Corporate governance in Botswana: exploring developments and compliance

Abstract

Botswana has recently developed and adopted its own corporate governance code, giving it the opportunity to address perceived gaps in the existing governance structures in its context. This paper evaluates corporate governance in Botswana to determine the extent to which companies listed on the Botswana stock exchange comply with the national code and to gain further insights into corporate governance practices of these companies. Drawing on a critical perspective informed by post-colonial theory, the paper content analyses the annual reports of selected companies focusing on issues of corporate governance. The findings indicate a high level of compliance with the traditional principles of corporate governance such as board composition and separation of powers between the Board chairperson and the chief executive officer but limited in terms of compliance with the contemporary governance principles in particular the governance of information technology and information security. Furthermore, the findings indicate the majority of the companies have yet to fully embrace the new code and move away from the King code, a corporate governance code widely used by South African Companies. Based on the findings the paper maps further avenues for research and policy changes.Key words: Corporate Governance, Compliance, Botswana Stock Exchange, Botswana Corporate Governance Code.