This transcript is from a CSIS podcast published on October 4, 2024. Listen to the podcast here.
Mvemba Phezo Dizolele: Welcome to Into Africa. My name is Mvemba Phezo Dizolele. I'm a senior fellow and the director of the Africa program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. This is a podcast where we talk everything Africa, politics, economics, security and culture. Welcome.
The landlocked Southern African country, Botswana, is not one that often makes the headlines. As the continent's longest multi-party democracy, Botswana is seen as a peaceful and stable heaven in Africa known for its diamond-rich economy. But beyond the glittering gems of political stability lies a thriving civil society working tirelessly to address the pressing issues facing the nation. While Botswana is often lauded for its stability and free press, it has been under the leadership of a single party, the Botswana Democratic Party, since gaining independence in 1966. This dominance raises important questions about the state of opposition parties, the robustness of political checks and balances, and the challenges of maintaining a genuinely competitive political environment.
In this episode, we are taking a closer look at Botswana's political landscape, discussing the perception versus the reality of its democracy. The Botswana Council of Non-Governmental Organizations, also known as BOCONGO, established in 1995, was created as a platform to coordinate the work of civil society organizations in the country, which play a pivotal role in development and policy advocacy. This organization are at the forefront of driving change in areas such as economic justice, environmental sustainability, democratic governance and human rights, and BOCONGO promotes experience sharing and support capacity building among these NGOs.
Additionally, we will explore how the country has worked to diversify its economy beyond diamonds, which account for 70% of the country's export earnings, a crucial step in ensuring longterm prosperity and addressing inequality. BOCONGO plays a key role in advocating for this economic shift and ensuring that all voices, especially those at the grassroots level, are heard in the national dialogue.
Joining me to help understand Botswana and where the country stand today is Ms. Kagiso Molatlhwa, Executive Director of BOCONGO. Kagiso, it's a pleasure to host you today. Good morning and welcome to Into Africa.
Kagiso Molatlhwa: Hello, and thank you so much for having me. I'm humbled to be here. As BOCONGO, we appreciate this invitation. So thank you for having me.
Mvemba Phezo Dizolele: Thank you for coming and welcome. Botswana, your country, like I just said a few moments ago, rarely makes the headlines when it comes to news reporting. However, always hear about Botswana when we take the economics of resource management or where we heard when we study economic development or international development, Botswana is often presented as the shining beacon if you will of development on the continent. But I know from experience, for any country, there is a gap between what you read or not read and the reality on the ground. Where is Botswana today? How will you describe the state of your country?
Kagiso Molatlhwa: Thank you. Yes, where is Botswana today? Looking back at where we come from, 1966, where we had just about three kilometers of tar road as an example, it's safe to say we've done exceptionally well in terms of national development across different sectors and different spheres. You know, at the time of independence, we even had less than 10 people who had just specialist degrees. When you look at our education, our health system where we were, well, we've done very well as a country, and the bulk of the development we've done as a country financed by the natural resources, financed internally. So I think we've- we've done very well.
But of course, given where we're coming from and where we are now, exportations are higher, now that, you know, we've got close to 100% educational coverage, when you look at experts across different fields, you have the skill sets, you have the human capital, still have stability in terms of the political side of things, we have- we still have the peace reigning. So the stakes are higher, the expectations are higher.
Currently, we have over the years been trying to diversify the economy of the country. Have we done well on that front? Yes and no. Yes in that yes, there are some sectors that are coming up. No in that the economy is still largely dependent, heavily dependent on diamonds such that anything that happens in the diamond market, we feel it in the country's economy. So we've done well, but we could do better and should do better.
Mvemba Phezo Dizolele: The situation that you're describing, Kagiso, in 1966, no more than three kilometers of tar road, very limited number of Batswana with college degrees, you said less than 10, it's a situation that we found in a lot of African countries at their independence.
Kagiso Molatlhwa: Mm-hmm.
Mvemba Phezo Dizolele: What exactly did Botswana do then to improve? Because apparently, all indicators show that Botswana went a different direction. This is what gets Botswana the image that we all know of Botswana. So what did they do right, 1966, Seretse Khama is your president, where do we go from there? What differentiates them from the rest of the continent?
