Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
- Botswana still extracts around one-quarter of the world's diamond supply. With the exception of the Lerala
mine, opened in 2008, the country's diamond industry is run by Debswana, a joint venture between the Botswanan
government and South African company De Beers.
Where other African countries have squandered the proceeds of bountiful natural resources or have descended
into conflict in what has become known as the 'resource curse', Botswana has bucked the trend. The government
has spread this wealth throughout Botswana's small population fairly equitably, and diamond dollars have been
ploughed into infrastructure, education (adult literacy stands at 84.4%) and health. Private business has been al-
lowed to grow and foreign investment has been welcomed. In 1994 Botswana became the first country in the
world to graduate from the UN's Least Developed Country Status, a league table of development based around
key economic, social and quality-of-life indicators. From 1966 to 2005 Botswana's economy grew faster than any
other in the world. In 2011 Botswana ranked 32nd on Transparency International's Corruption Perception Index,
the highest ranking of any country in Africa. In the same year, Botswana's GDP per capita was a respectable
US$16,200, compared with US$500 in Zimbabwe, US$1600 in Zambia, US$7500 in Namibia and US$11,100 in
South Africa.
Conscious of the need to develop alternative revenue streams, Botswana's government is desperately trying to
diversify into manufacturing, light engineering, food processing and textiles. Tourism, too, is set to play a major
role in the country's future, although the challenge remains to increase revenue without adversely affecting the en-
vironment and local communities.
People of Botswana
All citizens of Botswana - regardless of colour, ancestry or tribal affiliation - are known
as Batswana (plural) or Motswana (singular). Almost everyone, including members of
non-Tswana tribes, communicates via the lingua franca of Setswana, a native language,
rather than the official language of English. Alongside language, education has played an
important role in building a unified country, and the government proudly claims that its
commitment of over 30% of its budget to education is the highest per capita in the world.
In Tswana, tribal groups are usually denoted by the prefix 'ba', which means 'the
people of…'. Therefore, the Herero are known as Baherero, the Kgalagadi as
Bakgalagadi, and so on. Botswana's eight major tribes (there are 26 tribal groups in all)
are represented in the House of Chiefs.
Tswana
Botswana means 'land of the Tswana' and about 80% of the country's population claims
Tswana heritage. The origins of the Tswana are simple enough. As land-owning agricul-
turalists, the Tswana ethnic group has clearly defined areas of influence. The Bangwato
are centred on the Serowe area, the Bakwena in and around Molepolole, and the Bang-
