29 September 2026

Dumelang Saleshando*

As we mark Botswana’s 60th birthday on 30 September, we take pride in the journey we have travelled together. We were once a poor country whose very survival was doubted from almost every quarter.

Today we are a global performer in many fields. Ours is a truly remarkable story. Our athletes fly the flag high on the world stage. Our sons and daughters excel in business, medicine, innovation, and every field across the globe.

One truth stands above all: we are a blessed nation! Yet we do not celebrate with our eyes closed. Too many of our young people wake up without work. Too many families are feeling the squeeze of rising costs and shrinking opportunity.

Our challenges are real, and some have tested us deeply. But Botswana has never been a nation that gives up. We are resilient. We rise. We have competent patriots. We have a business sector with the capacity to carry us through difficult times.

We have a civil society that has served the most vulnerable and has long been the conscience of our society. We have a workforce, in both the public and private sectors, that has carried the aspirations of the nation. We have a church that has always stepped up in our moments of despair. We have Dikgosi who continue to remind us of the Botswana story.

We have professional bodies that remain torchbearers of our development. We have young people whose energy and drive are waiting to be harnessed into a powerful force for a better Botswana. We have our children, our pride, whose innocence demands that we give them safe passage to a productive adulthood.

We have a media and a labour movement that stand watch on behalf of the Republic. Above all, we have the men and women who make up this nation. This anniversary is a moment to look back with pride, to learn honestly from our past, and to make a collective resolve to face our most pressing challenges.

The Botswana dream is not finished. It is waiting for us to complete it. Our quest 60 years ago was about political independence. The demand today is economic independence, a decent life for all. I do not doubt that we shall deliver! Botswana ke wa rona! Happy 60th, Botswana! Let us all proudly wear our blue, black and white this week! PULA!

• Dumelang Saleshando, BCP President, Leader Of the Opposition in Parliament