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Lending to parastatals in Botswana increased sharply in the year to August 2026, even as commercial banks reduced credit to businesses and households, raising questions about the changing direction of bank financing.

The Bank of Botswana’s October 2026 Monetary Policy Report shows that lending to parastatals grew by 17.2 percent in the 12 months to August, compared with growth of 2.7 percent in the corresponding period a year earlier.

The increase, which the central bank attributed largely to loan drawdowns, contrasts with a contraction in overall business lending. Credit to businesses declined by 1.2 percent, while lending to businesses excluding parastatals fell by 2.8 percent, reversing an 8.6 percent expansion recorded in the year to August 2025.

The figures point to a growing divergence in access to bank financing between state-owned entities and private businesses, many of which remain important drivers of employment and economic activity.

The report says the decline in private business credit was mainly attributable to repayments of overdraft facilities and loans across several sectors, including agriculture, mining, manufacturing, construction, trade, tourism and real estate.

While increased lending to parastatals does not necessarily mean banks are deliberately favouring state-owned entities, the contrasting trends raise questions about credit demand, risk appetite and the ability of private businesses to secure financing.

The central bank also cautioned that sustained growth in government borrowing could increase banks’ exposure to the public sector and potentially compete with private-sector credit for available funding.

For decades, the Botswana Meat Commission (BMC) traded on a prestige narrative of world-class beef, exclusive European markets, and a thriving national herd.

But beneath the glossy marketing campaigns and high-grade carcasses lies a multi-million-pula story of infrastructure neglect and protectionist arrogance.

Today, as yet another Foot-and-Mouth Disease (FMD) outbreak triggers countrywide standstills and slams the doors to European export markets, the illusion has collapsed. Farmers are trapped, left to watch their primary source of wealth waste away behind veterinary cordon fences.

The tragedy of this crisis is that it is a mathematical and scientific certainty. Professor Richard Fynn from the Okavango Research Institute explained to the Sunday Standard that international trade laws are clear, while the FMD virus completely paralyzes the fresh meat trade, the high-heat sterilization required for commercial canning entirely obliterates the pathogen. Canned meat is legally bulletproof against trade bans.

Professor Fynn, a prominent rangeland ecologist and conservation scientist, is an authority on such issues. He regularly bridges the gap between academic theory and practical farming, working directly with livestock farmers and ranchers-ranging from the Okavango Delta to the major cattle hubs of Ghanzi, to reverse severe soil and grass degradation.

With the international market closed to Botswana beef due to the FMD outbreak, pivoting to the BMC canning factory seems like a simple, logical alternative, right? Well, there is a slight problem. A Sunday Standard investigation into the commission’s asset management ledger reveals that Botswana’s current beef crisis is not a natural disaster. It is an active byproduct of decades of institutional myopia, culminating in a P1.549 billion cumulative financial loss by December 2022.

While hundreds of millions of Pula in state bailouts were funneled into sustaining fresh meat logistics for elite green zones, the value-addition canning infrastructure was systematically starved of capital expenditure. Internal timelines show that the cost of this neglect finally caught up with the commission in December 2021 when decades-old, unmaintained machinery leaked industrial grease directly into the food production line. This forced a humiliating mass voluntary recall of ECCO canned beef across Southern Africa. The aging factory lines ground to a complete halt, inducing an eight-month industrial blackout. It took until September 2022 for the facility to patch its antiquated conveyor systems together just to put basic tins back on local retail shelves.

By the time the global markets stabilized, the commission recorded a fragile P54.3 million profit turnaround for the financial year ending December 2025. But because the core value-addition infrastructure was never structurally modernized, this progress was built on a house of cards.

The moment the current outbreak struck in 2026, the fresh meat pipeline vanished overnight, and those fragile profits were instantly vaporized. The government’s panic-button response of a sudden P230 million emergency injection to rebuild the dilapidated canning facility is an explicit admission of long-term failure. It is a desperate attempt to reconstruct an economic firewall while the fire is already consuming the national herd. Because the modernization of this facility was intentionally kicked down the road, the factory lines physically lack the automated throughput, sealing technology, and raw processing volume to absorb the millions of kilograms of beef currently stranded in the red zones.

