A FINE BALANCE: ASSESSING THE QUALITY OF GOVERNANCE IN BOTSWANA EDITED BY KARIN ALEXANDER AND GAPE KABOYAKGOSI 2012 Idasa wishes to thank the Embassy of Denmark for its funding of this project. Published by Idasa, 357 Visagie Street, Pretoria 0001 © Idasa 2012 ISBN 978-1-920409-77-7 First published 2012 Editing by Paul Wise Design, layout and production by Bronwen Müller Cover by Mandy Darling All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without prior permission from the publishers. CONTENTS PAGE Acronyms and Abbreviations v Foreword 1 Introduction 2 Botswana’s great democratic story 2 The characteristics of a minimalist democracy 3 Grounds for future contestation 8 The Index: 100 questions contextualising Botswana’s democracy 14 Section One: Participation and Democracy 24 Nationhood 26 Participation and Involvement 29 Government legitimacy 30 Citizenship obligations and duties 32 Tolerance 32 Conclusion 33 Section Two: Elections and Democracy 34 Elections 35 Equal votes 38 Open competition 39 Election rules 41 Voter information 43 Electoral participation 46 Electoral outcomes 48 Funding elections 50 Conclusion 52 Section Three: Accountability and Democracy 53 Executive accountability and legislative oversight 54 Public participation and accountability 56 Law-making and the budget process 59 Access to information 60 Accessibility and independence 60 Conclusion 63 Section Four: Political freedoms and democracy 65 Civil and political rights 67 Freedom of association and participation 72 Political parties 75 Media rights 77 Conclusion 80 Section Five: Human dignity and democracy 83 Socio-economic rights protection 85 Reasonable access to clean and adequate water 87 Adequate food 88 Adequate shelter and housing 89 Adequate and unimpeded access to land 90 Health care 91 Education 93 Poverty 94 Jobs and rights in the workplace 96 Delivery of social and economic rights 96 Corporate governance 97 Conclusion and recommendations 98 Biographical Information 100 References 102 IDASA’S DEMOCRACY INDEX ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS v ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS ART antiretroviral therapy BALA Botswana Association of Local Authorities BDC Botswana Development Corporation BDF Botswana Defence Force BESnet Botswana Electoral Support Network BIDPA Botswana Institute for Development Policy Analysis BOCONGO Botswana Council of Non-Governmental Organisations BOFEPUSO Botswana Federation of Public Employees Organisations BOFEPUSU Botswana Federation of Public Sector Unions BONELA Botswana Network on Ethics, Law and HIV/Aids CEDA Citizen Entrepreneurial Development Agency CEDAW Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women CESCR (United Nations) Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights CRC (United Nations) Convention on the Rights of the Child DISS Directorate of Intelligence and Security Services DPSM Directorate of Public Service Management DWA Department of Water Affairs EU European Union FPTP first past the post HLCC High Level Consultative Council ICC International Criminal Court ICESCR International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights IEC Independent Electoral Commission ILO International Labour Organisation JSC Judicial Service Commission LEA Local Enterprise Authority LeGaBiBo Lesbian, Gays and Bisexuals of Botswana LSB Law Society of Botswana MFDP Ministry of Finance and Development Planning MISA Media Institute of Southern Africa MMEWR Ministry of Minerals, Energy and Water Affairs NGO Non-Governmental Organisation OECD Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development PLWHA people living with HIV and AIDS SACU Southern African Customs Union SADC Southern African Development Community SHHA Self-Help Housing Agency UDHR Universal Declaration on Human Rights UN United Nations WUC Water Utilities Corporation vi A FINE BALANCE: ASSESSING THE QUALITY OF GOVERNANCE IN BOTSWANA BOTSWANA’S POLITICAL PARTIES BAM Botswana Alliance Movement BCP Botswana Congress Party BDP Botswana Democratic Party BIP Botswana Independence Party BMD Botswana Movement for Democracy BNF Botswana National Front BPP Botswana People’s Party BPU Botswana Progressive Union IFP Independence Freedom Party MELS Marx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin Movement NDF National Democratic Front IDASA’S DEMOCRACY INDEX FOREWORD 1 FOREWORD Idasa developed the Democracy Index to assess the depth of democracy in South Africa. In its initial iteration, designed by Robert Mattes and Richard Calland, the Index com- prised 150 questions. These were honed to a list of 100 questions in 2005 and the same questions were used for Idasa’s most recent South Africa Democracy Index in 2010. The research relies on expert analysis to answer a set of questions