week FORBES AFRICA arrived in Gaborone, unemployed youth clashed with police outside Parliament; four of them spent the night in jail.

It is called Unemployment Movement and uses social media to fuel support, much like South Africa’s #Fees Must Fall student pro- tests a year ago. It comes at a time when citizens question the government’s P100 million ($9.76 million) budget for its golden jubilee.