The financial bleeding of the BMC is historically framed as an unavoidable consequence of erratic global markets and unpredictable disease outbreaks. However, internal revelations paint a far more damning picture of institutional complacency. Sunday Standard investigations have unveiled BMC’s shocking tunnel vision, which eventually denied farmers an opportunity to tap into the global potential of fast-food titan McDonald’s. Enticed by the allure of Botswana’s ultra-premium, naturally produced beef, McDonald’s approached the commission with an offer to import Botswana beef. For any other developing nation, securing a supply contract with the world’s largest restaurant chain would be hailed as an economic triumph.

Instead, the request was met with total bureaucratic indifference. BMC insiders have revealed that the board did not even discuss the request from McDonald’s, completely dismissing the multi-million-dollar opportunity because directors were focused on the European Union market. Compounding this failure was the iron-clad grip of the commission’s statutory monopoly. Under local laws, private commercial farmers are strictly barred from independently exporting beef. When the board threw the request into the paper shredder, they effectively killed the deal for the entire nation. Local producers were legally handcuffed, unable to step in to satisfy the massive global demand because the law granted exclusive export rights to a parastatal that did not care to listen.

This elitist obsession with fresh EU quotas came at the direct expense of domestic risk management. The true cost of this monopolistic arrogance and infrastructural decay is not felt in air-conditioned boardrooms in Lobatse; it is felt by the communal farmers who form the backbone of Botswana’s rural economy. With fresh export windows closed, farmers are trapped in a vice grip. Veterinary standstills prevent them from transporting cattle out of impacted zones to find alternative buyers. High-grade cattle that could have fetched premium prices on the European fresh market cannot be sold. They cannot even salvage their costs by selling to the domestic canning line, because the factory lines are still undergoing the long-overdue reconstructions that should have been completed a decade ago.

Relying entirely on a disease-free status for fresh meat exports is no longer a viable sovereign strategy in an era of climate volatility and wildlife-livestock friction. By leaving the ECCO canning factory to rot and turning a blind eye to massive corporate buyers, the stewards of our agricultural sector effectively disarmed the country ahead of an inevitable battle. The current P230 million refurbishments must not be treated as a temporary patch to quiet angry farming syndicates. It must be investigated as a forensic lesson in how not to manage national food security. Until the export monopoly is broken or the conveyor belts at Lobatse are fully modernized to run at high capacity independently of regional disease statuses, the wealth of Botswana’s cattle farmers will remain entirely at the mercy of the next outbreak.

The government borrowed a fresh P3.6 billion from the Bank of Botswana in September, returning to emergency-style short-term financing despite receiving a record P7.29 billion dividend from the central bank and raising billions through government securities amid improved investor demand.

The latest advance marks the third borrowing episode since February 2025, when dwindling diamond revenues and depleted cash reserves forced the ministry of Finance to seek temporary financing. An initial P2.5 billion advance was settled by September 2025, while a subsequent P3.2 billion facility, outstanding in December, was cleared by June 2026.

The renewed borrowing exposes continuing pressure on government finances despite expenditure controls that have helped narrow budget deficits.

The 2025/26 financial year ended with a deficit of approximately P16.8 billion, below the P25.5 billion projected in February. Government subsequently recorded a P2.51 billion surplus in the first quarter of 2026/27, which commenced in April.

By July, cumulative revenue had reached P34.67 billion against expenditure of P30.42 billion, producing a P4.25 billion surplus. However, revenue included the central bank’s exceptional P7.29 billion dividend, without which expenditure would have exceeded receipts by P3.04 billion.

The country’s fiscal savings have also come under pressure. The Government Investment Account, which once helped finance budget shortfalls without additional borrowing, fell from P8.7 billion in March to P3.2 billion in July, a 63.2 percent decline.

