Botswana Infrastructure Fails, Allows Annual Flooding

The October-through-April rainy season in Botswana is historically problematic. Flooding is inevitable as the country's infrastructure fails to handle the water load. In this editorial piece, the author asks why even ancient farmers could plan their plowing ahead of time to avoid catastrophic flooding on their farmland but the country's administrators can't plan far enough ahead to avoid the flooding from a perennial rainy season.

"We know very well of the chaos that come with the rainy season. Year in, year out, we are faced with similar problems of blocked floodwater drainage systems. And embarrassingly the city engineers and others charged with the responsibility will sheepishly repeat the same excuses that the systems were designed to handle lesser capacity or that rubbish is being thrown in culverts."

"We have been hearing that for years. What we now want to hear is how those in authority have planned to address these recurring problems."