Economic diversification in Botswana has been an ongoing topic, apparently with little to nothing really being achieved. Our unsustainable dependance on mineral wealth has truly been exposed by the emergence of the corona virus pandemic. Life in its essence, is simply driven by reality more than anything. Any sensible Motswana would have known that the dependance on minerals, which are not a renewable commodity, was and continues to be a risky proposition. Naturally, minerals underground, do eventually get depleted and/or their mining methods become extremely difficult, expensive and/or dangerous. Whichever is the case, when the wealth from them runs out, ghost towns inevitably emerge. Selibe Phikwe is a living example after the closure of the BCL copper mine. Botswana depends so much on the diamond mining, reality dictates that they, too, will shut down some day; and if no other forms of wealth generation for the country are in place, we will have a ghost country. This is a reality fact! The drive for economic diversification must take center stage. It should be a mandatory national agenda which all citizens must buy in. Batswana and our government must detox from this life pattern of living for the moment, and critically think and plan accordingly for future generations.
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