The delegation of the Botswana government is facing tough questions at the United Nations High Commission on Human Rights on its record of racial discrimination. In particular, the forced relocation of the indigenous San people (also known as Bushmen or Basarwa) from a Kalahari desert game reserve caused concern at the UN conference in Geneva. The Batswana human rights group, Ditshwanelo, held that ‘the decision to terminate basic and essential services to the residents inside the Game Reserve was wrongful and unlawful. We believe that it was a deliberate attempt by the government to force the residents out of the Reserve.’

In a surprise revelation, the Botswana government has said that a diamond mine on the land of the Central Kalahari Bushmen would affect 5,027 square kilometres of land - well over a hundred times more than previously announced, reports Survival International.

Many developing countries have privatised grazing land to encourage the development of a commercial livestock sector. Botswana’s beef export industry is often seen as a successful model to be emulated. However, this success is controversial; policies have favoured a small, commercial elite group whilst neglecting pastoralist populations and traditional rangeland practices. Work by the International Institute of Environment and Development’s ‘Securing the Commons’ programme examines current policies towards pastoralist landownership in Botswana. The Botswana model of rangeland policy has generally been viewed positively, largely because of the success of the livestock export sector. When examined more closely, however, this model has several problems.

This article, from the e-zine "At Issue", examines Botswana's progress in the education sector from 1965 (independence from Britain) to 2005. It argues that due to revenue from diamonds, Botswana has been able to invest heavily in its education system, thus making it a model for other African countries. The article states that Botswana is two percent short of achieving universal access to primary school as envisaged by the Millennium Development Goals. This compares favourably with most countries in sub-Saharan Africa, which have very low primary completion rates, many less than 50 percent.

The fight against the HIV/Aids epidemic in Africa goes well beyond lab rooms and hospital wards and involves social and political issues at all levels of society, particularly male-female gender relations, said a recent United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) report on the role of men and HIV/Aids. Though women in areas of southern Africa are three to six times more likely to become HIV-infected than men, gender-related anti-HIV/Aids efforts need to avoid focusing solely on women, the UNDP report said.

This report investigates what role new information and communication technologies play in small enterprise development in Africa. Drawing on field research in Botswana, the project analyses the information and communication needs of these enterprises and assesses opportunities for ICT application.

“Improving the Quality of Literacy Learning in the Content Areas: Situational Analysis of Secondary Level Education in Botswana” underscores the importance of continuous literacy development in order to maximize secondary school students’ learning opportunities. The study sheds light on the critical issue of transitional challenges between primary and secondary levels of education. It argues that solid competencies in literacy are required for a truly participatory and student-centred approach to learning at the secondary level.

For over 20,000 years, clans of hunter-gatherers have survived in central Botswana’s stark, desert plains. Now, a handful are left, locked in a bitter dispute over their right to remain in what has been declared a wildlife reserve. Botswana’s efforts to remove two small ethnic Basarwa communities from the Central Kalahari Game Reserve is the latest chapter in a long history of dislocation and loss. Government officials argue the Basarwas’ changing lifestyle is incompatible with wildlife conservation. They want the last holdouts – estimated at less than 30 – to be resettled where they can be provided modern services such as schools and clinics, as reported by The Star.

A move to reintroduce school fees in Botswana is causing controversy, with politicians and education experts warning that it may be a step backwards. Opposition parties have called on parents to defy the government's decision to reintroduce fees when the new term starts in January 2006. In October, Botswana's parliament approved legislation reintroducing school fees for pupils at junior secondary and senior secondary schools in 2006. Fees were abolished in 1987 in a bid to get more children into schools, and enrolment rates soared. However, the government has said it would have to cut high annual expenditure on basic education. Education Minister Jacob Nkate noted although the state was still committed to the principle of equal access to education, it was no longer economical to continue a wholly subsidised education system.

Because of resource constraints, refugees are not provided with anti-retroviral therapy and they are no longer on the Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission (PMTCT) programme, says Ross Sanoto, the under secretary for political affairs in the Office of the President in Botswana. Initially the expectant mothers had access to PMTCT programme but it was recently halted. Private organisations and individuals willing to help provide refugees with anti-retroviral therapy were free to do so provided they had the capacity to sustain the supplies even when the refugees returned to their countries.