The Finance ministry has meanwhile continued raising funds from domestic investors. Government securities issued during the current 2026/27 financial year total P29.29 billion, although P19.26 billion was payment for maturing debt, leaving P10.02 billion in net additional issuance at face value.

Investor demand has remained healthy as yields have eased from their earlier peaks. The October auction attracted P10.94 billion in bids against P4.2 billion offered, with three-month Treasury bill yields averaging 5.6 percent, compared with 10.7 percent in March. Longer-dated bonds continued offering higher returns, with the June 2040 bond yielding 10.8 percent.

Despite the borrowing activity, the government’s financing requirements remain substantial. Total debt reached P91.46 billion in September, including P40.21 billion in bonds, P16.79 billion in Treasury bills and P750 million in direct commercial-bank loans.

Finance Minister Ndaba Gaolathe has revised the projected 2026/27 deficit down to P9.26 billion from P26.35 billion, citing improved revenue expectations and expenditure restraint.

The fresh central-bank advance, however, carries a repayment period of no longer than 92 days under the Bank of Botswana Act, adding another short-term obligation to Treasury’s financing requirements.

For decades, school sport was the bedrock of athlete development pathway in Botswana. During that time, the country managed to produce world class athletes who hoisted high the country’s flag.

World class track athletes like Isaac Makwala, Amantle Montsho, Nijel Amos, Baboloki Thebe, Karabo Sibanda and lately Letsile Tebogo and Collen Kebinatshipi, just to name a few, are products of the school sports system.

And athletics is not the only sport that benefitted from this talent conveyor belt. Sporting codes like boxing and football have also benefited immensely from this system.

At the peak of its dominance as a top tier sporting code, boxing unearthed its talent from school sports. Current Botswana Boxing Association (BoBA) president Dirang Thipe, as well as former notable Olympic boxers like Lechedzani ‘Master’ Luza, Khumiso Ikgopoleng, Thato Batshegi and Oteng Oteng, just to mention a few are products of school sports.

In football, school sports also played a crucial role. Almost all of the country’s best players, from the likes of Diphetogo Selolwane to Modiri Marumo, Dirang Moloi, Pontsho Moloi and many others are a product of the school sports.

It has however been six years since this conveyor belt of sporting talent came to a complete halt. And the effects are already showing across all the sporting codes.

‘The absence of school sports has seriously affected our capacity to unearth talent. While the emergence of academies has slightly bridged the gap, the effect of the absence of school sports is now visible,’ Jwaneng Athletics Club and national team coach Chilume ‘Chippa’ Ntshwarang observes.

He points out that unlike academies, school sports cast a net wide to catch every little talent available. Its absence now means that over the past six years, talented athletes, more especially from disadvantaged backgrounds and remote areas of the country have fallen through the cracks. Most of them, some of whom may have gone on to become national icons, will never be discovered.

‘If you look at the team that went to the 2026 World Athletics Under 20 Championships, you would have noticed something. For the first time in as many years, we did not have athletes who were coming directly from regions far away from urban areas.’

‘Previously, because of school sports, you would have an athlete like Amos coming directly from Marobela to the national team. You would have athletes coming directly from regions in the North West, Central, Gantsi and so forth in the team,’ he says.

While academies and improved coaching capabilities will bridge the gap, the absence of school sports limits the pool of athletes available for developing. This on its own means the country will fail to create a good team of high-quality athletes.

‘The problem with relying on academies alone is that not every child can afford to enroll there. Only kids from well-off families can access them. If a kid is from a disadvantaged background, even if they are talented, they will miss out on being identified and developed.’

‘And the worst affected will be the girl child, more especially those in rural areas. School sports provided them with a rare opportunity to participate in sport. Once they go home after school, they are expected to do house chores and will most likely not be allowed to go back for training. This means their sporting talent will never be discovered or developed,’ Ntshwarang observes.

