06 Apr 2026

Government has not adopted an official position in regard to homosexuality. Answering a parliamentary question recently, Minister of Labour and Home Affairs, Major General Pius Mokgware, said the Court of Appeal in 2021, however, upheld the High Court’s decision on the decriminalisation of same sex relationships. 

“In a nutshell, the court declared section 164 and 165 of the Penal Code unconstitutional in that these provisions proscribed same sex intimacy which was deemed to be against the order of nature. 

These provisions were deemed to be unconstitutional as they violated the constitutional right to privacy, liberty and dignity,” he said, further reiterating that consensual same-sex intimacy was therefore not proscribed. 

Minister Mokgware noted that challenges had mainly arisen from differing interpretations of what the court judgment meant. 

He explained that the ruling affirmed that individuals who engaged in such relationships were not committing an offence. He further pointed out that the Marriage Act (Cap 29:01) currently provided for solemnisation of marriage between a man and a woman only. 

However, he said the ministry was reviewing the Marriage Act in line with the Constitution of Botswana and consultations on related matters would be conducted with various stakeholders. 

“The ministry does not keep records of individuals’ sexual orientation and therefore has no statistics on the number of people across different sexual orientations,” he added. 

Meanwhile, Minister Mokgware said sensitising the public about the existence and acceptance of LGBTQ individuals in Botswana was a cross-cutting issue that required dialogue, consultation and broader understanding across society and therefore called for collective input from all the relevant stakeholders. 

Member of Parliament for Serowe South, Mr Leapetswe Lesedi had asked the minister to state government’s position on homosexuality. 

MP Lesedi had also inquired whether government intended to legalise same-sex marriages in the near future. 

He further requested statistics showing the number of homosexuals, heterosexuals, bisexuals, transgender and asexual in Botswana and furthermore wanted to know what was being done to sensitise the public about the existence and acceptance of LGBTQ people in the country. end