The History of Water as an Economic or Social Good in Post-Colonial Botswana, 1966–2020

Abstract

Throughout history, water has been important for sustaining life. In southern Africa and in global literature, water is variously construed. It is perceived in diverse disciplines including water history either as a social, economic or political good. This article argues that conceptions of the commodity in post-colonial and predominantly arid to semi-arid Botswana varied historically between the social and economic value of water. However, this analysis of the social versus the economic value of water is one of the first in economic history to be undertaken outside pure and more technical economics research. Water is a scarce, perennially sought-after commodity. The search for water in Botswana stimulated conversations among community players and government on how historically endemic water scarcity had to be addressed from 1966 to 2020. In light of scarcity, the pursuit and goal of supplying water to the ever-growing population is a persistent theme in Botswana’s water landscape. This transdisciplinary economic historical investigation of the societal value of water in Botswana, thus, fits into that dominant water history paradigm. The study’s overarching significance is that water cannot merely be analysed in a pre-independence social goods mainstream to the detriment of its economic fundamentals in the country.

Keywords

• botswana
• water
• economic and social good
• water history
• environmental history