A new report by media and democracy watchdog Intelwatch has warned that Botswana’s democracy is at a ‘critical inflection point,’ as it accuses President Duma Boko of adopting hostile rhetoric that threatens press freedom despite the country’s historic political transition in November 2024.
Another media rights advocacy group, Reporters Without Borders has assigned Boko’s administration the worst score and rank compared to Festus Mogae, Ian Khama and Mokgweetsi Masisi. The 2025 World Press Freedom ranking is Botswana’s worst since Reporters Without Borders started publishing the index in 2002 under Mogae.
The Intelwatch report, which is titled A Democracy at the Crossroads: Mapping Threats to the Media in Botswana paints a picture of a media sector facing legal, economic and digital pressures even after the fall of the long-ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) and the rise of the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) under President Boko.
While the 2024 electoral victory of the UDC was widely hailed as a democratic milestone, Intelwatch says the optimism has faded.
‘The new administration’s narrative has quickly shifted from reformist zeal to media-bashing rhetoric,’ the report states. ‘Hostility from the highest office legitimises online harassment and emboldens state security agents.’
Intelwatch is a new research and advocacy organisation dedicated to supporting policy work and activism to strengthen public and democratic oversight of state and private intelligence agencies singles out Boko’s recent claims that 90% of media reports are ‘fake,’ describing the remarks as ‘unsubstantiated and deeply damaging to public trust in journalism.’
The report says Boko has also warned that journalists could face imprisonment for ‘fake news’ and criminal defamation.
‘This suggests that the specter of state hostility towards the media has not vanished with the change of government but merely changed hands,’ Intelwatch notes.
Botswana’s international standing has also suffered. According to Reporters Without Borders (RSF), Botswana press freedom ranking has dropped to 81st out of 180 countries in the 2025 under President Boko compared to 79th position under his predecessor former president Masisi. Botswana’s Press Freedom score under Boko also went down to 57.64 from 59.78 under Masisi. The Reporters Without Borders (RSF) total score in the World Press Freedom Index represents a quantitative measure (from 0 to 100) of the level of freedom available to journalists and media outlets in 180 countries and territories.
President Boko’s administration fared especially badly on the political indicator index, with a score of 71 down from Masisi’s 80. The RSF political indicator, a component of the World Press Freedom Index, measures the extent of state support or restriction on press freedom, including political pressure, censorship, and harassment of journalists by officials. It assesses how political authorities influence media independence, safety, and content, often tracking attacks, surveillance, and legal restrictions on journalism.
Boko however performed well on the security indicator with a score of 96 compared to Masisi’s 82. This indicator measures the risks and physical danger journalists face, evaluating threats, harassment, violence, and impunity for crimes against them. It analyzes the safety of journalists, including arrests and physical attacks, to assess overall media freedom.
Intelwatch, however, argues that the absence of mass arrests since Boko assumed office masks ‘deeper, more insidious systemic threats’ embedded in the country’s legal framework.
‘Archaic colonial-era laws such as sedition and criminal defamation remain on the statute books, ready to be weaponised,’ the report says, referencing provisions under the Penal Code that have historically been used against journalists.
The report says continued delay in enacting a robust Access to Information (ATI) law is another major concern. Without it, reporters are forced to rely on leaks rather than legally guaranteed access to public records.
‘Without structural reform and genuine political will, Botswana risks sliding from a defective democracy into a regime of information authoritarianism,’ the report warns.
Beyond legal threats, Intelwatch highlights what it terms ‘economic asphyxiation’ of independent media. Government remains the largest advertiser in the country, and the strategic withdrawal of state advertising from critical publications is described as ‘a potent tool of economic censorship.’
‘Media houses are financially anaemic,’ the report says, pointing to high operational costs, a small market and digital disruption.
The digital sphere, once seen as a haven for free expression, is also under scrutiny. Intelwatch cites credible reports that the Directorate of Intelligence and Security (DIS) has used sophisticated forensic tools such as Cellebrite and Circles to intercept journalists’ communications and identify confidential sources.
‘This chilling reality forces journalists to adopt defensive tradecraft, hampering their ability to work freely,’ the report states.
Female journalists, in particular, face coordinated cyber-harassment campaigns, often involving gendered attacks aimed at discrediting their professional credibility.
Intelwatch argues that Botswana’s constitutional guarantee of freedom of expression is insufficient without explicit protections for media freedom.
‘The Constitution’s silence on specific media rights renders its guarantee largely ineffective,’ the watchdog argues.
Intelwatch says the test of democratic maturity will not lie in electoral turnover alone but in whether those in power can tolerate scrutiny.
‘The measure of this new democracy,’ the report says adding that, ‘will be its willingness to protect, rather than persecute, the messengers.’