ProQuest Number: 10672736 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a com plete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest ProQuest 10672736 Published by ProQuest LLC(2017). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States C ode Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 To my mother Evelyn Thapelo-Thula with great love ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Acknowledgement are due to the History Department of the University of Botswana for giving me the opportunity to serve as Staff Development Fellow in their department immediately after my graduation from the University of Botswana. This appointment resulted in the University of Botswana granting me a Scholarship to go and read for a Master of Science degree at the London School of Economics and Political Science in 1991. Immediately after completing the latter programme the University of Botswana was kind enough to extend my scholarship. The result was that I was able to enrol for Doctoral studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies in 1993 in the Economics Department. And last but not least I thank Doreen Kingstly, Neo J. Mapharing and Dimane Mpoeleng for selflessly helping me with the typing. Mary Blake will remain a legend in my mind forever. ABSTRACT Botswana has the unusual reputation of being the only country in Southern Africa that has experienced consistently high rates of rapid economic growth since independence. Researchers emphasise this exceptionality, and many times the case of Botswana has been invoked to support the thesis that the feasibility of development in the Third World hinges on the existence of compatible political democratic structures and economic developmental efforts. The dynamics of internal development, however, have by and large been neglected, giving rise to undue and often misleading generalisations. This thesis is a critique of the Botswana post- colonial development model. It deploys a structural approach to dissect and analyse the economic development of Botswana in an historical perspective. Development literature is replete with macro-economic analyses that purport to illustrate how the Botswana state achieved optimal economic gains through prudent management of the economy and political liberalisation. However, there is, as yet, little else to indicate how the state has broadened the set of beneficiaries - especially amongst the peasantry. The present study demonstrates how agrarian transformation, stimulated by widespread borehole technology in the face of consistently available revenue from a booming mining sector, has influenced social relations of production and class differentiation in Botswana. It shows how the state ruthlessly exploited available revenue to sustain its hegemony - ensuring the preservation of a minority ruling class coalition and the marginalisation of well over two-thirds of the population in the process. The analysis thus demonstrates that Botswana, just like other mineral-rich African countries, has failed to direct development towards the rural sector. It essentially debunks the myth surrounding the exceptionality of the Botswana state. List of Tables Chapter 3 Table 1 - Summary of the Campaign Results, Page 69. Chapter 4 Table 1 - Mean and Monthly Rural Household Income for 1974-75 and 1985-86 (Pula Per Month at 1985/86 Price, Page 110. Table 2 - Measures of Rural Income Distribution for Total Household Income 1974-75 and 1985-86, Page 111. Table 3 - Rural Household Income by Source, 1974-75 and 1985-86 (Percentage of Totai Income), Page 111. Table 4 - Livestock Population, 1979 to 1990 (Thousands), Page 113. Chapter 6 Table 1 - Remote Area population Dwellers in Botswana, Page 145. Table 2 - Breakdown of major Ethnic Groups in Botswana and Percentages of these Residing in Remote Areas, Page 145. Table 3 - District by District Disbursement of Funds up to 1981, Page 147. Table 4 - Crop Production Over Years (Metric Tonnes), Page 152. Table 5 - Percentage Population Living Below Poverty Datum Line (1974 and 1989), Page 152. Table 6 - Government Drought Relief and ARAP Expenditures (Pula Millions), Page 154. Table 7 - Distribution of ALDEP on Farm Packages (1982/1988), Page 163. Table 8 - Results of Elections, Percentage of Votes Cast (1969/1994), Page 166. Abbreviations and Acronyms AG Answer Group ALDEP Accelerated Land Development Programme ARADP Accelerated Remote Area Development Programme ARAP Accelerated Rainfed Arable Programme ARDP Accelerated Rural Development Programme BAMB Botswana Agricultural Marketing Board BDC Botswana Development Corporation BDN Botswana Daily News BDP Botswana