Students plan to protest over unkept election promise

University students in Botswana are planning a protest on 8 August against delays in the fulfilment of an election promise by the new ruling party, the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC).

The UDC pledged to raise allowances for students from P1,900 (about US$140) to P2,500 (about US$183) in its 2024 electoral manifesto but has yet to make good on this promise.

Since the beginning of the year, students have been ratcheting up pressure on the government that will be culminating in a march on 8 August, during which they plan to deliver a petition to the ministry of higher education, demanding an increase in the allowances.

Eric Karabelo, one of the chief organisers of the protest, said the government “is not being truthful” about its plans to honour the electoral promise. “The minister [of higher education] has been saying inconsistent things to students and the media,” Karabelo told University World News.

Karabelo said allowances for people in other sectors, including for pensioners, have been raised, prompting him to conclude that “the government is not prioritising students”.

‘A great betrayal’

Before entering government, the ruling party worked closely with the student community. When students faced legal challenges under the previous government, Karabelo said: “Our chief lawyers were lawyers from the current ruling party.”

Many students campaigned for the ruling party and President Duma Boko on multiple social media platforms. “We were Tik-Toking [for Boko],” Karabelo said. This is one of the reasons students feel betrayed by the government’s failure to honour its electoral promise. Karabelo believes students “bent over backwards to help the government get into power”.

Because the ruling party worked closely with the student community in the past, Karabelo believes it is in a unique position to understand their situation.

“These guys [the government] are aware of the students’ plight,” yet now they are “completely silent” about the electoral promise and did not even mention raising the allowances in the State of the Nation Address and the annual budget statement. Karabelo is keen to take the government to task on its electoral promise “because somebody must stand up and look the president in the eye”.

The students’ plight

Tertiary students in Botswana are struggling to make ends meet. “Rent is high, students are complaining,” said Karabelo.

“Prices go up all the time here,” he added, and pointed out that many students’ rent, alone, accounts for around P1,300 of the current P1,900 allowance, leaving them with P600 for everything else. Students also struggle with transport costs because there are no direct routes to the campus for many of them, which increases their bus fares.

To survive, Karabelo said, students are being forced to resort to “indecent manners”. “Students are colluding with thieves, so they steal each other’s laptops,” Karabelo claimed, and said that many students are now selling drugs and alcohol to get by. Some, he said, are even engaging in prostitution. “Students are failing [at university] because they have to balance between survival and their studies.”

Government’s capacity to help

Asked if he thinks the government has the financial resources to raise the allowances, Karabelo said the fact that it has raised allowances for people in other sectors shows the state can make funds available for students. The government is owed money by many people and should collect its debts,” he argued.

Following the sustained pressure from university students, the government has begun responding. It has publicly stated that it is still committed to raising the student allowances to P2,500, albeit without outlining exactly when this is going to happen.

The minister of higher education was invited to comment on this article, but had not done so by the time of publication.