Volume 1 - Government of Botswana

CHAPTER 1
COUNTRY AND PEOPLE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 This Chapter is about the country
of Botswana and its people. It discusses
Botswana’s constitutional framework,
administrative structure and international
links, as well as its physical features. It is
meant to inform readers who are not
familiar with the country.
1.2 Specifically, the second section of
this chapter presents the constitutional
framework and the administrative
structure, while the third section
illustrates the physical features of
Botswana. The fourth section is about the
people of Botswana, including patterns of
settlement and main population
characteristics.
1.3 Chapter 2 considers population
and development issues, which are
important for planning, policy-making
and interventions aimed at improving the
quality of life. Chapter 3 describes the
planning approach and the Macro
Development Results Framework
underlying the Plan. A detailed review of
economic developments during the last
Plan period (2003/04 – 2008/09) is
provided in Chapter 4, followed in
Chapter 5 by the macroeconomic strategy
to be pursued during NDP 10. Projections
of government revenue, expenditure and
manpower are discussed in Chapter 6.
More information on the review and
development of particular thematic areas
and sectors is given in Chapters 7 to 15,
and Chapter 16 covers Monitoring and
Evaluation.
THE REPUBLIC OF BOTSWANA
Constitutional Framework
1.4 Botswana attained self-governance in
1965, after 80 years as a British Protectorate
and became Independent on 30 th September,
1966. It is a non-racial country and maintains
freedom of speech, freedom of the press and
freedom of association, and affords all citizens
equal rights. All these are enshrined in the
Constitution of Botswana, which also provides
for a unicameral legislature. Members of the
National Assembly are directly elected from
the constituencies. They elect four additional
specially elected members.
1.5 The Presidential candidate of the Party
with a majority of directly elected members of
Parliament assumes office. The President
selects his Ministers from among the members
of the National Assembly. The Vice President
is nominated by the President, for approval and
endorsement by members of Parliament, and
presides over the Legislature. The President is
head of the Executive arm of Government and
presides over Cabinet. He/she must dissolve
Parliament and hold a general election within
five years of the previous election, and may do
so sooner.
1.6 The first national election was held in
1965. Since then, elections have been held
every five years since 1969. The Botswana
Democratic Party (BDP) won the first election,
and has been returned to power on each
subsequent occasion. The most recent general
election was held in October 2009. Seven
political parties contested the 57 parliamentary
constituencies in the 2009 elections, when the
BDP won 45 parliamentary seats, the
Botswana National Front (BNF) won 6 seats
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