Mounting repression in Botswana

Botswana is routinely celebrated as a 'model' for Africa and is habitually portrayed as an exception to the general slide to autocracy that has characterized much of post-colonial Africa. In fact, Botswana's polity is typified by an unaccountable president, an extremely weak civil society, and grotesque levels of inequality. There are growing indications that Botswana is descending to autocracy and arbitrariness and its democratic profile is in serious danger. Such realities are however seriously ignored by most academics, spellbound as they are by The African Miracle. When observers point out such anomalies, they are either physically deported from Botswana or banned from entering the country.