Kagiso Molatlhwa: Absolutely. So there- there- there are a couple of things that set us apart and I think that gave us a very firm foundation. The first president of the country and the leaders that- from government during that time emphasized national unity. So Botswana right from the onset have a very strong sense of national unity. Peace is one of those key founding pillars that, you know, as Batswana, right from the onset was prioritized and is part of our DNA. We are family rooted in the concept of consultation. That's why we even have your traditional setting called the Kgotla where you have villages, each village is headed by a traditional leader called a chief and that's actually that central meeting place where members of the community with gather to engage and consult on various matters. So that firm rooting in the principle of consultation has helped a great deal and the- the fabric of peace that we've prioritized, the national unity.
I remember at the time of independence, even though I was yet not yet born, even from (laughs) our social studies lessons, we had this... I remember we were taught the national pillars then was DDSU. D was development and then, there's two, democracy for the other D, the S was sustainability and then, there was unity. So these pillars were strongly entrenched in us right from the foundation. And I think that is what has largely kept us intact and made sure that we prioritize our collected development. We've had differences, but we always went back to the root of consultation, listening to one another, considering different views, different opinions and focusing on the big picture. I think the leaders then had a strong conviction that for as long as we maintain the peace, for as long as we're not throwing bullets and stones at each other, we can always find a common ground, and I think that is one of the key things that have held us together as a nation and propelled us forward.
And I think the other key thing was that right from the onset, the principle was that all natural resources belong to all Batswana. It doesn't matter where they are found. You look at the- the diamonds, for instance. It doesn't matter whether you're given a plot and you find a diamond in your backyard, it's not yours. It belongs to all of us and it must serve all of us. So I think that as well gave us a sense of collective responsibility for each other's development and to progress together as a country.
Mvemba Phezo Dizolele: To progress together as a country, DDSU, Botswana is often portrayed as a homogenous society in that everybody is Setswana and that they say is part of what makes Botswana work. So when I think of a country like Botswana, from what I read, it reminds me of Norway or Sweden where it's very homogenous, they're the Scandinavian, they're the Norse, the Vikings would turn into this country with very small mino... Is that the case in Botswana? Are you a homogenous society and is that part of what helped this? Because when you talk about national unity and cohesion, that presupposes differences.
Kagiso Molatlhwa: Absolutely. No, we are not as homogenous as many people seem to think or seem to believe or are made believe. I'm- I'm not even sure where that notion comes from, perhaps from our name that says the country's Botswana, the name of the people is Batswana. There's a lot of diversity. There are so many tribal groupings in Botswana and so, so many languages spoken, more than what the world out there knows. So we're quite a diverse group of people. The name Botswana I think is what gives a lot of people the impression that we're like alls... Some- some Batswana are not- don't even speak Setswana. That's why I think there's of late a lot push towards mother tongue instruction because there- there's some Batswana who don't even know Setswana because it's not their mother tongue. They're Batswana just by virtue of being in Botswana, by having that nationality of Batswana, but there are very diverse tribal groupings in this country.
Mvemba Phezo Dizolele: Not as homogenous as we read, but also that drives us to a question of identity, right? So if everybody's called Batswana and you say some of your fellow citizen don't necessarily identify that way, what is that discussion like?
Kagiso Molatlhwa: Well, like- like I said of- of late, a lot of people... When our constitution was founded, it identified, for instance, eight main tribe and it used such words, eight main tribes. And of late, given that there's been an outcry around that to say that is discriminatory on its own, you know, to classify some tribes as main and by- by extension, we are saying others are- are small or minority while also acknowledging that those are not the only tribes. So that discussion I think of late has been gaining a lot of momentum as far as inclusion is concerned, identity is concerned because every person who identifies as a Motswana, once they are identity... beyond just being a peasant born in Botswana, to be fully appreciated, to be fully acknowledged we have Baherero, we have Basarwa, we have Bakgalagadi, we have Basubiya, we have so many other- other groupings.
And I think given the current, one of the current processes going on with the constitution review, that's one of the topical issues that people are bringing up to say we also want to be recognized, to be seen, to be included and to- to- to be allowed to identify as our identity. It gets heated sometimes.
Mvemba Phezo Dizolele: So what are they proposing instead? Those people who want the affirmation of their own identity, what do they propose in this dialogue? What's on the table?
