27 Jul 2025

Vice President Ndaba Gaolathe says there is urgent need to diversify the country’s economy, which currently depends predominantly on natural diamonds.

Speaking at a kgotla meeting in Nata on Friday, Mr Gaolathe warned that overdependence on a single commodity poses a significant risk, especially amid recent market fluctuations.

 “It is unsafe to rely solely on natural diamonds, especially when market conditions change and demand drops,” he said

The Vice President highlighted alarming trends in diamond sales, noting that the lowest sales figures recently fell below P10 billion, contrasting the P25 billion recorded in the past. This decline, he said, hampered the government’s ability to meet its monthly expenditure, which ranges between P8 billion and P9 billion. While Botswana earns revenue from Southern African Customs Union (SACU) trades and taxes, Mr Gaolathe pointed out that these sources were insufficient for sustainable economic growth.

“Strategic reforms aimed at economic diversification are imperative,” he stated, calling for all stakeholders to collaborate towards tangible results.

Unemployment, especially among the youth and graduates, remains a pressing concern. The vice president urged participation in the Botswana Economic Transformation Programme, encouraging young entrepreneurs to register. He highlighted that since the recent launch of the programme, over 400 Batswana have submitted their concepts.

Mr Gaolathe described this as a positive outcome, demonstrating that Batswana were eager to see a new Botswana with a thriving, sustainable economy capable of generating diverse employment opportunities for the younger generation. To date, Mr Gaolathe lamented that they had faced challenges in maintaining economic stability. The economy has been struggling, prompting the need for strategic measures, including securing loans.

Specifically, he said, government obtained P4 billion from the African Development Bank and another P4 billion from the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) fund. Of the OPEC loan, P2 billion has been allocated for this financial year. He further mentioned that an additional P11 billion loan has been secured solely for investment purposes. Over the past few years, investments have drastically declined, reaching their lowest levels and consequently reducing job opportunities for Batswana.

“If we had not acted swiftly to sustain the economy through borrowing, this economy could have collapsed,” he stated.

Despite these challenges, he affirmed that efforts were ongoing to build a new Botswana. This includes collaboration with every Motswana to generate ideas that can help turn this vision into reality. Furthermore, he noted that state organisations such as the Botswana Meat Commission, Botswana Railways, and the Botswana Power Corporation, which have received government funding, were costly due to ineffeciency.

To address these challenges, the government had embarked on an strategies to bring the sectors back afloat and enable self-sustainability while injecting returns into the economy. Notably, he said, the restoration of laboratories at the Botswana Vaccine Institute had begun to meet the required standards, paving the way for full-scale vaccine production.

In his welcome remarks, Kgosi Justin Ntuane of Nata expressed concern over the depletion of natural resources due to excessive harvesting. He pointed out that, as traditional leaders, they lacked control over the issuance of harvesting permits, which are often granted without proper assessment of the area’s sustainability. This year, despite the grass still being green and not yet ready for harvest, people have already started cutting it, which Ntuane identified as a threat to conservation efforts. ENDS