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Botswana
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Botswana is the immediate past chair of the 14-nation Southern African Development Community (SADC), and Gaborone hosts the SADC Secretariat's headquarters. SADC replaced the Southern Africa Development Coordination Conference (SADCC--launched in 1980, which focused its efforts on freeing regional economic development from dependence on apartheid South Africa. SADC embraced the newly democratic South Africa as a member in 1994. It has a broad mandate to encourage growth, development, and economic integration in Southern Africa. SADC's Trade Protocol, which was launched on September 1, 2000, calls for the elimination of all tariff and non-tariff barriers to trade by 2008 among the 11 signatory countries. Zimbabwe's membership has limited SADC's opportunities for cooperation with the United States.
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The capital of Botswana, Gaborone is named after Chief Gaborone, who led his tribe to this area from the Magaliesberg round about 1880. Ten years later Cecil John Rhodes chose this little settlement as the site of a colonial fort, where, it is said, the abortive Jameson Raid into South Africa was planned. Still little more than an administrative village when Botswana began to move towards independence in the early sixties, it was chosen as the site for the new capital due to its strategic location, the availability of a reliable water supply and it's proximity to the cross-continental railway line. Fevered construction began in 1964, and in 1966 the Republic of Botswana achieved full independence under Sir Seretse Khama. At the time of independence, Botswana was counted among the ten poorest nations on earth. The discovery of the country's diamond wealth came within five years, and turned Botswana into one of the richest countries in Africa and the third largest producer of diamonds in the world.
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Due to its history and geography, Botswana has long had deep ties to the economy of South Africa. The Southern Africa Customs Union (SACU), comprising Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland, and South Africa, dates from 1910, and is the world’s oldest customs union. Namibia joined in 1990. Under this arrangement, South Africa has collected levies from customs, sales, and excise duties for all five members, sharing out proceeds based on each country's portion of imports. The exact formula for sharing revenues and the decision-making authority over duties — held exclusively by the Government of South Africa — became increasingly controversial, and the members renegotiated the arrangement in 2001. The new structure has now been formally ratified and a SACU Secretariat has been established in Windhoek, Namibia.
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Since independence, Botswana has had the fastest growth in per capita income in the world. Economic growth averaged over 9% per year from 1967-97. The government has maintained a sound fiscal policy, despite three consecutive budget deficits in 2002-2004, and a negligible level of foreign debt. Foreign exchange reserves were $5 billion at the end of December 2005, equivalent to 22 months of imports of goods and services. Botswana's impressive economic record has been built on the foundation of wisely using revenue generated from diamond mining to fuel economic development through prudent fiscal policies and a cautious foreign policy. However, economic development spending was cut by 10% in 2002/2003 as a result of recurring budget deficits and rising expenditure on healthcare services.
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Economic Overview: Starting in the 1960's, Botswana started to incorporate diamond-mining developments using private multinational capital, with government equity to increase state growth. They have ... encouraged small private organizations by licensing small-scale commerce and manufacturing deals. Diamond mining accounts for more than one-third of the GDP and one-tenth of export earnings. These advancements have resulted in the economy growing three-fold, with GDP per capita growing from less than $80 to more than $1,000 between 1960 and 1980 and increasing to over $8,000 since then. Other important sectors that the economy depends on are tourism, subsistence farming, and cattle raising. Regardless, many of Botswana's people have not benefited from these expansions, as income and standard of living is still low.
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The seasons in Botswana are somewhat irregular. Rains generally start around October or November, and can persist till March or April, but there may be long dry spells within that time. Rain tends to fall in short, sometimes-violent thundershowers, and generally the greatest amount falls in December, January and February. The best time to visit Botswana is April to October when the days are sunny and not too hot. Evening temperatures drop sharply. During the summer months of November to April, temperatures can rise to over 40ºC and there are often thunderstorms in the early afternoons and evenings.
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