The politics of exclusion in Botswana: A creation of the independence constitutional talks

Abstract

This article analyses the development of a political system in Botswana with a focus on the constitutional talks leading to the country’s independence. It examines the constitutional negotiations and argues that the manner in which they were conducted, and the setting in which there was no nationalist movement, political party or civil society representation gave birth to a political system of exclusion where political power and access to it are limited to a few people. The article argues that the relations between the executive and parliament, questions of accountability, elections and voting, and the relations between the government and the civil society have also been shaped or predetermined by the undemocratic circumstances under which the Botswana constitution was formed. In post-independence Botswana, as much as there are consultations with the people on a number of issues of national concern, such consultations are a mere formality as they fail to reflect and represent the voices of some key sections of the society (like minorities, civil society, youth, women, labour movement, corporate sector and the media) as should be the case in a democracy.