Botswana’s Tribal Land Act of 2018: Confounding Innovations with Congenital and other Defects

Abstract

The paper interrogates Botswana’s revamped Tribal Land Act, No. 1 of 2018, to tease out, applaud and celebrate its positive attributes, and to decry its shortcomings and weaknesses, which may be newly fangled or carried over from the old, repealed Tribal Land Act, No. 54 of 1968.  The study shows that much of the new Act is a reproduction of the old Act.  It has therefore come into existence with ‘congenital defects.’  Some of the welcome innovations in the new Act have also been introduced with profoundly troubling elements.  On balance, therefore, there is not much to applaud or celebrate in Botswana’s Tribal Land Act of 2018.