Kagiso Molatlhwa: Currently, there has been calls, but largely through the works that we're doing as civil society, to say when that section of the constitution that talks of eight main tribes, some are saying it needs to be removed and- and not make reference to your eight main tribes because there are so many other tribes. Because if you are going to list, then you need to list all of them and can you do that. So there's a proposition to say let's not mention some tribes and leave others. Let's not even classify some tribes as main and, by extension, denoting others as minor. But then, there's also been questions around even the name Batswana because other people feel like even that name on its own is a bit in their view, in their- their view and opinion, they feel it- it excludes them.
And then, I think the other thing that links to that 'cause identity also goes with issues of land, you have, for instance, tribal territories that are defined as per these tribal groupings. So obviously, those that are not mentioned, the tribes that are not mentioned in the constitution, majority of them then don't have tribal territory. So the- the narrative is saying if you want to go inclusive, include everyone and not name some and leave some. It's- it's quite a sensitive and heated discussion because it touches at the very core of the being of the people. It's been quite one of those that are top of the radar for most people.
Mvemba Phezo Dizolele: This has been a challenge in many other countries so it's not just Botswana that is going through this. You know, a country like the DRC originally was called Congo and Congo represented one ethnic group and eventually, they moved to Zaire so they can have another name that kind of brings everybody together. It sounds like Botswana is having that debate now and you're trying to figure out if that name will survive. This is part of why some countries have changed their names. It- it's always been that debate.
Kagiso Molatlhwa: Absolutely. Absolutely. And we don't know where we'll end up because the constitutional review process is still ongoing so we don't know where it would end up, but from the consultations, it seems the name of the country Botswana would stay, but the name of the people, whether it would remain Batswana and those that feel left out, how that would end up with them is still yet to be seen because the process is still ongoing as far as the constitutional review is- is concerned, particularly those clauses that people have indicated, these are quite discriminatory and exclusive.
Mvemba Phezo Dizolele: So I want to stay a little bit with those DDSU, you described a little bit of the development.
Kagiso Molatlhwa: Mm-hmm.
Mvemba Phezo Dizolele: On the development front, let's give some grades on this- this sideline. So on the development front, where would you say we are? You started with 1966, less than three kilometers of tar roads, the education, so let's take a little bit with the first D. Where are we?
Kagiso Molatlhwa: The first D, development, I think we've done quite well across all the sectors, education, health, infrastructure and all the other sectors, we've done well. I think I'd give us, I don't know, out of a scale of 100, I'd give us a 70. There- there's still a lot that still needs to be done.
Mvemba Phezo Dizolele: What is the 30% going? What's...
Kagiso Molatlhwa: The 30- the 30% is reserved for the- the bulk of work we still need to do. I think it's safe to say we've regressed in some areas. In some areas, we've built infrastructure, but you look at the level of service delivery, it's quite disappointing. You look at a sector like education, that on a- on an annual basis gets a good chunk of the national budget, but when you look at the output in terms of the results of the student e- examination time and so forth, we seem to be regressing. The results are- are dropping year in, year out across the different grades so it's quite concerning.
The health sector, we've done well, including even with the HIV/AIDS pandemic, we were amongst the first countries to reach the 90-90-90, and then there was the 1995 95-95-95 targets. But now, we are- currently where we are, we have the infrastructure, but you go in, there's no medication. It seems the- the procurement process and the service delivery aspect is not as one would desire it to be. Of late, there's been shortage of medications and there's been a lot of labor relations between government and the health professionals.
So I think we've regressed in some of these areas. Education, the results are showing output vs the investment, it's a bit on the regression side, in health as well. The road network, the maintenance in some areas is good. In s- other areas, we have roads built that are not being maintained. I think we've regressed on some areas so we still have potential to do even better than we did back then when we didn't, like your skilled personnel and the infrastructure development that we have. That is where the 30% is going.
Mvemba Phezo Dizolele: On my trip to your country, my recent trip there, I as an outsider saw a country that was calm, peaceful, roads were working. It was nice. It was nice to see that. Now I didn't go too far out of the, uh, main city of Gaborone, but when you say infrastructure is regressing, what exactly are you talking about? Are you saying the front office where Gaborone is looks different than the rest of the country? Or are you just saying even within Gaborone itself, there is a- a gap between the level of investment in infrastructure?
Kagiso Molatlhwa: No, the infrastructure in most cases is good. It's the service delivery side. You'd have a hospital, but what is a hospital, is in the structure when there's no medicine. When you walk in, you get a prescription and then you have to go at the pharmacy, to go and buy at the pharmacy. That's I think the service delivery part on most of our sectors is- is where the problem is.
