(a) Social, economic and political

Botswana is the oldest and perhaps the most stable democracy in southern Africa.

Botswana is a relatively wealthy country, with its prosperity resulting from the country’s rich deposits of diamonds. However, this wealth is not evenly distributed to an extent where more than 50 per cent of Batswana live below the poverty line.

An apparent boom in manufacturing during the 1990s is on the wane, and unemployment has been growing steadily over the past few years.

However, Botswana’s model of national public ownership of mineral wealth, particular through the Debswana Corporation, is viewed in many places, as one approach that balances national ownership and foreign direct investment.

The Botswana Pula is the strongest currency in the region, exceeding even the South African Rand.

The overwhelming dependence of the country on foreign human, managerial, agricultural and other technical expertise has caused some resentment among some Batswana, especially at grass root level. This has been exacerbated by the increasing self-enrichment of a narrow and parochial elite.

As the resources and benefits become increasingly scarce, there are signs of tribalism, xenophobia and narrow sectarianism creeping into the Botswana political sphere.

The country’s first-past-the-post electoral system means that political representation through parliament is not inclusive.

The government’s human rights record is also tainted by its maintenance and use of the death penalty, as well as by its marginalisation of ethnic minorities.

The perceived corruption of public officers is still a matter for concern.

There is minimum lack of effective and substantive participation in elections and hence the quality of democracy remains low.

The most critical challenge Botswana faces is its alarmingly high HIV infection rates. The government has declared it a national emergency.

The dominance of a single party, that has ruled Botswana since independence in 1966, is a matter of concern. This perhaps demonstrates the need for stronger opposition parties that would ensure a more participatory electoral system.

The low status enjoyed by women in general needs to be addressed. Even after several progressive policy and legal measures had been undertaken by the government, there is still a plethora of laws, attitudes and policies − both traditional and modern − that bar women from equal participation in social, economic or political activities.

Human rights issues around HIV and AIDS need to be dealt with.

The government should also ensure that International Justice is respected and the rulings of the International Criminal Court are observed at the national level.

NGOs play a complementary role in filling in the critical areas of development, like environment and small enterprise development. The advocacy role of NGOs has sensitised government to acknowledge certain areas such as minorities and women, in legislation and in the formulation of national policies in such areas as environment and agriculture.

Though NGOs have managed to remain independent without much government interference in terms of their agenda, and they reflect their own organisation’s thinking and scope of direction, the sector is dependent upon donors and have weak financial bases which might lead them to fail in their objectives. The sector is also experiencing the withdrawal of many donors. They want NGOs to move to financial self-sufficiency, but do not leave them the means to accomplish the goal.

Botswana civil society organisations participation in regional processes also tends to be poor because of lack of resources.

(b) Media, Freedom of Expression and Information & Communication Technologies

Since independence in 1966, the Botswana political system has been dominated by one political party that until today, forms government. Over the years, this situation has impacted on the media.

A major feature is that the independent media have for sometime been closely aligned to the ruling sectors of society to an extent where in ideological terms; there is very little difference in outlook, on major issues, between the governing elite and the media. For their part, the independent media have provided regular checks and balances on the governing authority − but all this within the ‘acceptable’ ideological framework.

On the other hand, the Botswana government has developed and refined the art of secrecy through its official secrecy laws that have ensured that the media and the public, in general, knew as little as possible of what goes on in government. The most punitive act is the National Security Act that, although rarely used, still remains on the statute books.

Access to public information is restricted and media advocacy organisations are re-organising so as to build up a momentum for accelerated lobbying for media law reform and the introduction of media freedom related regulations such as the Freedom of Information Act.

The laws that are currently on the statute books, such as the already cited Security Act, Penal Code and legislation governing elections, printed publications, corruption and economic crimes, as well as defamation and contempt, have a negative impact on media practice and the public’s right to free expression.

Courts have been known to proffer hefty penalties for ‘offences’ like defamation. Such attitudes do deter journalists from probing and publishing what powerful sectors of society might consider ‘sensitive information’ even though this might be in the public interest.

The revised Broadcasting Act, that established the National Broadcasting Board, is not as progressive as one would expect for southern Africa’s oldest democracy. A majority of Board members are appointed by government and the Board’s lethargic approach to developing broadcasting policies and licensing practices has not quite speeded up the development of independent, non-governmental or community based broadcasting.

The flow of independently sourced information in Botswana is still largely limited to the main centres, and mostly from the government to the people.

The introduction of the national television station has not helped matters. The new ministry of information tightly controls the station. Before now, the radio broadcast station, only daily newspaper and the only countrywide news collection and dissemination organisation, the Botswana Press Agency (BOPA), was controlled from the president’s office.

Little, in terms of government control over sources of information, has changed in that respect.

