Botswana’s long reliance on diamonds has exposed a weakness in its economic model: the assumption that a scarce natural resource will always retain its value. As technology reshapes the way people define and produce precious commodities, the country faces urgent questions about diversification, competitiveness and the future of its mineral wealth. The debate was revived by a claim from Marathon Fusion, a San Francisco-based startup, that it had converted mercury into gold. Co-founded by former...

Botswana has set out to raise P514 billion to remake its economy. The question now shadowing that ambition is a harder one: who will pay for it, and at what cost to the generations that come after.

A single conviction, the first in four years, helps Botswana retain its Tier 2 standing in Washington’s 2026 trafficking assessment, even as South Africa stalls on the watch list. In the quiet arithmetic of international accountability, a single conviction can carry outsized weight. For Botswana, that conviction – the first in four years, delivered with a fifteen-year prison sentence – has helped the country hold its Tier 2 standing in the United States Department of...

Botswana’s export earnings rose to P5.16 billion in July 2026, driven largely by diamonds and copper as the country seeks to reduce its dependence on mineral exports. According to the latest International Merchandise Trade Statistics monthly digest, exports increased 2.0% from the revised P5.06 billion recorded in June. The improvement came as imports declined, though Botswana still posted a substantial trade deficit, underscoring the gap between the country’s export capacity and its demand for goods...

As confidence in elections and political institutions declines across much of the world, Botswana is putting an old civic tradition at the center of a modern democratic debate. The country’s kgotla – a community assembly where residents gather to discuss public issues, hear competing views and seek consensus – is being presented as a possible response to democratic backsliding. The message from Botswana is ambitious: Africa’s indigenous systems of governance may contain lessons that democracies...