Mass Media News

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  • Masunga Celebrates Mokgwathi

    Masunga Celebrates Mokgwathi

    Residents of Masunga thronged the local kgotla recently to welcome home Paralympic sprint runner, Bose Mokgwathi.

    Mokgwathi recently won a bronze medal in the 400 metres T13 event at the 2025 World Para Athletics Championships in New Delhi, India, clocking a time of 49.66 seconds.

    Welcoming the gathering recently, Kgosi Thabo Maruje III said everyone was there to celebrate the achievement of a young man who defied the odds stacked against him.

    Kgosi Maruje III said Mokgwathi was proof that one can come from a rural setting like Masunga and ultimately reach the pinnacle and draw world attention.

    He commended government for its long-standing support of sport, noting that sport in Botswana was now evolving.

    He highlighted that the event was an opportunity for the community to open doors for young people to excel through sport. 

    He thus urged parents to raise their children properly and not deny them the opportunity to engage in sporting activities, saying that many dreams were broken by parents.

    “As we celebrate you here today, we want to show you that we are the community that raises the best of the best,” he said.

    Addressing the youth, Kgosi Maruje III spoke about the changing economic landscape, saying “You were born in a country where the diamonds that used to make the country take everything for granted have now run their race and lost value.”

    For his part, the star, Mokgwathi recounted his journey, which included competing at the Region 5 Youth Games held in Gaborone in December 2028, where he won the gold medal in the 200m T12 and 4x100m relay events and a silver medal in the 100m T12 event.

    In 2019, he made his international debut at the World Para Athletics Championships held in Dubai, where he was eliminated in the first round of the men’s 400m T13 event.

    In March of this year, Mokgwathi competed at the World Para Athletics Grand Prix in New Delhi and won the gold medal in the 100m race.

    Several months later, he represented his country at the 2025 World Para Athletics Championships and won a bronze medal in the 400 metres T13 event with a time of 49.66, making him the only athlete from his country to win a medal at the championships.

    Aron Mokgwathi, Bose’s father, shared his son’s background, saying he was born in July 2002 and has three siblings. He said Bose’s sight problems were first realised while he was in primary school, after attending pre-school.

    He said Bose was taken to the Francistown eye clinic, where the specialist regretfully informed them that nothing could be done in Botswana and recommended seeing specialists in Zimbabwe. Due to financial constraints, the family could not afford the trip.

    Mokgwathi said Bose’s serious athletics journey began in 2018 when he joined the National Team and won two gold medals and a silver. 

    He noted that in 2019, Bose was again selected for the National Team, marking his first international participation in France before qualifying for the World Championship in Dubai, where he did not perform well as it was his debut. 

    He recalled that in 2023, after a two-year break due to injury, Bose returned to the track, qualified for the World Championship held in France, but again did not perform well as he was still recovering.

    For his part, Bose said last year, he qualified for the World Championship held in Japan, where he advanced to the finals and secured seventh place out of eight athletes.

    “Things started changing that day. I told my parents that I had been training in Masunga and participating internationally, but now I want to relocate to Gaborone, where there are better facilities and good coaches,” he said. He added that since his parents had continually supported him, he told himself that he needed to reward them by winning.

  • Vivian Wins Miss Hope pageant

    Vivian Wins Miss Hope pageant

    Vivian Keatlholetswe, a 13-year-old Form 1 student at Kgalemang Motsete Junior Secondary School in Serowe, has made Botswana proud by winning the Miss Preteen Hope International 2025/26 title at the Miss Hope Pageants International Competition in Cape Town, South Africa. 

    This prestigious competition, which took place from November 25 to 29, saw Vivian outshining contestants from 11 participating countries to take home the coveted crown. 

    Vivian’s victory is a testament to her hard work and dedication, and she expressed her gratitude in an interview with BOPA, saying the crown  would allow her to continue her project : A CHILD A FLOWER. 

