Botswana’s Quest for Tribal Equality: 20 Years after the Balopi Commission and Kamanakao Case

Abstract

By early 2020 it was almost twenty years since two historical events took place in as far as Botswana’s
quest for tribal equality is concerned. These two historical events were the Presidential Commission of
Inquiry into Sections 77, 78 and 79 of the country’s Republican Constitution (‘the Balopi Commission’)
and the Kamanakao I and Others v. The Attorney-General and Another 2001 (2) BLR 654 (HC) (‘the Kamanakao
I Case’). In this series, we consider whether Botswana has, almost twenty years since these two historical
events took place, made any significant strides towards the attainment of the needed tribal equality. This,
we shall do by considering, inter alia, the implementation or lack thereof of the recommendations of the
Balopi Commission and the judgment of the Kamanakao I case per Chief Justice Julian Nganunu, Justice
Maruping Dibotelo, and Justice Unity Dow J as they then were.