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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:'Let there be light': the struggle for developing electricity supply in Botswana, 1950-1970
Author:Kanduza, Ackson M.ISNI
Year:2009
Periodical:Botswana Notes and Records (ISSN 0525-5090)
Volume:41
Pages:39-46
Language:English
Notes:biblio. refs.
Geographic terms:Botswana
Southern Africa
Subjects:electricity
energy policy
economic history
History, Archaeology
Electricity--History
External link:https://www.jstor.org/stable/23237923
Abstract:This paper discusses several factors and changing circumstances in Botswana which shaped the development of electricity supply in the country between the 1950s and 1970. The development of electricity in Lobatse, Maun and Francistown after 1950 highlights South Africa's role in the economy of the Protectorate and early independent Botswana. In the 1950s, official attitudes took it for granted that developing electricity supplies in Botswana was simply a matter of accessing South African sources. This situation changed from the late 1950s when officials based inside the Protectorate pressed for increased locally-generated supplies of electricity. South African dominance in the electricity sector also took the form of private capital which was motivated by profits and expanding areas of investment at the regional level rather than developing the Protectorate's electricity supply. The government of independent Botswana had to deal with an established policy that did not protect the general public from exploitative tendencies of private capital. At the end of the colonial period and in the early years of independence, government involvement in the electricity sector laid a foundation of State participation in the economy. Notes, ref., sum. [ASC Leiden abstract]
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