By Keolebogile Lebo Diswai
Beyond “People in Power”
Corruption in Botswana is often framed as a problem of leadership, something that exists in high offices, political circles, and large-scale scandals. Public discourse tends to focus on grand corruption: embezzlement, tender manipulation, and illicit financial flows involving powerful actors. While this focus is justified, it is incomplete. If Botswana is to meaningfully confront corruption, a more uncomfortable question must be asked: how much does the country lose to petty corruption compared to grand corruption? And more importantly, what does this reveal about the society we have collectively built?
There is a persistent tendency to externalise corruption, to locate it in “others,” particularly those in positions of political authority. Yet corruption is not confined to high office. It exists across systems, institutions, and everyday interactions. Public officers process claims, finance staff approve payments, citizens evade taxes, and beneficiaries sometimes exploit social programmes. Even within NGOs and civil society spaces, where trust and social impact are meant to be paramount, there have been instances where custodians of funds intended for the most vulnerable divert those resources toward personal gain and, at times, luxury consumption. Over time, such practices erode donor confidence and weaken financial inflows to Botswana, ultimately undermining the very communities these institutions are meant to serve. Each of these contexts represents a point of decision-making, and therefore a point of vulnerability. In this sense, many of us are, in fact, “people in power” within our respective spaces. The distinction between grand and petty corruption is therefore not one of morality, but of scale and opportunity.
The Normalization of the Small
Petty corruption often escapes scrutiny because it is normalized. It appears in subtle, socially accepted forms: a government vehicle running private errands, a slightly inflated reimbursement claim, a small facilitation payment, or a loan default treated as inconsequential. Individually, these acts may seem minor. Collectively, they erode institutional integrity, distort resource allocation, and reinforce a culture of impunity. Over time, what begins as “small” does not remain small; it becomes systemic.
The Economic Cost
The economic cost of this system is not abstract. Between 2004 and 2013, Botswana is estimated to have lost over USD 20 billion through illicit financial flows, with approximately USD 12.8 billion attributed to trade mis-invoicing (Dikuelo, 2016). These losses are compounded by tax evasion and other forms of corruption, amounting to an estimated USD 856 million lost annually. More recent reports suggest that close to P10 billion has been lost through corrupt practices involving local authorities and state-owned enterprises, including embezzlement, procurement irregularities, inflated contracts, and offshore concealment of funds. While grand corruption accounts for large, visible losses, it is sustained by a broader ecosystem in which smaller, everyday practices are tolerated and even expected.
Corruption is Not a Victimless Crime
When we discuss corruption, it can often feel abstract, distant from everyday life. In reality, its consequences are deeply personal and widely felt. Corruption influences whether a patient receives quality care at a public hospital, or whether essential medicines are available to those who cannot afford private alternatives. It shapes whether a child learns in a well-equipped classroom or under a tree, exposed to harsh weather conditions that undermine concentration, performance, and long-term educational outcomes. When education systems are weakened, dropout rates rise and cycles of poverty are reinforced, compromising the future of an entire generation. Corruption also drives inefficiencies and leakages that contribute to higher costs of living, including rising food prices, while weakening overall economic performance. Even road safety is affected, as compromised standards, poor enforcement, and substandard infrastructure increase the risk of accidents and fatalities. These are not abstract losses, they are lived realities. Corruption has real victims.
A System, Not Isolated Incidents
What emerges is not a series of isolated incidents, but a system in which rules are flexible, accountability is uneven, and ethical breaches are minimized if they are perceived as insignificant. In such an environment, corruption becomes embedded not only in institutions but in social norms. This is why enforcement alone, however necessary, is insufficient. Anti-corruption efforts that focus exclusively on high-level prosecutions risk addressing symptoms rather than causes.
Toward Structural Reform and a Cultural Reset
A meaningful response requires both structural reform and a deliberate cultural reset. Botswana must invest in comprehensive national assessments that measure the full spectrum of corruption, from everyday leakages to large-scale financial crimes, in order to inform more targeted and proportionate interventions. Institutional accountability must be strengthened through transparent procurement systems, digital financial controls, routine audits, and consistent enforcement across all levels of government, state-owned enterprises, and civil society organizations. At the same time, civic education must evolve into sustained behavioral change campaigns that challenge the normalization of “small” corruption and reposition integrity as a shared national value. Incentive structures should reward ethical conduct while ensuring that consequences for misconduct are certain, visible, and applied regardless of status.
The Cultural Shift We Must Make
The deeper transformation required is cultural. A genuine cultural reset demands that society confront and reject the quiet acceptance of minor wrongdoing. Culturally, we have even normalized the language of corruption through everyday phrases such as “njese sengwe,” “ga gona ope o sa senyeng ko tirong ya gagwe,” and “ntshwarise something” among others. These expressions, often used casually or humorously, reflect how deeply embedded these practices have become, to the point where their harm is no longer immediately visible. Yet language shapes behavior, and when corruption is normalized in speech, it becomes easier to justify in action.
A cultural reset therefore requires more than policy reform; it calls for a shift in mindset and everyday conduct. It requires individuals to recognize their own agency within systems, to refuse to inflate claims, misuse public resources, or participate in informal exchanges that undermine fairness. It calls for workplaces, communities, and professional networks to actively uphold ethical standards and hold one another accountable. Over time, it is these everyday decisions, repeated consistently, that redefine what is acceptable and what is not.
Conclusion: A Shared Responsibility
Botswana stands at a critical juncture, with ambitions to transition toward a knowledge-based, inclusive economy. Achieving this vision will require more than sound policies and strong institutions. It will require a fundamental shift in how corruption is understood and confronted, not as a problem of “others,” but as a shared responsibility. Because while grand corruption may dominate headlines, it does not exist in isolation. It is enabled, sustained, and normalized within a broader societal context. Confronting it, therefore, will require all of us to look inward.
