Botswana and the Bully: Apartheid South Africa and Southern African Development Coordination Conference, 1978-1986

Abstract

This article examines how events in South Africa between 1978 and 1986 impacted Botswana and the broader Southern African region. During the apartheid era, South Africa went to extraordinary lengths to gain the support of its neighbours. It implemented the destabilisation policy in an attempt to persuade neighbouring states to accept apartheid after failing to convince them to sign non-aggression pacts. This resulted in events that shaped Botswana's political ties with South Africa, and the latter’s economic links with the other Southern African countries. Meanwhile, regional, and international developments added to the complexity of Botswana -South African relations. In 1976, South Africa was put under international sanctions while in the region, the independent countries established the Southern African Development Coordination Conference to counter South Africa's attempts to assert authority over the region. This paper, thus, advances that Botswana was caught in a balancing act between its economic relations with both hegemonic South Africa and fellow independent African states. To examine how Botswana tactfully maneuvered this complex period, the research relies on archival sources from Botswana, South Africa and Britain, and newspaper reports, all contextualised within existing historiography on South Africa’s sub-imperialism.