that interrogate how closely, in practice, democracy meets the broad ideal of self-representative government. More spe- cifically, to what extent can citizens control elected officials and government appointees who make decisions about public affairs; and, how equal are citizens to one another in this accountability process? To provide a more detailed appraisal, the Democracy Index assesses a country through five focus areas: participation, elections, accountability, political freedoms, and human dignity. Idasa is in the process of expanding the Index into Southern Africa in an effort to broaden the capacity of individuals and organisations monitoring and supporting democratic gov- ernance efforts in the sub-region. As the Idasa Democracy Index is tested in a range of Southern African countries, the tool will be enhanced and nationalised. The hope is that citizens of any country can use the Democracy Index to assess and debate the current state of its democracy. The purpose of the scores is to assist citizens in making their own judge- ments, based on the information made available, to stimulate national debate and to provide democracy promoters with a tool for identifying issues and needs that can be addressed by education, advocacy, training, institution building and policy revision. This is the inaugural Index for Botswana and is intended to set a benchmark for democracy to be measured against in the future. All of the authors selected to contribute, as well as one of the co-editors, are based in Botswana and/or are Batswana. Together, their depth of expertise is grounded in years devot- ed to activism, civil society, academia and government. Authors were asked to provide a numerical score for each question and a narrative justifying their rating. The group convened twice in 2011 to ensure both a common understanding of the Index and peer review of the ongoing assessment process. The second of these meetings took the form of a validation workshop at which other members of civil society, academia and government were invited to give feedback and comment on the analysis. While authors were requested to consult other indices and to reflect the opinions of an expert reference group, ultimately this is an individ- ual expert assessment. As such, each set of Democracy Index results stands on its own and is not suitable for statistical comparison across years or cross-country comparative ranking. It is through its use by Batswana that the Idasa Democracy Index can enhance research capacity, assist representative groups to lobby for greater democratic depth and quality, and spark participatory engagement between governments and citizens. Idasa is grateful to its in- country partners for their willingness to try out the tool, their commitment to the process and the ongoing work on democracy that they do as individuals or through their organisations. Karin Alexander – Team Leader: Measuring and Monitoring Democracy, Idasa INTRODUCTION BY GAPE KABOYAKGOSI & KENEILWE MARATA This Introduction has several aims, the first of which is to set out evidence affirming Botswana’s credentials as a democracy. It goes on to demonstrate that Botswana is actu- ally a minimalist democracy: a system that does as little as possible to engender participa- tion, transparency, access to social support, accountability and human rights, among other things. It then notes emerging calls for change based on persistent signs of disagreement with the status quo. The importance of these is their multiplicity of tactics and broadness of base, putting in question the image of Botswana as a stable democracy. Thereafter this chapter points the way forward by predicting some future areas of contestation, which include the Constitution, socio-economic issues, governance and corruption. BOTSWANA’S GREAT DEMOCRATIC STORY Botswana is a multi-party democracy, having held elections every five years since 1966, when it received independence from the UK. It is Africa’s oldest and most consistent democracy in that respect. The strength of democracy in Botswana has been recognised in many ways: in 2008, for instance, the Mo Ibrahim Foundation awarded a former president, Festus Mogae, the Ibrahim Prize for excellence as a Head of State,1 and even before that IDASA’S DEMOCRACY INDEX INTRODUCTION 3 the country had been elected to the Security Council of the United Nations. Botswana has also experienced three presidential changes, all within a legal, constitutional framework. Numerous governance indicators show Botswana performing well. In the World Bank’s Worldwide Governance Indicators, Botswana is given very high ratings for sub-indicators such as ‘government effectiveness’, ‘regulatory quality’, ‘political stability’, ‘rule of law’ and ‘control of corruption’: the country consistently