In the boardroom of Botswana Railways on a late July afternoon, the country’s transport minister sat across from the men and women who should keep the trains running. For the workers and their union, the Botswana Transport and General Workers Union, it was supposed to be a reckoning. What it became instead was a mirror held up to an institution that has been rotting – slowly, systematically, and from the very top. Three weeks later,...

In a ruling certain to reverberate across Botswana’s legal and political topography for years to come, the High Court has delivered a sweeping and unambiguous judgment in favour of the estate of the late Isaac Seabelo Kgosi – a verdict that not only dismantles the restraining order that had frozen his properties since 2019 but also delivers a stinging rebuke to the state’s investigative apparatus and reasserts the primacy of procedural fairness in ex parte...

A corruption scandal tied to a P1.5 billion New Xhade road construction tender is deepening, with former Transport and Communications Minister Eric Molale now reportedly under investigation.

The Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime is investigating two serving ministers in the Umbrella for Democratic Change government, according to people familiar with the matter, a dramatic widening of an anti-corruption campaign that now reaches into the cabinet of the party that swept to power promising to clean up government.

Botswana is once again under the microscope for its efforts to fight financial crime. A former senior counter-terrorism official has warned that the country risks being placed back on the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey list, or possibly facing the harsher black list, as international assessors prepare to review its anti-money laundering measures. This warning comes ahead of the Eastern and Southern Africa Anti-Money Laundering Group (ESAAMLG)’s third-round mutual evaluation of Botswana. The upcoming...

The long-anticipated forensic audit in Botswana remains cloaked in secrecy. Emma Peloetletse, the former Permanent Secretary to the President, disclosed that neither senior nor junior government officials, including herself, have seen the final report.    

While the Botswana Defence Force Retired Association (BDFRA) has grown into a prominent and widely recognized organization, its police counterpart is struggling to recover from years of declining membership that have left it fighting to stay relevant. Nearly a decade after its formation, the Botswana Police Service Retired Members Association (BPSRMA) has launched an intensive recruitment campaign to rebuild its membership base, having attracted only a small fraction of retired police officers so far. The...

More than two years after a devastating bus crash claimed 45 lives near Mmamatlakala in Limpopo, South Africa, at least 20 families affected by the tragedy are poised to receive compensation from the Road Accident Fund (RAF) before year’s end. The crash, which occurred on March 28, 2024, involved a bus carrying Zion Christian Church (ZCC) pilgrims from Molepolole to Moria for Easter celebrations. The vehicle reportedly lost control on a bridge and ignited, killing...

Botswana stands at a crossroads, with years of progress in strengthening its anti-money laundering framework threatened by conflicting statements from top officials over the contentious P100 billion saga.