Botswana’s elephant population of about 130,000 and above has not only impacted negatively on biodiversity, but also led to higher human animal conflict. This has taken the form of more frequent damage to crops and infrastructure, as well as...
The recently released Botswana National Relationships study has revealed that Gender Based Violence (GBV) is relatively high in the country with both men and women at risk of experiencing violence. The study involved 4,224 women and 3,696 men from...
Veteran miners and sorters have come and gone at the country’s oldest diamond mine and yet none had the privilege of the wonder before the 33-year old Maunatlala native. In his pincers, from the rough, sandy diamond-laden material emerging...
However, the prospects of Cyclone Kenneth compelled our postponement of the visit to a later time. That did not stop me from thinking about my last visit to Mozambique some four years ago. And that is exactly my point, sometimes mission assignments...
“I listened this morning to all the experts lecturing us and I wanted to ask where they come from. If they are from Europe or US, I wanted to ask them how they destroyed all their elephants, but come to lecture us. “We have a problem...
His death, which happened on the sidelines of a major tourism meeting, made local headlines. It did not even raise a blip on the radar of Western media that is perpetually trained on Botswana and her elephants. Kasane sits in the heart of a...
Amidst a heavy backlash from the West, who for some time in Africa have had the loudest voice in environmental policies, the countries with the world’s largest elephant populations are joining forces and speaking with one unequivocally clear...
FRANCISTOWN: At least 15 farmers have filed official incident reports, as the numbers of elephants and the frequency of their raids on fields in Mbalambi increase. While the world debates the issue and blasts Botswana’s proposals, Mbalambi, a...
Most countries in Africa are well-positioned to benefit from rapidly accelerating technological change while Botswana is slowly catching up the pace. During a recent visit to Beijing, the capital city of China, Mmegi observed that China might be a...
From the time the mammoth Lesedi la Rona was unveiled in 2015, as the second largest rough diamond in history to the time it was finally sold in 2017, Batswana questioned what their actual benefit would be in all the fuss. Although it has propped up...
I first met the Kgalagadi through an old Setswana saying: “O motelele jaaka tsela ya Kgalagadi”. This has always made me curious about the length of the Kgalagadi roads. But I had long ticked off from my bucket list a road trip...
Technically, human trafficking is defined as the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receiving of another person by means of threat or use of force or other forms of coercion. It also involves abduction, use of fraud or deception,...
When they hear of human trafficking, most people think of strangers snatching unsuspecting victims through a trick or violence. The truth is that the very people you know and trust so much can be wolves in sheep skins. Just ask Bakgori...
A competition offering a dream wedding worth P200,000 is going viral on a local social media platform. To qualify, one has to post publicly how they met the love of their life and the story that gets the most likes is in the running to win the...
He was, like always, dressed for the show. His trademark baseball cap, embroidered with initials ‘PF’ on the right side. Clean-shaven. Dark glasses that give him the James Bond look. He topped it off with the usual khaki safari vest...
Pelonomi Venson-Moitoi’s presidential campaign faces insurmountable obstacles in pursuance of its objectives, as their numbers seemingly don’t add up. The ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) structures have simply connived against...
FRANCISTOWN: Before joining the DCEC, the well-built Mathambo who hails from Tonota village had spent about 32 continuous years at the Botswana Defence Force (BDF) where he had a meteoric rise through the army ranks. He has a very interesting career...
“Go maswe bagaetsho.” Agriculture minister, Patrick Ralotsia, who is also a prominent farmer with 300 hectares in the Kanye area, appears to be running out of adjectives to describe the latest cropping season disaster. “Even at my...
Farmers countrywide are exhausted from rolling years of droughts, but they have little choice. Subsistence and commercial farming activities are in the DNA of hundreds of thousands of Batswana across the country and every season they dutifully trudge...
When he assumed office Masisi, vowed to step up the fight to end HIV/AIDS in Botswana. Then, the President acknowledged that complacency was the reason the country’s efforts to fight the endemic have failed to bear any fruit. “The...