The Botswana’s Responses to The Zimbabwe Crisis 2008 To 2018

International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume V, Issue IX, September 2021 | ISSN 2454–6186

The Botswana’s Responses to The Zimbabwe Crisis 2008 To 2018

Rawana Meriziki Kazondunge
Ba Social Sciences University of Botswana; Ma Governance and Regional Integration Pan African University

Abstract: Botswana is Zimbabwe’s immediate neighbour sharing a common border of 813 km long. As noted by (Jonas, Mandiyanike and Maundeni (2013), there is a high level of people to people between Botswana and Zimbabwe as such it comes naturally that Botswana takes keen interest in development in Zimbabwe. The Zimbabwe Crisis is as old as history can tell, there is debate on when really the problem started or what really probed the current status quo. Others date it to colonial or pre-independence, others to the Ndebele genocide of the 1980s, others to globalization and the 1990s SAPs, others to the Land Reform Act. Thus, this paper examines the responses of the Botswana government to the Zimbabwe Crisis. The responses by Botswana have been divided into categories of positive responses, negative responses and no responses. As to whether the responses were successful the most consensus was that Botswana has been a lone voice in trying to bring Zimbabwe to order. The data was collected through interviews conducted using Computer Mediated Communication (CMC), and experts on international relations and regional integration were targeted for their knowledge on the topic.

Keywords; Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe Crisis, Regional Integration,

I. INTRODUCTION

Botswana lies in the centre of southern Africa, bordered by Namibia to the west, South Africa to the south, Zimbabwe to the northeast, and having a point of contact with Zambia—as well as Namibia and Zimbabwe—at Kazungula. Most human settlement and crop production is concentrated in the relatively less arid eastern third of the country. In the past, hunting and gathering supplemented or substituted agro-pastoral production, especially in the central and western regions. However, hunting has since became a marginalized activity following the imposition of a hunting ban in 2014. Mining of high-quality diamonds occurs mostly in Central and Southern districts, with more recent developments in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR). Botswana also has a long history of mining copper-nickel and soda ash and has rich—but largely untapped—deposits of coal. Wildlife-based tourism has expanded considerably, especially in the northwest, and is now the most important non-mining economic sector. Almost entirely rural at independence, a majority of the population by 2001 was urban; the 2011 census found 64.1 per cent of the population residing in cities, towns and urban villages with populations of more than 5,000 (Statistics Botswana, 2015).
Several factors drive urbanization, including development of the state and associated expansion of the civil service after independence; the concentration of transportation infrastructure, educational opportunities, and other public services in larger settlements; constraints on agricultural development and a dearth of non-agricultural rural economic opportunities; larger urban markets and access to regional markets; and the emergence of financial services as an important sector. Urbanization amplifies the regional skew in population as urban centres are concentrated in the east and particularly the south-east.

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