Sunday Standard/ The Telegraph

27/12/2025

For decades, absence defined marriage in much of rural Botswana. Husbands left for the mines of South Africa, sometimes for years, sometimes for a lifetime of contracts stitched together by brief homecomings. In their absence, women quietly rebuilt the meaning of family, running homesteads, raising children, managing cattle, starting small businesses, and making decisions once reserved for men. What happens, then, when the husbands come back?

Read more at: https://www.sundaystandard.info/the-wives-who-ran-botswanauntil-their-husbands-returned/

26/12/2025

26/12/2025

It is unfortunate that Afrikan leaders have never given a thought to the twin legacies of colonialism: the appropriateness of the governing system their countries adopted from their colonial masters for self-rule; and the economic viability of these countries.

I have dealt with matters of governance for Afrikan countries at length in one of the local newspapers. I indicated how multipartyism is the root cause of the current mayhem in Afrika. I also pointed out that, given their level of development, a government of national unity or GNU is the most appropriate political system for governing Afrikan countries, and that it would eradicate the chaos that currently bedevils the continent.

Read more at: https://www.sundaystandard.info/afrikan-countries-are-not-viable-part-1/

25/12/2025

Australia’s recent decision to restrict social media access for children has reignited fervent conversations about online safety, regulation, and responsibility. These conversations have been echoed in Botswana, where the Parliamentary Caucus on Women has expressed grave concern about digital abuse.

When Australia announced its decision to restrict access to certain social media platforms for children under the age of 16, I shared my support for the move in a LinkedIn article. The reasoning was straightforward: technology may be what puts food on my table, but protecting children from harm must always come first.

Read more at: https://www.sundaystandard.info/australias-social-media-ban-and-the-case-for-digital-safety-in-botswana/

24/12/2025

Botswana’s HIV programmes are back under pressure following the sudden withdrawal of US funding and the country’s economic downturn leaving critical prevention and community services at risk. This is according a recent report in The Lancet journal.

It notes that Washington’s cuts to HIV funding through the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) have coincided with a local fiscal crunch, leaving the Government struggling to maintain even core HIV treatment services. The report also indicates that the termination of US-supported programmes has introduced significant gaps in outreach, testing, and prevention efforts, areas where Botswana’s public health system has traditionally struggled.

Read more at: https://www.sundaystandard.info/botswanas-hiv-response-back-to-struggle-days/

24/12/2025

24/12/2025

The Maun High Court has struck out an urgent application brought by Wilderness Holdings Limited (WHL) against Ngamiland Adventure Safaris Proprietary Limited (NAS). The ruling, delivered by Justice Godfrey Nthomiwa, found that the application lacked urgency and was procedurally flawed.

The two companies have been business partners for 27 years, with Wilderness exclusively marketing and selling bed nights at six lodges owned by NAS in the NG25 concession of the Okavango Delta. The relationship began in 1998 and was governed by a marketing and sales agreement, last renewed in 2004. On 27 May 2025, NAS informed Wilderness of its decision to terminate the exclusive marketing agreement with effect from 1 December 2025. Between June and August, the parties attempted to resolve the matter out of court, including exploring arbitration, but these efforts were unsuccessful.

Read more at: https://www.sundaystandard.info/high-court-dismisses-wilderness-safaris-urgent-application-against-ngamiland-adventures/

24/12/2025

Botswana, home to the largest elephant population on earth, is preparing to allow more elephants to be killed by trophy hunters in 2026, a decision that has once again placed the country at the centre of a fraught global debate over conservation and who should decide the fate of wildlife.

A draft government quota released under the Wildlife Conservation and National Parks Act raises the number of elephants permitted for trophy hunting in 2026 to 430, up from 410 in 2025 and 290 when Botswana lifted a five-year hunting moratorium in 2019. The increase, officials say, reflects population pressures in a country that hosts more than 130,000 elephants, nearly a third of Africa’s total.

Read more at: https://www.sundaystandard.info/oxford-professor-backs-botswanas-trophy-hunting-policy/

23/12/2025

Botswana’s government has approved a dramatic pay increase for participants in its main drought-relief program, a decision that underscores the tension between rising social demands and mounting warnings from international lenders about the country’s swelling wage bill.

The long-running Ipelegeng program, which has for years provided short-term work to some of Botswana’s poorest households, will be rebranded as the Ikageng Public Works Programme (IPWP). Officials say the redesign will shift the scheme from a basic relief model to one focused on performance, skills development and community-driven projects. Yet it is the scale of the pay increase that has drawn the most attention with monthly wages jumping from P617 to P2,500.

Read more at: https://www.sundaystandard.info/botswana-defies-imf-caution-expands-ikageng-pay/

23/12/2025

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine has issued a stern warning to Batswana youth against becoming pawns in Russia’s ongoing military aggression in Ukraine, following reports that two young men from Botswana may have been lured into the conflict under deceptive pretenses.

Ukraine expressed deep concern over the alleged recruitment of the two youths, aged nineteen and twenty, who reportedly believed they were signing up for a short-term military training program in Russia. Instead, they were allegedly drawn into active combat on the frontlines of a war widely condemned by the international community.

Read more at: https://www.sundaystandard.info/ukraine-warns-batswana-against-fighting-for-russia/