I'll give you another typical example. We have this government budgeting system that is meant to facilitate payments for all government procurement. That system for the bulk of this year has been down. Like where you get your contractor is not getting their dues because the system is down. So you have the infrastructure, but if you're not getting the service d- being deliver- delivered, it's as good as not being there. So that's where the- the challenge is. Road infrastructure, for instance, is very good. I think even the connectivity with other countries, we have, the- your Kazungula Bridge that connects Botswana and Zambia, Zambia and Namibia, those are good, those are really good in terms of, particularly for a landlocked country like ours. So if we can enhance the service delivery aspect of this, that should be great.
Mvemba Phezo Dizolele: So we remember that if several years ago at the height of the HIV crisis, Botswana was really teetering on the precipice, right? It was one of the countries that... In those days, Botswana made the news, but it was not the good news, right? There were, for instance, more teachers dying than normal schools were able to produce new teachers. But Botswana credits was able to pull itself of that brink and re-bounce really like in the way that they bounced back and build this infrastructure that you- you just mentioned, which became another point of exemplarity of Botswana that here's a country, good governance mattes, if you do the right thing, you can pull back.
And now when I was there, so everybody was talking about prep, everybody was talking about access to- to whatever they need if they were either trying to prevent HIV/AIDS or if they already contracted it, to survive in that. So apparently, there have been a good campaign on the government side to do that. But I also learned that there's a regression, that the level of infection rate is high, especially among teenagers. What is missing here? Why is that, it's the same country, the same state that did well a couple decades ago, what went wrong when you talk about this weak public service delivery in the health sector, for instance, even in education?
Kagiso Molatlhwa: Yeah. So I think, yeah, for- for the HIV/AIDS response, absolutely true. I think we can safely be regarded as the model for the world. W- when we started, we had people literally dying every day. Each family had funerals on a daily basis, on a weekly basis. And we- we came from that to re-surpassing the- the world highest. And the magic there was number one, there was political will to say we're in crisis, we need to prioritize this. Following the political will, the approach that was adopted was multi-sectoral approach. We need to pull everybody together, your district commissioners, your local level, your local government structures, central government structures, education, health, bringing all the sectors together to respond to the crisis that we're in.
Now, you are right, the infection rates particularly among the- the youth, I don't know whether we got- I don't know whether we got too comfortable perhaps. We thought, Okay, now HIV/AIDS is no longer a threat and now the messaging and the response, we are not... You know, we don't seem to think it's as important as it was to prioritize the response. And the- the unfortunate thing is the young people, the youth who are getting infected now, they didn't see what we saw when growing up where you used to see people walking around like skeletons, so we're really scared. So you find that your 16- year-olds, 17-year-olds, a lot of them are more scared of getting pregnant than getting HIV. Because with pregnancy, it's something that you see and then, you have to, you know, leave school for a bit when you give birth and something. So maybe perhaps we've relaxed a bit in terms of the response and adjusting accordingly to the challenges that are emerging.
And then, of course, there are the intergenerational relations 'cause these young people, most of them are not even getting infected by their age-mates. They're getting infected, these young girls where the infection is going up, largely getting the infection from- from the older men who entices girls with money and things like that. And the other challenges that have also emerged, we have the noncommunicable diseases that are also on a rise. So I think the prioritization there now, we are responding to the cancers and the other issues, and I think in the process then, we lost sight a little bit at the threat that is still being posed by HIV/AIDS, particularly given, I mean, looking at the young people. So I think we need to do a bit more there to sustain the great work that we've done that got us reaching the- the global target on that front.
Mvemba Phezo Dizolele: We need to do more there, you said. What is it that we need to do? Is that, uh, Botswana need to get back on message? Did Botswana drop the ball on the messaging? What is it that the youth does not, ah- the youth do not get? And why is it that these older men that you mentioned feel comfortable doing the business that they're doing of transmitting the disease when in fact, there are more means for now A, for them to protect themselves and then B, to behave accordingly?
Kagiso Molatlhwa: Yes, messaging definitely. We need to make sure the messaging that we're using with this younger generation, obviously, you can't use the same messaging you are using in 1990 where it was fear-based, HIV kills, where you see somebody behind their prison cell, trying to scare people from getting infected. With younger people, I think the best thing to do is get it from them. Let them lead in terms of what messaging resonates with them because it's a whole different generation with a whole set of priorities and a whole different way of thinking, a whole different way of seeing the world, even the aspirations that they have. So you really need to get behind the mind of the Gen Zs to really get to appreciate what messaging would speak to them.