    Her mother, Lydia Keatlholetswe, a Serowe District Officer, was present to witness her daughter’s triumph. She shared that the project: A CHILD A FLOWER, was about donating stationery supplies to less privileged children to promote education for all despite their social backgrounds. 

    Furthermore, the newly crowned queen relayed that Hope International Pageants was a platform to empower young girls and women to use their talents to fulfill their purpose lives. 

    She said it also encouraged participants to serve in their communities and give hope to the hopeless through community engagements.  

    Narrating her journey to victory, she said from July 2025 to the finale, she attended Zoom trainings, which covered the following: identifying talents, developing projects and managing them, and interview and presentation tips. 

    While in South Africa on November 27 and 28, Vivian attended a full training course on discovering purpose, optimally using her talents, and building a business in relation to the mentorship. 

    She is happy that she has been awarded a certificate for the course, pointing out she also took part in a community outreach programme at a farm where she had a platform to share some gifts with children at the farm.  

    All these happened prior to her being crowned with the coveted prize of Miss Preteen Hope International 2025/26 at the grand finale held on November 29.

    To add cherry on top,  she also walked away with the Miss Congeniality Award, a feat she stated would accord her an opportunity to continue with her philanthropy work.

    The young star is of the view that winning the pageant has created her a platform for personal growth. 

    She attributed her victory to all Batswana who supported her all the way, more especially her parents, Kgalemang Motsete Junior Secondary School Head Ms Botho Supang and school management; Serowe District Council Social Worker, Mr Tshepiso Molefe, Botswana Hope International Director Ms Tlhatlogo Madiba and the Department of Information Services for providing media coverage throughout her journey.

  • Botswana seeks to partner with China enterprises

    Botswana is committed to building a nation empowered by digital technology, developing an export-driven industrial structure and ensuring that growth remains inclusive and human-centred.

    Speaking at the Entrepreneur’s Forum in celebration of the 50th Anniversary of Diplomatic Relations between Botswana and China recently, Minister of Trade and Entrepreneurship, Mr Tiroeaone Ntsima said that as the economy evolved, Botswana recognised the need for transformation, moving from raw material exports to value-added manufacturing, from quantity to quality and from dependency to self-sustaining growth.

    Mr Ntsima highlighted key areas where Botswana sought to deepen cooperation with Chinese partners; technology, digitalisation and the entrepreneurial ecosystem. He noted that in fast-evolving fields such as artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain and deep tech, global innovation was advancing rapidly.

    “Botswana stands ready to partner with Chinese universities, research institutions and technology firms to build talent-development platforms, joint innovation labs and start-up incubators,” he said.

    Mr Ntsima also extended an invitation to the Chinese government to offer scholarships, training programmes and exchange opportunities for staff of his ministry and related institutions.

    He explained that such initiatives would enable young entrepreneurs to learn the latest technologies, participate in innovation practices in China and return home equipped to drive Botswana’s digital entrepreneurship agenda.

    The minister added that Botswana’s abundant natural resources, stable governance environment and strong regional export potential made it an ideal partner for Chinese manufacturing firms.

    “We welcome collaboration with Chinese companies to introduce advanced manufacturing processes, smart production systems and green industrial technologies into Botswana. Together, we can establish export-oriented manufacturing hubs, transition from raw output to processed and branded goods and strengthen our value chains,” he said.

    Mr Ntsima further called on Chinese investors, mentors and incubators to partner with Botswana’s SMEs, facilitating technology transfer, supply-chain integration and market access.

    Such partnerships he said would allow Botswana’s entrepreneurial ecosystem to access Chinese capital, technology and markets, while Chinese firms gained local insight and regional reach.

    Reflecting on the 50 years of China-Botswana relations, Mr Ntsima said the two nations have built strong foundations of diplomatic trust, economic cooperation, cultural and educational exchange.

    He encouraged Chinese enterprises to invest, partner and co-create with Botswana’s entrepreneurs, establishing joint ventures, sharing technology, localising operations and building value chains together.

