UNIVERSITY OF CAPE TOWN DEPARTMENT OF HISTORICAL STUDIES ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CHANGE IN THE COMMUNITIES OF THE WETLANDS OF CHOBE AND NGAMILAND, WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE PERIOD SINCE 1960 DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF HUMANITIES IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY BY GLORIOUS BONGANI GUMBO GMBGLO001 SUPERVISOR PROFESSOR ANNE KELK MAGER JULY 2010 CONTENTS ABBREVIATIONS ............................................................................................................. v GLOSSARY ...................................................................................................................... vii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .............................................................................................. xii INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................. xii Chapter One: The Commodification of cattle in the wetlands of colonial Botswana, 1880-1965 ........................................................................................................................... 28 Chapter Two: Disease, cattle farming and state intervention in Ngamiland after independence ..................................................................................................................... 54 Chapter Three: ‘Upgrading’ female farming: Women and cereal production in Chobe and Ngamiland .................................................................................................................. 74 Chapter Four: Entrepreneurship and arable agriculture: Commercial farming schemes in the Chobe District ......................................................................................................... 99 Chapter Five: Gendered livelihoods and state intervention in fishing and handicraft production 1971-1991 ...................................................................................................... 123 Chapter Six: Wildlife Conservation and Human Communities: Colonial Beginnings and Post-colonial Adaptations ............................................................................................... 146 Chapter Seven: Conservation, game parks and nationalism: the halting development of tourism in Botswana ....................................................................................................... 174 Chapter Eight: Cross-border trade at Kasane: Combining multiple livelihood strategies ......................................................................................................................................... 199 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................... 226 BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................................................................................................... 229 ii ILLUSTRATIONS Maps Map 1. Republic of Botswana showing districts of Ngamiland and Chobe and game parks of Chobe National Park and Moremi Game Reserve ........................ ix Map 2. Wetland districts of Chobe and Ngamiland of Botswana ..................................x Tables Table 1. Exports of Cattle from Botswana, 1962-65 ..................................................... 51 Table 2. Livestock Distribution per household in the Chobe Enclave, 1988 ................ 69 Table 3. Percentage of Households and how they used CBPP compensation money, by District ....................................................................................................................... 71 Table 4. Beneficiaries of ALDEP Phase I (By Model Farmer and Gender) (National), 1986 .............................................................................................................. 85 Table 5. Cereal Imports 1992-1996................................................................................ 97 Table 6. Crop Production 1990-1999 (‘000 Tonnes) ..................................................... 97 Table 7. Grain Production in Pandamatenga Commercial Farming 1985/86-1996/97 (in metric tonnes) .............................................................................. 113 Table 8. Area planted (in hectares), total crop production (metric tonnes) and yields in Pandamatenga Commercial Farms for 1999/2000 Cropping season.... 115 Table 9. Revenue earned from wildlife utilisation in the 1972/1973 financial years .. 158 Table 10. Revenue collected by DWNP and Tourism Development Unit, 1984/85 to 1988/89 (Pula) ............................................................................................. 170 Table 11. Revenue collected by DWNP and Tourism Development Unit, 1984/85 to 1988/89 (Pula) ............................................................................................. 187 Figures Figure 1. Molapo field .................................................................................................... 79 Figure 2. Pandamatenga rich black cotton soil sample .............................................. 105 Figure 3. Sorghum in a commercial farm, Pandamatenga ......................................... 114 Figure 4. One of the many heaps of hybrid grade maize harvest from Seonyatseng Lekoko’s field ................................................................................. 120 iii Figure 5. Mokoro, the wooden dug-out canoe ............................................................. 128 Figure 6. Motorised boats with gill nets inside them .................................................. 133 Figure 7. Young palm plants for basket weaving ........................................................ 137 Figure 8. Different types of bark and ground roots used as dye for baskets ............. 138 Figure 9. Reed fence around the homestead. Kauxwi village ..................................... 139 Figure 10. Kushonya’s basketry business enterprise .................................................. 144 Figure 11. Jewellery container made from Buffalo Scrotum..................................... 172 Figure 12. Stool made from Elephant foot .................................................................. 172 Figure 13. The Main Kasane Fish Market ................................................................. 211 Figure 14. Extension wing of the Kasane Fish Market .............................................. 211 Figure 15. Pontoon arriving on the Botswana side of the Zambezi River .............................................................................................................. 215 Figure 16. Trucks in long queues at the Kazungula weigh bridge ............................. 218 iv ABBREVIATIONS ADB African Development Bank ALDEP Arable Lands Development Programme ANC African National Congress BAM Botswana Alliance Movement BAMB The Botswana Agricultural Marketing Board BCC Botswana Christian Council BDC Botswana Development Corporation BDF The Botswana Defence Force BGI Botswana Game Industries BLDC Botswana Livestock Development Corporation BMC Botswana Meat Commission BNA Botswana National Archives CAMPFIRE Communal Areas Management Programme For Indigenous Resources CBNRM Community Based Natural Resource Management Programme CBPP Contagious Bovine Pleuro Pneumonia CDC Colonial Development Corporation‟s CECT Chobe Enclave Conservation Trust CHA Controlled Hunting Areas CITES Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species CKGR Central Kgalagadi Game Reserve DWNP The Department of Wildlife and National Parks FAP Financial Assistance Policy FMD Foot and mouth disease FRD Food Resources Department GDP Gross Domestic Product HATAB Hotel and Tourism Association of Botswana HIV/AIDS Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired Immune deficiency Syndrome ICJ International Court of Justice IFAD International Fund for African Development KALEPA Kazungula, Lesoma and Pandamatenga MK UmKhonto we Sizwe NDB National Development Bank v NDPs National Development Plans NGO Non-Governmental Organisation OFA Okavango Fishers Association OXFAM Oxford Committee for Famine Relief PAC Problem Animal Control Unit PMU Botswana Police Mobile Unit RADs Remote Area Dwellers RTC Rural Training Centre SACU Southern African Customs Union SADF South African Defence Force SAFEX South African Futures Exchange SAP South African Police SLOCA Service to Livestock Owners in Communal Areas TFC Tsetse Fly Control Unit TGLP Tribal Grazing Land Policy UNDP United Nations Development Programme USA United States of America VDC Village Development Committee WNLA Witwatersrand Native Labour Association ZAPU Zimbabwe African People‟s Union vi GLOSSARY Bamulwizi: Tonga term for „river people‟ Bekuhane: Chisubiya term for the „river people‟ bogadi: bride wealth bogobe: thick porridge bokgola: moist soil chitenge: Zambian print cloth chitemene: agricultural system practised by the Bemba in Zambia in which cleared bush was collected and burnt in order to add fertility to soils in the hope of increasing yields dikgafela: dimension of tribute, usually gifts from crop harvests dikhuting: lagoons direto: totems kapenta: packaged small dried fish kgadi: illicit backyard brew kgobela: German muzzleloader kgomo ke Modimo: livestock is godly kgope: aloe plant kgosing ward: ward for aristocrats kgotla: public assembly kotselo: sleeping sickness kwena: crocodile laela mmaago: distilled alcoholic brew leselo: winnowing tray letsema (Setswana) njambe: (ThiMbukushu): work parties where people came together to help a community member in labour intensive activities vii mabele: sorghum madi ama tona: high blood pressure madila: sour milk mafisa: loan