And even what mode of transmitting the message because back then, we were doing posters, people were visiting health facilities. We were having health trucks in the morning at a health facility, at the work places, at the schools. It doesn't work with this generation. So I think they spend that time on- on- on socials. So utilize the- the socials, the social media platforms to reach out to these young people. That's where they spend that... You don't find them in the streets as in physical streets. They are on Facebook streets, X streets and- and all of that. So there's definitely work to do in that front.
With the older men, as a society, I think we've- we've done badly in terms of condoning some of this bad behavior where older men have relations with young girls and it's socially acceptable, and older men would be married, some of them even holding positions of power. And you'd hear when older men who's supposed to be respectable in society impregnating a 16-year-old and they continue to hold that office, so it- it speaks to the kind of behaviors we've condoned as- as a society. So we need to do some work in terms of deconstructing some of these bad behaviors that we've just made acceptable.
Mvemba Phezo Dizolele: On one level, the behavior that is condoned as you said, are there legal recourses about the situation or customary laws allow for this? And then B, for the youth, now there is a proliferation of social media where they should be actually reached in a- in a easy manner. Are there avenues of dialogue with the youth so that they are driving that messaging? You are leading a platform of various CSO, including youth groups. What's the discussion like?
Kagiso Molatlhwa: There's a number of members and a number of CS organization that specifically driving the response in this front and a number of movements that, you know, are youth-led, you have your- the likes of your SKY Girls, you have the likes of your Botswana Network on Ethics Law and HIV/AIDS. You have the likes of your Sentebale. So this is exactly what they exist to do to try and help the country get back on course, particularly with this vulnerable population and making sure that we arrest the situation before it gets out of hand. Because we cannot afford to have our youthful population getting infected at the rates at which they're getting infected. There are great efforts that's- that are being done with the support of the national health promotion agency, of course, and the structures are already there. It's a matter of seeing where we drop the ball and customizing the response to the current emerging challenges, but also still keeping it a national priority 'cause I think that's important, and having the political will to drive that priority because that's what it took back then to reverse what we were seeing.
Mvemba Phezo Dizolele: The other point that you mentioned, the other sector was education.
Kagiso Molatlhwa: Mm-hmm.
Mvemba Phezo Dizolele: I saw a nice university, University of Botswana right there down the street. Was able to tour the place. Infrastructure looked fantastic. There is the link there. What do we teach the children or these young ladies and men who are coming through the pipeline and the reality? By talking to youth groups, there was also high level of discontent with the quality of education and services that they're getting. How do you make the link? What is it that public policymakers are not getting or not doing?
Kagiso Molatlhwa: Yes, education, I think for the greatest time we were educating young people for them to get employed. That has served its course. The economy is not generating enough jobs. Graduates are coming out of university with your marketing degrees, your business administration, and not finding the jobs. And the cost of living is not going down and that's part of the reason where you end up with high risk behaviors, particularly amongst young people because there are certain things they desire in life, there's a certain standard of living that they desire, and somebody gets out of university and for the next three, four, five years, literally, they feel like their dreams are being shattered right in their eyes. They were given the impression that education is the keys to success, but they feel like... Because they were trained to be employed, but there's an attempt to shift to push entrepreneurship, train young people for them to start enterprises, create employment for themselves and other young people.
The university that you mentioned, which links to the pillar that I mentioned of, among the DDSU, the S is actually self-reliance, that university was actually built by Batswana with their own sweat. Our parents, grandparents contributed their cows, their cattle, chicken, sheep, anything that anybody could contribute to build that university. And I think it has done well over the years. The outcry, there's been calls to try and revamp the country's education curriculum to make sure that we produce graduates that can survive in the world market, not only nationally. Graduates that can fit into the world economy and particularly given now the digitalization right now, the world has literally gone digital. So if you're still going to be producing the same that you are producing from 1966, we end up with the situation like this where you are producing graduates every year, but the bulk of them then end up at home relying on their parents' old age pension.
So there's been a lot of calls to really be deliberate in terms of repositioning the country's education system, particularly from the side of the curriculum to be sure that you produce graduates that are resilient and that are able to create opportunities for themselves. It's been a great challenge.