    For his part, China’s ambassador to Botswana, Mr Fan Yong, expressed gratitude to Botswana for its long-term dedication and steadfast support of the bilateral relationship. He noted that China and Botswana’s friendship had evolved into a strategic partnership over the past five decades.

    “Over the past 50 years, mutual benefit has been the foundation of our flourishing cooperation, our nations have become good friends who treat each other as equals and reliable partners, our economic collaboration in infrastructure, trade, telecommunications and mineral exploration has grown increasingly close.” he said.

    Ambassador Fan stated that as a major contributor to global economic growth and an anchor of stability, China would continue to expand institutional openness, uphold multilateralism and promote broader international economic flows.

    He said that in the first eight months of this year, China imported approximately US$4 billion worth of agricultural products from Africa, marking a 4.8 per cent increase from last year.

    Ambassador Fan expressed hope that the policy would soon benefit Botswana, by opening a fast channel for its high-quality products to enter the market in China.

    He emphasised that China and Botswana must remain trustworthy partners, develop together and foster mutual understanding, reinforcing political trust, integrating development strategies and delivering shared prosperity.

    Ambassador Fan also reiterated China’s commitment to supporting and encouraging more enterprises from China, both public and private, to actively participate in projects initiated under Botswana’s BETP and NDP12, thereby creating more job opportunities for Batswana.

  • Civil society key in combating illicit financial flows

    Civil society key in combating illicit financial flows

    Civil society organisations have a duty to work toward assisting African nations combat the growing scourge of money laundering,terrorism financing and illicit financial flows.

    These were the sentiments echoed by the President Advocate Duma Boko during a keynote address to the High Level Africa Civil Society Conference on Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing Terrorism held in Gaborone on October 16 .

    The President urged delegates from civil society institutions across Africa to use their three-day deliberations to engage and introspect on how to best combat money laundering and financing terrorism.

    President Boko said countering the financing of terrorism and illicit financial flows should entail an honest discourse down to the grassroots.

    “Why do we have this big challenge of money laundering? What money is this that is being laundered? Where does it come from? Because we are trying to establish the channels through which it moves and flows. What is its source and origin? Where does it come from? President Boko said.

    He said civil society organisations, which were drawn from the community and work closely with the people at grassroots level, needed to consistently probe those in public office who may partake in the misuse of public funds.

    “When those who hold public office turn the public purse entrusted to them into their own private chest, this is the real problem. These funds, these resources, this wealth is illegally obtained, stolen, obtained corruptly, then channeled and concealed, beyond the reach of crime intelligence organisations. This is what we are wrestling with,” he said.

    Acknowledging that civil society formations in Botswana were weak, owing to a lack of sufficient financing, apart from labour organisations, which relied on the monthly member subscriptions, President  Boko called on trade unions to utilise their resources to be the anchor of national civil society.

    He  called on civil society to also self-introspect how they could be used to partake in or aid and abet illicit financial flows, ‘so that when civil society probes leaders, politicians, they themselves must have already submitted to self-examination.’

    President Boko said Botswana would continue to submit as a country to the evaluations that take place periodically, including an upcoming evaluation in 2027 that would determine whether Botswana was fully compliant with Financial Action Taskforce (FATF) global regulations.

    “We have made impressive strides. But we are not there yet. And sometimes when we celebrate the little successes that we have attained, we might become complacent. Let me remind  government that we are not there yet,” President Boko said.

    The Minister of Labour and Home Affairs, Major General Pius Mokgware buttressed the argument that civil society organisations were key in combating money laundering and terrorism financing.

    He said as largely community based institutions, civil society formations should collaborate into a network that offered strategic direction and accountability to combat the human suffering that is brought about by illicit financial flows.

    For his part, Executive Director of Civic Advisory Hub, Mr Yona Wanjala said Africa lost about US$88 billion (over P1 trillion) annually to illicit financial flows, which throve on the erosion of good governance and human rights, the suppression of oversight and accountability, and thus required an active role by civic organisation in offering a solutionPaula Fass in the introduction to her book The Damned and the Beautiful: American Youth in the 1920s.