There are several private publishing houses, the largest being the Mmegi Group that owns the main circulation Mmegi newspaper and three other titles. It also has a stake in the radio station Gabz FM; the publishing company News Company that owns The Gazette newspaper and Lapologa magazine. Mmegi are also part owners of the commercial radio station “Yarona FM”. However, there are five other non-government weekly publications that are owned either by individuals or through consortia.

The government has also resorted to economic censorship in the form of an advertising ban on an outspoken private newspaper, the Botswana Guardian. However, the paper successfully challenged the ban, although the challenge failed to set the kind of legal precedent that would render illegal any similar government censorship tactics in future.

The country’s private media remain restricted to the country’s major towns, and tend to cater for the elite.

The media industry appears to be vibrant and growing but, like the country’s economy as a whole, this vibrancy is reliant largely on the spin-offs of the current diamond boom.

Setswana is spoken by at least 90 per cent of the population, and is considered the national language of the country.

Botswana has a world-class, well-resourced Communications regulator − the Botswana Telecommunications Authority (BTA). However, the BTA focuses too much on the high tech glamour sides of the industry such as cellular and satellite telephony, while ignoring more social needs such as community radios and telecentres.

Much of the print media is published in English. A newspaper published in the main indigenous language, Setswana was launched recently.

Overall, the BTA has been slow to assert itself in the broadcasting arena, with the result that private, Gaborone-based commercial broadcasters dominate the broadcasting landscape. Government appoints the regulator’s board members, raising doubts about the body’s impartiality and autonomy.

Botswana has a world class ICT infrastructure and value added services. There are 7.5 phones per 100 people, which is good; 2.5 TVs per 100 people, which is below average, although keeping in mind that local television broadcasting is relatively new to Botswana; 25 people in every 100 have access to the Internet, which is excellent; and there are 7.5 cell phones for every 100 people, which is a world average.

Botswana’s sophisticated infrastructure creates anomalies that indicate that regulation of the telecommunications sector is not being used to benefit the population as a whole. For example, the country boasts advanced Private Data Networks (PDN) of large SA Multinationals (De Beers, Old Mutual etc), which by-pass local data and voice networks, thereby denying the national telecommunications company carrier significant revenue that could be used to extend telecommunications services to more marginalised communities.

The country lacks a clear strategy for developing public and community telecentres and the kind of affordable universal access to telecommunications these would help to promote.

(c) Education

Botswana’s formal education system is organised into four levels; pre-school for 0 − 6 year olds, primary (6 − 12), Secondary (13 − 16) and post secondary.

The current education system focuses more on general education than on technical and vocational education.

The system does not prepare the school lever for life after school. It does not impart real-life skills that can be applied in real life.

Public education that addresses issues such as culture, environmental issues and human rights, is more a civil society role than a governmental role.

There is difficult in accessing information, especially by non-school going members of the society.

Entrepreneurship aspect of education is left out of the system.

The education system is not in line with technological advances of the world

Pre-school is provided for only privately, although policies, strategies and the overall co-ordination of pre-school education are the responsibility of the primary education department of the education ministry.

Primary school enrolment is estimated at being above 90%.

The internal efficiency of primary education has dramatically improved since independence in 1966, and standards continue to improve.

Primary, junior secondary and non-formal education constitutes Botswana’s basic education system.

There are a diversity of opportunities for post-secondary, technical, vocational, professional, and tertiary training and education. However, only 50% of junior secondary graduates gain places in senior secondary schools, and less than 10% of this number progress to university.

Special education units and literacy centres exist, but these attract an insignificant number of learners.

The state provides reasonable - although not wholly adequate - funding for education, and the country has reasonable and fairly well resourced education facilities.

There is a strong political will and commitment to see an improvement in the education system.

Organisational structures have been set for the formulation, articulation, implementation, monitoring and the evaluation of education.

Weak partnership between the government and the communities on the one hand, and the private sector and NGOs on the other, limit not only cost effectiveness, but also the exchange of ideas about how to improve the system.

(d) HIV/AIDS

Resources have been put towards the fights against HIV/AIDS. Amenities provided include free ARVs, education on AIDS, free counselling and testing.

Cultural considerations are a drawback to the eradication of HIV/AIDS.

Poverty is another issue that contributes to the spread of the virus.

Counselling and testing centres have a post-counselling limitation as a way of providing psycho-social support.

Levels of infection are reported to be increasing, rather than going down. This may be attributable to:

• Stigma and discrimination attached to the disease are still very strong, leading to the denial of the reality of the issue
• The prevailing lack of individual internalisation of the reality of HIV/AIDS.
• There are no role models with regard to the testing for HIV and proper public declaration of such.
• Resources need to be channelled towards behavioural change as a lot has been done regarding educating people about HIV/AIDS.