Mvemba Phezo Dizolele: The other dimension of this is the other D is democracy and a lot of the issues that you mentioned are issues of governance, but they also find a solution in a democratic process if the process works 'cause that's where people get to either vote in or vote out people who are doing well or not doing well and not serving their... It's one way of ensuring accountability. It's not the only way. It is one way.
So Botswana now is going through a constitutional review at this point. Why is that constitutional review called for? What's happening behind that? But also, I mean early on, I talked about a free press. The impression people get from the outside is that there's a free press. But being in the country, I got a sense that that's not exactly what is happening. It is free as the government allows it to be because the government control the media, state media much more powerful than the free press, by that, I mean independent media, who are under tremendous pressure to align themselves with... They start to score what is accepted and then the BDP has been in power since 1966. Does that mean they're as popular as ever and that's why they continue? Or are there structural problem as well? What is the state of democracy and how has that fed the challenges you just mentioned?
Kagiso Molatlhwa: Thank you. The constitutional review, why is that necessary? The current constitution of the country is one that we inherited post-independence and that's why for many, Batswana had been calling for the complete overhaul and review of the constitution because they felt like the current constitution, what we inherited from independence doesn't adequately carry the aspirations of Botswana now. The talk has been going on for quite some time and in 2019 during the campaign for elections, the BDP promised that if they win elections, they will institute or initiate the process of reviewing the constitution of the country. So that's where it comes from.
Unfortunately though, even as- as BOCONGO, as civil society, we engage government right from the onset, you know, during the onset of these discussions in terms of how best that process could be done in a way that it's people centered and people driven and such that at the end of it, the product that you get, every Motswana relate to it, they- they can own it. When we engaged government on that front practically before the process was mediated, we had the hope that we would be journeying together on this, you know. Unfortunately, government then decided to take a different approach by way of a presidential commission of inquiry, which we didn't believe was the best way to go. So there's a lot of contention around the process and the content therein.
And then on the issue of the press, press freedom, there are a lot of issues there. There's a lot of self-censorship, there's a lot of... For starters, our private press is greatly resource constrained, there was a time when there was an advertising ban from government where simply because the press was reporting on some things that government felt uncomfortable with. So the private press survives largely just a lot- the bulk of the revenue from advertising obviously. So when government instituted that advertising ban, it really hit them hard. So a lot of them are resource constrained so you find that there's a lot of polarization in that respect and hence, the self-censorship. So if you are to survive, you've got to report in a way that government doesn't view you as a- as an enemy. And a lot of the private press is losing its most experienced journalists because there's no money to pay them. So we are losing a lot of experienced journalists because they can't survive. There's no resources for the private press. So it's been quite a challenge.
Mvemba Phezo Dizolele: Why is advertisement outlawed for the independent press or how did this come about?
Kagiso Molatlhwa: Not outlawed. It was gov... Particularly for the investigative journalists when- and the papers that do a lot of investigative journalism that were reporting on the corruption and things like that, corruption in government procurement, in government tenders and so forth, you know, the- these are things that bulk of the time those in power don't want people out there to know. So there was an advertising ban to say if you're going to be reporting on some of these things, we won't advertise on your paper. Basically, we won't take our money to you. So how are you going to print and circulate the papers if you're not getting any income? Remember our economy is largely government driven. Private sector is trying, but government is still the greatest employer. A lot of these tenders are done by government. That really hits the press hard in terms of generating revenue to continue to do the work that they do independently, but to the best of their ability.
But earlier this month, government gazetted the access to information bill that is trying to amongst others make information accessible. Some of these journalists were struggling, for instance, with getting access to information, interviews and things like that. We are hopeful some of these developments would try and help the press recover and claim their rightful place in as far as free press is concerned, but it's been quite a challenge.
Mvemba Phezo Dizolele: Does Botswana have a Freedom of Information Act?
Kagiso Molatlhwa: No, not yet. These are some of the conversations that are going on as part of the constitution review and- and- and some of the related laws. And these are some of the things that have been making it quite difficult for the press to- to operate. They would write to some of these high profile officials seeking interviews and things like that or seeking documents as part of the research, and you'd wait forever to get a response. No one says...
Mvemba Phezo Dizolele: The BDP has been in charge this entire time since '66, which is 58 years. Are they sticking around because they're very popular or what else is happening? You do have an opposition.
