The right to food: Botswana’s unfulfilled promise
Friday, January 23, 2026 | 0 Views |
Basic needs: Quality nutrition is a perennial challenge throughout Africa PEOPLESIMAGES.COM
With food prices soaring and unemployment rampant, Olerato Montsho’s story is a stark reminder of Botswana's crippling food insecurity crisis."I'm forced to buy whatever is cheapest," says Montsho* her eyes welling up with tears. "My son is always sick, and I know it is because he is not eating right."
Montsho's plight is a familiar one in Botswana, where 49.4% of the population faces moderate to severe food insecurity. The country's reliance on imports and lack of investment in local agriculture has worsened the problem over the years.
Yet, while this crisis ravages the communities, the administration is championing a major, resource-intensive legal reform and the establishment of a dedicated Constitutional Court. While the principle of strengthening constitutional justice is commendable, the timing is profoundly misplaced. When the President himself admits the government coffers are limited, every thebe and every moment of political capital must be directed towards the...