What Is Botswana?
Botswana officially the Republic of Botswana , is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with up to 70 percent of its territory being the Kalahari Desert. It is bordered by South Africa to the south and southeast, Namibia to the west and north, and Zimbabwe to the northeast. It is connected to Zambia across the short Zambezi River border by the Kazungula Bridge.A country of slightly over 2.3 million people,Botswana is one of the most sparsely populated countries in the world. About 11.6 percent of the population lives in the capital and largest city, Gaborone. Formerly one of the world’s poorest countries—with a GDP per capita of about US$70 per year in the late 1960s—it has since transformed itself into an upper-middle-income country, with one of the world’s fastest-growing economies.
Is Botswana In South Africa?
Botswana is not in South Africa unfortunately.The Republic of Botswana shares a common border with South Africa in the South, Namibia in the West and North, Zimbabwe in the East, and Zambia in the North.
Botswana is inhabited by people of predominantly Tswana origin (collectively called “Batswana”) whose recorded History can be traced back to the 14th Century. These early inhabitants of Botswana were the San and Kho societies. These societies were later joined by the Batswana societies who moved to the areas around 1000 years ago. It is also around this period that large chiefdoms known as Toutswe in the area of Sowa pan and Tswapong Hills developed.
These large chiefdoms were later eclipsed by the powerful Great Zimbabwe. Towards the 18th century Batswana society was subdivided into eight principal chieftaincies currently forming part of the modern Republic of Botswana. Towards the end of the 19th Century Botswana became a British protectorate retaining internal autonomy on matters relating to Tswana laws.
Botswana And Britain
Britain did not introduce economic development in the area; the area remained undeveloped until the discovery of diamonds in the 1970s. As a result, the protectorate was economically dependent on the South African economy. Many Batswana people worked in South Africa as migrant labourers and some were sent to South Africa to receive their education. As a result of this close connection, they were influenced by political developments there. In the early 1950s to mid 1960s, many South Africans fled to Botswana seeking refuge from the Apartheid government. Their presence in Botswana encouraged Tswana nationalism and the growing demand for independence.
The colonial government responded by creating a legislative council, which was rejected by the Batswana because it divided power equally between White (10 percent) and Black people. South Africa’s Pan Africanist Congress also influenced the thinking of Botswana leaders like Motsamai Mpho and Kgalemang Motsete who were educated in South Africa. Their Bechuanaland People’s Party began to demand that all White people should leave Botswana.
The National Assembly Of Botswana
The National Assembly is also modelled on the British system. Differences are that it has an executive president who is the head of state as well as head of government. The separation of the judiciary and the legislature exists only in terms of common law. In customary law, chiefs, within their respective kgotlas, act as the highest judges. The House of Chiefs cannot obstruct a bill passed by the national assembly for more than a year. Their role is to advise the government on matters relating to customary affairs.
The National Assembly is made up of the government and opposition party. The party that wins the majority of votes in the election forms a government. Only one party has ruled Botswana since independence in 1966. However, this has not undermined economic development and the country’s democratic principles of governance.
