UB academic pays tribute to Mogae
Kabo Ramasia | Monday July 13, 2026 06:00
Published recently, following the passing on of Mogae on 8 May 2026, the article states that Mogae had a successful career in the civil service and the Bretton Woods institutions before joining politics. The article states that starting as a planning officer in 1968, he rose to become Director of Economic Planning, before serving as Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning from 1975-1976. The scholarly piece points that between 1976 and 1980, Mogae served as an Alternate and Executive Director for Anglophone Africa at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and returned to Botswana to serve as Governor of the Central Bank in 1980-1981, then as Permanent Secretary to the President (PSP) between the years 1982–1989.
In 1989, the article says, Mogae was nominated to Parliament by the then ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP), instantly becoming Minister of Finance and Development Planning, and subsequently Vice-President from 1992. However, in his view, Dr Lotshwao stipulates that despite Mogae’s illustrious career in the public service as a political leader he leaves behind a debatable legacy. “While he successfully spearheaded economic reforms and the war against HIV/AIDS on the one hand, he made many unpopular decisions and undermined state institutions on the other,” notes the UB scholar. Widely regarded as one of Botswana’s most accomplished technocrats, Mogae entered politics after a distinguished career in economic planning, public administration and international finance.
His rise to the highest office coincided with a period when Botswana faced growing pressure to diversify its economy and confront a devastating HIV/AIDS epidemic. Even so, he is hailed for having steadily navigated with stealth economic stormy waters. As Minister of Finance and later president, one of Mogae’s defining achievements was steering Botswana through an ambitious programme of economic reforms aimed at improving efficiency and reducing dependence on diamonds, says Lotshwao. According to the UB scholar, the reforms included passing of measures intended to reform and modernise the public service, the privatisation policy, formulating the Botswana Productivity National Centre (BNPC) and the then devaluing of the national currency.
Nonetheless, despite these reforms, the paper articulates that some of them attained mixed results largely owing to structural economic factors like a small local market and being landlocked. Further to this, was a push for diamond beneficiation, argues the paper. In addition, history recalls how Mogae faced a trial by fire when his leadership credentials were put to the test as country faced the scourge of being wiped away from the face of the earth by a marauding national crisis in the form of HIV/AIDS. According to the scholarly article, at the beginning of the 2000s, Botswana was facing one of the worst HIV epidemics in the world. This was marked by infection rates having reached alarming levels hence threatening economic growth, family structures and national survival itself.
But unlike many leaders elsewhere on the continent who were reluctant to confront the disease openly, Mogae chose direct engagement. Consequently, he repeatedly warned that the epidemic threatened the future of the nation and mobilised government resources accordingly. Realising the need to save a nation, the article notes that his administration established the then National AIDS Coordinating Agency (NACA) now National AIDS and Health Promotion Agency (NAHPA) to coordinate the country’s response and invested heavily in treatment and prevention programmes. It was this political will that saw Botswana reach a milestone by becoming the first African country to provide free antiretroviral treatment to citizens living with HIV/AIDS.
The article cites figures to the effect that by 2007, approximately 90 percent of HIV-positive patients requiring treatment had access to antiretroviral drugs. Further, programmes aimed at preventing mother-to-child transmission expanded rapidly, while HIV-related mortality declined significantly. As per Lotshwao, according to UNAIDS, deaths associated with HIV/AIDS fell by 39 percent during the period, while infections among children declined by 73 percent. Mogae is largely remembered as among the leaders whose selflessness contributed a great deal to post colonial Botswana.