Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
UNDERSTAND BOTSWANA
Botswana Today
By any standards, Botswana's recent history is a lesson to other African countries. Instead
of suffering from Africa's oft-seen resource curse, Botswana has used the ongoing windfall
from its diamond mines to build a stable and, for the most part, egalitarian country, one
whose economic growth rates have, for decades, been among the highest on earth. This is a
place where things work, where education, health and environmental protection are govern-
ment priorities. Even when faced with one of the most serious challenges confronting
Africa in the 20th century - HIV/AIDS - the government broke new ground in making an-
tiretroviral treatment available to all.
For all such promising news, Botswana is far from perfect. The government's treatment
of the indigenous San people remains a serious concern among human rights activists - in
late 2010, Survival International called for a boycott of Botswanan diamonds, accusing the
government of trying to force the San from their ancestral lands.
In the economic sphere, the country's dependence on diamonds is also a major concern
when looking into Botswana's future; diamond production is expected to peak and then de-
cline over the next 20 years. In 2012 the world's leading diamond producer began transfer-
ring its diamond-sorting operations from London to Botswana, an important step in grant-
ing Botswana a greater stake in the industry. Even so, the dependence on diamonds makes
the economy vulnerable to a fluctuating world economy - when world demand contracted
in 2009, so, too, did Botswana's economy (by almost 5%) for the first time in living
memory; the industrial sector shrank by 30%. Impressive growth rates have since returned
but the episode remains an important cautionary tale for the government. Unemployment
stands officially at around 7.5%, but unofficially it could be closer to 40%.
Botswana's customary political stability - the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) has
ruled the country since independence - has been shaken a little in recent years, but only a
little. A two-month strike over pay in 2011 was followed by defections from the ruling
party, although some government members soon returned to the fold after the opposition
failed to unify around a common platform. The BDP's hold on to power appears to be safe
for a few years yet.
