Mmegi/The Reporter (Gaborone)
Ndingililo Gaoswediwe
2 November 2009
Jamataka — It is early morning, but I can already feel the sun beating down on my face; a sign that it is going to be a hot day.
I anxiously thumb down lifts as I stand under a mosu tree that has been turned into a hitchhiking spot to Jamataka, Makobo and Natale villages.
After nearly two hours of failure to get a ride, I decide a donkey cart will do. It is a tumult as people and cars are in haste to polling stations at Borolong Village, a sign of a responsible citizenship. The day that many Batswana have been waiting for has finally arrived, conveniently on a Friday that has been declared a public holiday in order to facilitate voting.
I eventually board a minibus to begin my journey to Jamataka. Situated 40 kilometres west of Francistown along Orapa Road, the village - then only a settlement - was once at the centre of a controversy between the pastoral farmers and residents. Though Jamataka now has the status of a village, the pattern of scattered homesteads typical of settlements remains. But it cannot be for long because the change in status means Jamataka will attract more and more social amenities.
Peace and quiet reigns here. Today being polling day, the maze of pathways that meander through Jamataka is almost empty of people, except for knots of men at drinking holes and children fetching water from a standpipe. I get to Masarwa Depot and am surprised to find the place empty too. I surmise that people can only be at the polling station where an IEC officer tells me people began to arrive as early as 5am.The atmosphere is calm as voters patiently await their turn in a queue between two blocks of classrooms at the local primary school. They chat quietly as the queue moves at the speed of a chameleon. The IEC officer informs me that the queue is slow mainly because the majority of the people cannot read and write and need the attention of polling agents to explain the procedure.
The youth came very early to get out of the way of their parents and forebears and, I figure out, to have time 'to bend the elbow' at their favourite drinking holes that must be making a fast one today
It is noon now, but grey-haired citizens of Jamakata are still in the queue, resting their chins on their hands cupped around walking sticks as vans deposit more voters. They present the picture of perfect patience. I speak to a few youths, one of whom, 35-year old Tiego Letsitla, says he voted to add to the numbers which cherish the democratic right to choose their own leaders.Twenty-six year old unemployed father of two, Godfrey Sesinyi, says he rose early in order to beat the long queue, though he was still delayed by his fellow villagers who cannot read and write.
"I voted to fulfil my wishes to bring change, " Sesinyi says proudly, and adds that his age mates voted in large numbers compared to the last elections in 2004.
The change he yearns for the most is the creation of employment opportunities in Jamataka.
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