Democratic Party BFP Botswana Freedom Party BHC Botswana Housing Corporation BIP Botswana Independence Party BLDC Botswana Livestock Development Corporation BLP Botswana Labour Party BMC Botswana Meat Commission BNA Botswana National Archives BNF Botswana National Front BoB Bank of Botswana BPAL Bechuanaland Protectorate Abattoirs Limited BPC Botswana Power Corporation BPP Botswana Peoples Party BPU Botswana Progressive Union BSAco British South Africa Company CCO Campaign Consultation Officer CDC Colonial Development Corporation CDC Commonwealth Development Corporation CDF Colonial Development Fund DAO District Agricultural Officer DCs District Councils DRP Drought Relief Pragramme EAC European Administration Council ECC Economic Commmittee of the Cabinet EC LA Economic Commission For Latin America ERDS Extra Rural Dwellers FAO Food and Agricultural Programme FRD Food Resources Department GC Grazing Committee GCB Government Computer Bureau GDP Gross Domestic Product GNP Gross National Product GoB Government of Botswana . HIES Household Income Expenditure Survey IDM Institute of Development and Management IFP Independent Freedom Party IFP International Food Programme ILO International Labour Office IMF Internatrional Monetary Fund LDCs Less Developed Countries LG Local Government LLB Lesedi La Botswana MFDP Ministry of Finance and Development Plannning MLGL Ministry of Local Government and Lands MOA Ministry of Agriculture MVA Manufacturing Value Added NAC Native Administration Council NDB National Development Bank NDP National Development Plan NGOs Non-Governmental Organisations NICs New Institutional Economics. NICs Newly Industrialising Countries NPE New Political Economy ODI Overseas Development Institute PDL Poverty Datum Line PWD Public Works Department RADP Remote Area Development Programme RADS Remote Area Dwellers RC Resident Commisssioner RDU Rural Development Unit RECC Rural Extension Co-ordinating Committee RIDS Rural Income Distribution Survey RLC Radio Listening Campaign RLG Radio listening Group RoB Republic of Botswana SADC Southern African Development Community SASSC Southern African Social Science Conference SLOCA Service to Livestock Owners in Communal Areas SRDP Special Rural Development Programme TGLP Tribal Grazing Land Policy TLA Tribal Land Act UDF United Democratic Front UNDP United Nations Development Programme UNRISD United Nations Research Institute for Social Development USF United Socialist Front WB World Bank WUC Water Utilities Corporation V UAL) CHAO SUDAN IVO N V COAST CENTRAL AFRICAN R E M lL IC EQUATORIAL O U * * A i IAO TO ttt k AlHMCIRf 0 j RWANDA#*** C t f f V U M COMORO ISLANDS ZAMSIA LESOTHO REPUBLIC OF BOTSWANA O s u e i b tx rts try Matcntl Park ZAMBIA ANGOLA R itw iful* F«rrj . Kgomo - -T ' \ . W •/ CHC8S A \ \ 1 I i ZIMBABW E Gvwnara Gh*nt f p. >r Pool Drift .• ‘'BooaBog Ptiwprt / ZantibOr Mortiftt Dr.M W»h*(»py< <Wf \f\ KGAT-E\G \ r T J w iw i TI6*«^r^ Go I* _ ? /.GABORONE ,<. Hanyw ' ] /; R •m o tive -P ~TLotwt»«.*iZ/Piwit«r /77P- G«t« -t- * ^Moupong' N . I Rafnotlobwne Phirtnen* MpBpc TtOabong «. , wfMeCwthy*. Rmf REPUBLIC OF SOL/TH AFRICA r Bof*«r P**t Railway Station A ir P *r1 *>« OtS*'*****1 O*SvXr TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Acknowledgements i Abstract ii List of Tables iii Abbreviations and Acronyms iv Map - Africa/Republic of Botswana vi Map - Republic of Botswana vii CHAPTER 1 BOTSWANA IN PERSPECTIVE 1.1 Aims of the Thesis 1 1.2 Geographical and Historical Background 1 1.3 Methodological Aspects 4 1.4 Structure of the Thesis 7 CHAPTER 2 THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF PEASANT DIFFERENTIATION IN COLONIAL BOTSWANA: A REINTERPRETATION 2.1 Introduction 10 2.2 Background to Contending Perspectives 10 2.3 Critiques of Perspectives on Colonialism, Underdevelopment and Nationalism in Bechuanaland 16 (a) The Southern African Context 16 (b) Colonial Political Economy of Botswana 18 2.4 Pre-capitalist Modes of Production: the Basis of Class Formation 20 2.5 Colonial Period: Stagnation and Polarisation? 24 (a) The Nature of Tswana Feudalism 26 (b) British Borehole Technology: an Antecedent to the Enclosure Movement of the Post-independence Era 29 2.6 The Birth of a Liberal Order and its Impact on the Rural Economy 34 2.7 The Farmer, the Politician and the Bureaucrats: Local Government and Rural Development in Botswana 37 CHAPTER 3 LAND REFORM AND DEVELOPMENT POLICY 3.1 Introduction 42 3.2 Structure of the Argument 43 3.3 Coionial Antecedents in Land Reform 43 (a) Independence and the Rights of Tenure 44 (b) Land Reform as a Function of Political Penetration 45 Interface between Social