Elsewhere, BoBA Publicity Secretary Kabelo Seleka says boxing is also feeling the absence of school sports. For Botswana boxing in particular, all of its illustrious have come through Botswana Integrated Sports Associations (BISA) competitions.

‘School sports was very important to BoBA because it provided us with an opportunity to identify and nurture young talent at an early age. Schools are often the starting point for future national team athletes,’ he comments.

In the absence of school sports, BoBA has not folded its arms. The association is running self-funded development programmes, including end-of-term school camps for both the Northern and Southern teams. Through its volunteer network, which also includes teachers, BoBA is also working to identify and develop the future champions of Botswana.

Despite these efforts, the BoBA Publicity Secretary says the effect of the six-year absence of school sport is being felt. We are feeling the impact of the six-year gap. We have lost an important platform for talent identification and development, as well as opportunities for young people to gain competition experience,’ Seleka says.

Elsewhere, Mexican Girls Football Club coach Oaitse Moeti says football, and in particular women football, is feeling the impact of the absence of school sports. Unlike with men’s football, women football in Botswana almost entirely relies on school sports for talent identification and development.

‘If you look at most of the women football teams in the country, they are result oriented and have little interest in development. School sports therefore provided an opportunity where they could scout for young players.’

Even still, for those who scout players in school sports, huge challenges still await. There are no age-based competitions within the local football structure for young women.

In the absence of such organized age-based competitions for young women footballers, school sports served a dual role. It served as a talent identification platform and also provided them with age-based competition, which aided their development.

‘School sports gave us the majority of the players we currently see in our women football. Even at the rural areas, school sports provided young women with a platform to play and compete, more so as there are not many women football clubs out there,’ Moeti explains.

Meanwhile, Ntshwarang has hailed Botswana’s school sport system as one of the best in the country. This comes with its in-born ability to sieve the best of the best talent, making it easier for those involved in talent development to identify.

‘For starters, school sports allowed kids to try their hand at different sporting codes as we had track and ball games in different school terms. This meant a kid could try different sporting codes and identify which one he or she excels in and make a choice.’

‘Secondly, the system on its own sieved talent. Majority of the best athletes passed through competitions and made it to the regional and national competitions. Thus, coaches invested in talent development did not need to go from school to school to search for talent. All they had to do was go to the regional and national competitions to identify athletes who they can take for further development,’ he observes.

And there is a consensus here, the current impact, which is being felt in junior teams will in the long run translate to national teams. With no huge pool to select from, when the current best athletes retire, there will not be enough talent to fill the void.

If nothing is done urgently, the country may take years to repair the damage left by the prolonged absence of school sports.

Retired Botswana Defence Force (BDF) soldiers have accused government of deliberately frustrating efforts to resolve their pension grievances. In papers before the High Court, the retirees argue that the Office of the President (OP) has failed to facilitate a peaceful march and the delivery of a petition to President Duma Boko despite being formally approached early this year.

In a founding affidavit,former BDF commander Lieutenant General Gaolatllhe Galebotswe says the retirees want to march peacefully to the Office of the President and hand over a petition to the President, who is also Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, over unresolved grievances surrounding the 1/373 Transfer Value Enhancement Payments and the migration of BDF members to the Botswana Public Officers Pension Fund (BPOPF).

The retirees say they approached the Office of the President on 8 June 2026 requesting that it receive their petition. However, months later, no official, date or venue had been designated to facilitate the handover.

‘The Respondents accept the Applicants’ right to petition and say the Office of the President ‘will’ facilitate a senior officer to receive it but have done nothing to give effect to the undertaking,’ Galebotswe states in his affidavit.

The applicants have consequently approached the courts seeking an order compelling government to facilitate their constitutional right to petition the President and exercise their freedom of assembly.

They want the court to declare their rights under sections 12 and 13 of the Constitution and direct the Permanent Secretary to the President (PSP) to designate an official to receive the petition, fix a date, time and venue, and issue the necessary acknowledgement.

