The Francistown Oriental Plaza “White Elephant”: A cultural conflict or what?

Abstract

In 2010 the city of Francistown in Botswana received news that an Oriental Plaza was being constructed in the centre of the city. In Botswana, Chinese goods are synonymous with affordability. An Oriental Plaza, selling Chinese merchandise exclusively, has been in operation in Gaborone for several years now, and it has over those years attracted a lot of patrons. The Oriental Plaza in Francistown, in contrast, is a recent development, and it was built in Kgaphamadi opposite Tatitown Police Station. However, to date it has not opened its doors to the public. Instead, the complex is now being used as a storage facility for the Chinese shops in the city. This paper attempts to explain the reasons behind the non-functionality of this Plaza using the concept of segregation as the theoretical framework. It interrogates the possibility of cultural conflict between Batswana and Chinese and how such conflicts could have been avoided for this project to have been successfully implemented. Yuan (1963) posits that segregation may be explained along the cline of voluntary segregation (strict voluntary, voluntary, voluntary involving involuntary factor(s)) and involuntary segregation (involuntary involving voluntary factor(s), involuntary, strict involuntary). It was found that the type of segregation practised by the Chinese in Botswana is voluntary segregation because they chose to operate their businesses in an exclusive location which does not admit businesses from their host community. The paper also argues that Oriental Plazas in Botswana can be viewed as voluntary segregation which is not necessitated by hostile factors in contrast to those associated with Chinatowns. It goes further to recommend a number of interventions to promote communication and trust in order to avoid such conflict between the Chinese and the host communities, and promote cultural integration.