PRESS STATEMENT ON REMOTE AREA DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME (RADP)

PROVISION OF SUBSIDIES

DITSHWANELO – The Botswana Centre for Human Rights would like to comment on the announcement on Radio Botswana on 20 May 2003, that recipients of rations under the Remote Area Development Programme (RADP), in the Kgalagadi District, have not been accorded their full entitlements by the Council. The report indicated that recipients were only receiving 10 small stock instead of the 15 to which they are entitled. We applaud Mr Mothibamele, Member of Parliament for Kgalagadi District for facilitating the publication of the information. In keeping with Vision 2016, the building of an open, democratic and accountable nation requires ‘an open acceptance that mistakes and failures are made, and an open discussion about how policies and strategies might be improved.’

DITSHWANELO would like to commend the transparency in coming forward with these issues, which allows for them to be discussed and addressed appropriately. Over the years, DITSHWANELO has raised concerns about the improper implementation of the RAD Programme which causes great difficulty for the beneficiaries of the Programme. Reports reaching DITSHWANELO from the Gantsi, Kgalagadi, Kweneng and Ngamiland Districts, over the years, have included: none or delayed delivery of food rations; lack of proper consultation, for example, with parents concerning the return of their children from school and nutritionally unbalanced rations.  These reports were referred to the RADP Office during that period.

RADP began in 1975 as the Bushmen Development Programme. The name of the programme was later changed to focus on people living in remote areas. While remote area dwellers (RADs) are “people living outside established villages”, the dominant people in this group are the Basarwa. The programme has economic and social objectives which include:

The RAD Programme is currently under review to determine why it has not been as effective as was envisaged and how it can achieve the objectives for which it was established.

DITSHWANELO believes that for development to be effective, it must be people-centred. This entails locating people at the centre of processes which recognise civil, political, economic, social and cultural aspects of their lives.  We continue to call for a rights-based development model to be adopted. This is an alternative to the current development approach used by the Government. Development should be more than the provision of roads, clinics and schools. It should be based on the recognition that the right to development, is:

 “an inalienable human right by virtue of which every human person and all peoples are entitled to participate in, contribute to and enjoy economic, social, cultural and political development, in which all human rights and fundamental freedoms can be fully realised.”

This is Article 1 of the Declaration on the Right to Development, as adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1986, which recognises all rights and freedoms as indivisible and interdependent. Vision 2016 incorporates one of the African tenets of “Botho” which is a principle recognising human dignity and inculcates “the concept of a well-rounded character, who...realises his or her full potential both as an individual and as part of the community to which he or she belongs”.

It is therefore vital that in efforts towards providing access to development for the Basarwa, respect is maintained for their fundamental rights and freedoms, and that they are allowed to participate in their own development in order for them to realise their full potential within their communities.

Gaborone