They are also seeking an order directing the Commissioner of Police to determine their procession permit application within the Police Service’s own published timelines and provide the necessary police escort and security.

As an alternative, they want an order allowing the procession to proceed and the petition to be received by the fourth respondent.

The applicants emphasise that they are not asking the court to determine the underlying pension dispute but to intervene in what they describe as government’s failure to respect their constitutional rights and honour the commitments made during negotiations.

The planned march is the culmination of what Galebotswe describes as a prolonged and increasingly frustrating attempt to resolve the retirees’ grievances through negotiations rather than litigation.

He says the applicants entered the out-of-court settlement process in good faith and relying on the negotiations, refrained from pursuing their pension litigation to finality.

‘Good faith has not been reciprocated,’ he states.

According to the affidavit, the settlement process was founded on agreed rules of engagement, which required both parties to participate on an equal footing through their duly mandated representatives, under the chairmanship and through the offices of an independent chairperson.

However, Galebotswe accuses the Office of the Accountant General, the Botswana Defence Force and the Botswana Public Officers Pension Fund of conducting the process in a manner characterised by inordinate delays since about July 2025, to his prejudice and Others Negotiating Team.

The retirees say negotiations were held on 22 and 23 September 2025 under the chairmanship of retired Justice Abednego Tafa.

During those discussions, the parties allegedly agreed that the transition of BDF members from the Defined Benefit Fund to the Defined Contribution Fund was ‘irregular’.

To address the irregularity, it was agreed that an independent actuary would be engaged to determine the financial impact of the policy decision.

The parties also agreed that court proceedings would be stayed while efforts to reach an out-of-court settlement were pursued.

However, the applicants now claim that government subsequently undermined the very framework that had made the negotiations possible by sidelining the independent chairperson.

The affidavit identifies the alleged termination of retired Justice Tafa’s role as a critical turning point in the dispute.

On or about 9 December 2025, members of the Government Negotiating Team and the applicants’ representatives reportedly convened a meeting before the Minister for State President, Defence, Justice and Security.

At that meeting, the Government Negotiating Team allegedly communicated that Tafa’s mandate as independent chairperson had ended following the conclusion of the September 2025 negotiations.

The applicants argue that this effectively removed the safeguard that had guaranteed neutrality and fairness in the settlement process.

‘The Independent Chairperson was the guarantor of the neutrality and the fairness of the process,’ Galebotswe states.

He adds that;’To bypass him was to remove the safeguard upon which the Applicant agreed to suspend the pursuit of the litigation.’

The retirees contend that government cannot expect them to remain committed to a settlement process while simultaneously dismantling the structures and safeguards upon which their participation was premised.

They further argue that the negotiations, which were supposed to be completed within three months, by 15 October 2025, remain unresolved, with no clear indication of when they will be concluded.

‘In substance, the negotiations have been collapsed unilaterally by Government, whilst the Applicants remain held to a process from which they are being shut out,’ the affidavit states.

The alleged withholding of information required by the appointed actuarial firm has further deepened the dispute.

As part of the settlement process, Alexander Forbes Financial Services Botswana was engaged as the actuarial company responsible for completing the enhanced transfer value calculations and determining benefits due to beneficiaries.

According to Galebotswe, Alexander Forbes wrote to government agencies on 30 June 2026 requesting information necessary to undertake its assignment.

However, the agencies allegedly failed to provide the required information.

On 29 July 2026, the firm reportedly issued another correspondence, which, according to the affidavit, was substantially similar to its earlier request.

Despite repeated requests by Alexander Forbes and the applicants, the government agencies have allegedly failed or refused to provide the required data, or supplied it only partially and after considerable delays.

The applicants say no explanation, let alone a reasonable one, has been provided for the failure to furnish the information.

‘In the circumstances, the Applicants are driven to the conclusion that the refusal and delay are deliberate,’ Galebotswe states.