Botswana’s Leader Picks Deputy Gaolathe as Finance Minister

Mbongeni Mguni
·1-min read

(Bloomberg) -- Botswana’s new leader Duma Boko unveiled the names of six members of his cabinet, including economist and Deputy President Ndaba Gaolathe as his finance minister.

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“We are here to mark the beginning of the delivery of the hopes and aspirations of the nation,” Boko, 54, said in Gaborone, the capital, on Monday. “We will make more announcements in the next few days as we get down to the real work of changing and transforming this country.”

Boko succeeded Mokgweetsi Masisi as president of the diamond-rich southern African nation after his Umbrella for Democratic Change coalition secured 36 of the 61 seats in parliament in Oct. 30 elections.

Masisi’s Botswana Democratic Party was widely expected to retain its majority, but it won just four parliamentary seats — down from 38 five years ago, as voters punished it for an economic downturn triggered by a collapse in the diamond market that generates the bulk of state revenue.

Botswana is the world’s largest producer of rough diamonds by value, with almost all of its gems mined by Debswana — which is jointly owned by the government and De Beers, a unit of Anglo American Plc.

Other ministerial appointments:

  • International relations: Phenyo Butale

  • Health: Stephen Modise

  • Child welfare and basic education: Nono Kgafela-Mokoka

  • Lands and agriculture: Micus Chimbombi

  • Youth and gender affairs: Lesego Chombo

--With assistance from Alister Bull and Rene Vollgraaff.

(Updates with presdent’s comments in second paragraph, other appointments in bullet points.)

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