31 Jul 2013

Almost two decades ago, Somerset West was just another informal location with houses built from all sorts of materials ranging from plastics, metal sheets, boxes and mud bricks.

It was a place of abode for hundreds of working class and the poor who had emigrated from their homes in search of greener pastures in Francistown. The plot sizes varied, as were the structures erected on them. A single public standpipe provided water to the residents of the sprawling location.

The informal settlers had lived there since the late 1970s and council was having a problem providing amenities and had to find a way of relocating them to another place, thereby leaving behind a huge swathe of land for industrial development. During that era, “Somi” as it was affectionately known to many who had a love-hate relationship with the informal settlement the place attracted bad publicity for Francistown.

The fact that many homesteads in Somerset were seen as dirty with litter scattered all over it, many people could not wait for the day when it would be demolished and turned into something productive.   In September 1997, a decision was taken for residents of the informal location to be relocated to Gerald Estates.

However, there was resistance from the inhabitants of the location who felt they were being thrown outside the town area to a bushy area far from the city centre. At that particular time, they were those who criticised the move by the government to relocate the inhabitants of Somerset to a better serviced place with internal roads and proper sanitation.

Despite the tension that abound at the time of relocation, all of them were moved to Gerald Estate leaving the place open for new developments that would later change the face of Francistown as a city. The new developments came with their fair share of problems as it turned out that the allocation process of the business plots for Somerset industrial area were allegedly not transparent.

The dispute ended up being decided at the courts of law with about 32 people being accused of buying the business plots through corrupt means. Despite these hiccups, all the plots were later sold to Batswana who later sold them to other people with the financial muscle.

Currently, Somerset Industrial area is booming with developments sprouting in every space and has attracted foreign investors which set up large building material warehouses and stores. However, while the developments at the Somerset West Industrial werer attracting companies to set up shop, the Francistown light industrial area behind Mater Spei College faced a bleak future with most companies now relocating to the new site.

This might spell doom for warehouse owners as businesses moved to an area that was closer to the A1 road and was visible for customers leaving behind empty shells. The location of the Somerset Industrial was also strategic for business people as it could also be accessible from all directions of the city centre.

However, Francistown mayor, Mr James Kgalajwe in an interview that the new industrial area was part of the rebranding exercise in the city which aims at attracting more investors and turning it into a tourism destination. He said that the relocation of some businesses to the new area might open up space for those who could not afford expensive rentals at Somerset industrial to relocate to light industrial area were rentals were still affordable.

He, nonetheless, highlighted that it was disappointing that majority of current owners of plots at Somerset industrial have bought plots from those who were originally allocated the plots.

This, he said, was despite the fact that the original owners had requested for prices of plots to be reduced since they were not serviced and some of the prices were dropped to below market values of industrial plots. Ends