Botswana
After I defended Steve Maharey against Sean Plunket’s comments re comparisons to Botswana, I got a lot of comments which made me look at Botswana more closely. It is certainly one of the most successful countries from that region.
* Botswana has transformed itself from one of the poorest countries in the world to a middle-income country with a per capita GDP of US$11,410, only half of NZ at $24,797.
* Economic growth averaged over 9% per year from 1966 to 1999.
* It has the highest sovereign credit rating in Africa and has foreign exchange reserves of over US$7 billion
* The Botswana Government provides full scholarships with living expenses to any Botswana citizen in university, either at the University of Botswana or for subjects not offered locally they are provided with a full scholarship to study abroad.
* Their literacy rate at school is around 95% and for the entire population is the second highest in Africa, and will soon become the highest.
Botswana it seems, in fact, has arguably the greatest focus on education of any country, with it consuming over 10% of their GDP. They see it as their future salvation, when their minerals run out.
So upon reflection it was an extraordinarily bad choice to use as an example of why we should not use Cambridge exams.
April 9th, 2007 at 9:19 pm
On my only visit to Gabarone I found that the roulette rules are much more fair than the roulette rules allowed by our Casino Control Authority. Particularly those who play the even money shots when the nought comes up.
Botswana; it does have something to teach New Zealand.
April 9th, 2007 at 10:28 pm
Very interesting piece of research. And all the more reason to enourage choise of exam for our schools.
April 10th, 2007 at 5:31 am
Visited Botswana about 20 years ago on my OE, easily the most civilised country in Africa.
The Okavango Delta, a huge inland river delta, is one of the few places in Eastern and Southern Africa where there is still good protection for wildlife from Mans encroachment.
Gaborone is probably the safest and cleanest city on that continent.
April 10th, 2007 at 7:19 am
So why did Mahery mention Botswana when he made a number of sneering remarks about the Cambridge exam. It was racist for him to do so. Mahery has this arrogant belief that he cannot be racist because he is in the Labour Party and he uses PC language all the time. But maori know differently that Labour Party has as many bigots as the National Party and possibly more especially good old working class Labour voting “Joe and Fay”.
April 10th, 2007 at 10:27 am
Some statistics about Botswana that are not flash relate to health. The Botswana staistics are not good compared to some other in Africa.
Reason. They have a pretty sound and functioning public service and the figures are reliable. Unfortunately elewhere on the continent, government supplied fihgures are not worth the paper they are written.
There is still a large ex pat community who are contributing to the soundmness of the place.
Perhaps Maharey favours other exam formats from the thoroughly decolonised parts of Africa or perhaps we could seel some of them the NCEA. I don’t think Botswana are interested.
April 10th, 2007 at 10:40 am
Having visited Botswana in 99 i can vouch that it is a beautifully barren country where the Government is focussed on the welfare of it’s people. It’s investment in infrastructure is apparent, especially when compared to some of it’s neighbours.
It’s health system however is under enormous pressure due in part to HIV/AIDS, which is rampant in that part of the world. The key to solving that issue is education, hence the obvious investment in that area.
April 10th, 2007 at 10:40 am
Remember 30 years ago when we used to look at Singapore as a ‘developing’ country. Well friends Botswana and several other African countries are where Singapore was then.
Remember when NZ was number 4 in the worlds standard of living stakes. Oh dear what several decades of bad governance can do to a country.
April 10th, 2007 at 12:28 pm
Botswana has been free of most corruption, unlike most African states. In addition it has secured property rights (unlike most African states) and limited state involvement in the economy. Also unlike most African states. The net result is what you report, a booming economy and improving living standards for all, also unlike most African states. Perhaps Maharey doesn’t like Botswana just because, unlike most African states, it doesn’t push a socialist agenda.
April 10th, 2007 at 12:56 pm
You are well informed about Botswana David.
I lived there for 6 years and can say witbout a shadow of a doubt that it is an excellent, safe and aspirational country to live in. It is a model nation-state in many ways.
On my last visit to Botswana I picked up a school teacher and gave him a lift from his village back to his town where he was teaching. He explained to me that the Botswana government has sent him, all expenses paid (tuition and living fees), to California for his Bachelors degree. He was now a school teacher in a state school in Selebi-Phikwe. When I dropped him off at his house in the town, he invited me in and when he got to his front door simply opened it up without unlocking it, after being away for a month’s Christmas holiday. Such is the lack of crime in the country. He also said that his government has given the option of sending him for an all-expenses paid Masters degree in education – either the US or another first world country.
When I crossed over the border from South Africa into Botswana, the roads actually improved, with straight high quality paved two lane highways all across the country. They don’t need three lane motorwys due to the fact the country is the size of France with ~1.5 million people.
Botswana has nickel, diamonds and its second highest source of foreign revenue is INTEREST ON FOREIGN RESERVES!! It management of its resources for the people is second to none. It also targets high income tourists for its attraations, which is paying dividends.
Yes they do have a problem with AIDS, let’s not hide that, but one of the reasons Bostwana has never really made the news in a negative way is because it has one tribe (plus the Bushmen), so therefore avoids the inter-tribal warfare seen in other parts of Africa. It also was a protectorate rather than a colony in the days of the British Empire. It also never went through a war for independence in 1966 and doesn’t have a military that is prone to the abuses we see in other parts of Africa. It also avoided the pitfalls of racism that we saw in South Africa and see today in Zimbabwe, because of its commitment to racial equality and value.
Sorry to rave on about Botswana, but I do think it is a good country based on facts and personal experience. Maharey seems to have scored a bit of an own goal!
June 12th, 2007 at 9:29 am
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