ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the historical emergence of the postcolonial Botswana state and how the roots of the petty bourgeois elite that control the Botswana state go back to the precolonial period. Botswana was a class divided society even before the advent of colonialism. The traditional Tswana social structure was organised on a system of merafe or nations, each with its own kgosi or king who was patrilineally descended from the morafe’s founder. Social differentiation was based on both economic position and status. At the top of the social hierarchy was the kgosi and his closest relatives. Since 1966, the Botswana state has overtly pursued a strategy of capitalist development. This strategy should be seen as an expression and outcome of specific class interests, whose roots go back to precolonial days. At the time of Independence, Botswana’s gross domestic product was the equivalent of £ 12m and the income per capita was the equivalent of £25.