The Ministry of Communication Science and Technology is making progress in the improvement of telecommunications in Botswana, Itumeleng Batsalelwang, the ministrys chief communication officer, has said. Batsalelwang told BOPA that the Botswana Telecommunications Corporation has embarked on two fibre projects: the West Africa Fibre System and East Africa Submarine Cable System. He said the East Africa Submarine Cable System project was advanced in that Botswana has signed a memorandum of understanding with the consortium and the current issue was drafting of the construction and maintenance agreement.

Botswana has launched a new project that encourages young people to donate "safe blood" and teaches them how to avoid contracting HIV, Reuters AlertNet reports. The project, Pledge 25, targets youths both in and out of school because "most of them are not yet sexually active, which means they are still free from HIV," Mukendi Kaembe, a National Blood Transfusion Service pathologist at the Princess Marina Hospital in the capital city of Gaborone, said.

Transparency International has once more rated Botswana as among the worlds least corrupt countries, with an overall score and ranking. A statement from the Office of the President says this was confirmed Tuesday, at the launch of the Transparency International 2005 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) in London. In the survey, Botswana was listed among the top 20 per cent of countries considered to be least corrupt. It was also ranked as the least corrupt middle income country in the world as well as the least corrupt country in Africa.

The Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) Botswana chapter has launched the Setswana version of the African Charter on Broadcasting. This is part of the African Charter on Broadcasting's effort to encourage countries in the region to promote their indigenous languages. The African Charter was itself launched in May 2002 as one of the products of the African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights and serves as one of the modern blueprint for policies and laws determining the future of broadcasting and information technology in Africa.

“We recognise the importance of teachers in the dissemination of ICT knowledge and propose enhancing the ICT competence of teachers in the developing world through establishing innovative learning and knowledge communities of teachers and defining a professional development model to enhance ICT competence of teachers in order for them to utilise ICT in pedagogically meaningful ways.” A project proposal related to this goal reportedly involves Helsinki University of Technology, the Universities of Helsinki, Mauritius, Botswana and Geneva - through appropriate centres at each - as well as Botswana's Ministries of Education, and of Science and Technology.

Last week’s IFIP World Information Technology Forum (WITFOR) addressed 12 major goals within the framework of the UN’s Millennium Development Goals. One of these was to develop ICT-based alternative educational delivery systems to achieve Education for All targets. “We recognise the importance of teachers in the dissemination of ICT knowledge and propose enhancing the ICT competence of teachers in the developing world through establishing innovative learning and knowledge communities of teachers and defining a professional development model to enhance ICT competence of teachers in order for them to utilise ICT in pedagogically meaningful ways. The project has two objectives. The first is to establish innovative learning and knowledge communities of teachers. The second is to establish a professional development model to enhance ICT competence of teachers in the SADC region in order for them to utilise ICT in pedagogically meaningful ways in schools and other educational institutions,” says this article.

"President Mogae, we urge you to reconsider and – if only on moral and humanitarian grounds – to revoke your earlier decision to declare Prof. Good a prohibited immigrant. Let him allow to return to his workplace and home. Allow him to finish his contractual obligations with the University of Botswana until the end of 2006. This would also allow him to reunite with his daughter, who by then will be able to complete her schooling in Gaborone. Show your citizens and the wider world that the notion of good governance is not a foreign word to you and that academic freedom and the freedom of opinion are precious goods protected by your government."

The chairperson of the Mahalapye Business Council, Galerobale Letsatle has stated that though many studies have shown that Botswana is the least corrupt country in Africa, corruption is still prevalent around the country. Addressing members of the Mahalapye business community during a one-day crime prevention workshop organised by the Mahalapye police recently, Letsatle said corrupt practices in the workplace makes it difficult to punish those who are promoting it.

Botswana's health authorities are battling climbing malnutrition rates among young children, despite sustained economic growth in recent years. A recent report by the National Early Warning Unit in the Ministry of Agriculture showed a dramatic decline since April this year in the nutritional status of children under five years in the northeastern districts of Kgalagadi North, and Mabutsane and Gantsi in the west.

Two weeks ago Tebogo Malete was publicly flogged at a traditional court in Old Naledi, a village southeast of the Botswana's capital, Gaborone; a photograph of his punishment was published in the weekly newspaper, The Midweek Sun. Malete, 27, a petty thief, had been sentenced to five lashes for housebreaking at the customary court presided over by the village headman. The humiliating newspaper photo showed him with his pants down and a police officer using a lash on his bare buttocks, sparking outrage in human rights circles.