Kagiso Molatlhwa: Yes, yes, we do have an opposition. Why is the BDP sticking around? Are they popular? I'm not sure actually (Laughs)
Mvemba Phezo Dizolele: Okay, okay. (Laughs)
Kagiso Molatlhwa: The 2019 elections, for instance, the opposition was united under a structure called the Umbrella for Democratic Change and when you look at the 2019 re-elections, they were quite highly contested. For once in the history of the country, going to the polls, it was not obvious that the BDP would win and there had been numerous calls from Batswana requesting the opposition to unite because they were saying the fragmentation leads to vote splitting, which then gives the BDP the majority of the votes. So 2019 opposition was united and there was a very close challenge.
Now after that, gi- given their own internal squabbles, they then split. So these are some of the things that perhaps give the ruling party the edge in terms of it's the vote splitting that makes them popular, I don't know, but the fragmented opposition is not helping the situation in terms of competition, but one of the parties that has come out of the united structure, which is the- the Botswana Congress Party, it was one of those that was under the Umbrella for Democratic Change, that collective. It exited the mechanism. I think they- they had their own differences. Now it's pushing on its own. It seems to be doing well, but we don't know. We don't know on that or whether they can shake the BDP, we don't know. We'll see with the 2024 polls.
Mvemba Phezo Dizolele: Among the DDSU, the S was self-reliance.
Kagiso Molatlhwa: Self-reliance in its original form spoke to a lot of things. In Setswana, they're being called- it's- it's being called ipelegeng as in carry yourselves. We used to be self-reliant on a number of fronts, you know, right from individual level. Self-reliance, for instance, spoke to, as an example, the ability to feed yourself as a country, be self-sufficient, plant, plow, keep cattle, feed yourself. We used to produce a lot of grain, perhaps also because we had good rains before the advent of things like climate change. We used to... Beef, while we're still doing very well in terms of beef and we're still exporting, but- you know, but our cattle population has declined, even though there are efforts, of course, by government in realization of that to try and get the country back to where we were, but in terms of, for instance, food security, particularly given some of the newer dynamics around your climate change and the other threats around that, we could do better, we really could do better.
Mvemba Phezo Dizolele: Where do you see Botswana going over the next five years?
Kagiso Molatlhwa: Next five years, we really as a country need to prioritize the concerning high rates of youth unemployment if we are to go anywhere. We need to as a matter of urgency prioritize the response to the high rate of gender-based violence. As a matter of urgency, we need to accelerate economic diversification. Right now, our diamonds, diamond sales have gone down and obviously, that has shaken us, that has shaken our economy, and it still shows that our economy is still very much highly dependent on diamonds, which are very vulnerable to external shocks. So currently, even the state of the country's coffers according to the latest reports, it's concerning. So we need to accelerate this economic diversification that we've been talking about.
The tourism has been picking up, but perhaps, we need to increase the pace of diversifying as far as your tourism is concerned and accelerate the diversification as far as agriculture is concerned and accelerate the innovation and industrialization because that would help as far as the youth unemployment is concerned because we have a highly educated youthful population that are lying idle, not working, not in any... not creating any businesses and so forth. As well as the arts, the arts and creative industry, that's where the- the bulk of the youth are. We need to do more to make sure that, you know, young people who don't want to go into employment, who want to use their talents to create magic get to do that.
So we need to I think accelerate bringing up the other sectors. Right now, we're in a bit of a concerning situation with the- the slump in diamond sales. And then, of course, now you have the health threats. We had COVID. We had HIV and then after, from HIV, we had COVID. Now, we have MPOX. I don't know whether our systems are ready, for instance, to respond to this continuous health shocks and our economy had not yet recovered from COVID to add that as well.
Mvemba Phezo Dizolele: On a positive note, you have Letsile Tebogo.
Kagiso Molatlhwa: Yeah.
Mvemba Phezo Dizolele: Who did very well in the Olympics and we all watched his welcome home ceremony and the long lines of people who came to welcome him.
Kagiso Molatlhwa: Yes.
Mvemba Phezo Dizolele: Kagiso Molatlhwa, it's a pleasure having you on Into Africa. Thank you for joining us today.
Kagiso Molatlhwa: Thank you so much for having me on the show. Thank you for hosting us. Thank you for giving us the platform.
Mvemba Phezo Dizolele: Thank you for listening. We want to have more conversations about Africa. Tell your friends. Subscribe to our podcast at Apple Podcast. You can also read our analysis and report at csis.org/africa. So long.
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