SOS Bushmen

Botswana is often hailed as an oasis of peace and prosperity on a troubled continent, but critics say the government of the southern African nation is clamping down on free speech and threatening democracy.

Botswana, long admired for its well managed economy and open democratic system, earlier this month banned 17 people, mostly foreign journalists and human rights activists, from entering the diamond-rich country.

The ban comes as the government tries to push through an intelligence bill that activists say could curtail freedom of speech in a country that has for decades enjoyed an outspoken press. The government denies the bill will muzzle critics.

Commentators conceded that Botswana remains a cut above many African countries in terms of governance and the rule of law -- especially neighbouring Zimbabwe -- but they also say the government is increasingly intolerant of dissent.

"Slowly, but surely, we are degenerating into that typical African state that most people out there have in their minds," media activist Thapelo Ndlovu told Reuters.

Botswana is perhaps best known abroad for diamonds -- it is the world's biggest producer -- and Mma Ramotswe, the curvy heroine of Alexander McCall Smith's fictional "Lady Detective" series set in the country's sleepy capital of Gaborone.

With growth rates averaging 8 percent over the last two decades, Botswana has long been Africa's best performing economy.

It has won praise for using diamond revenues to fund life-prolonging AIDS drugs for its 1.8 million citizens, about 37 percent of whom have HIV, according to UNAIDS.

"Botswana has been exemplary as a sea of prosperity and stability on a continent beset by dictatorship and mayhem," said Siphamandla Zondi, Africa programme director at South Africa's Institute for Global Dialogue.

But critics say President Festus Mogae's ruling party, which has won every election since independence from Britain in 1966, betrayed an authoritarian streak in 2005 when it deported an Australian academic who had said the government was elitist and secretive.

The government's handling of a high-profile legal battle with the San Bushmen -- Africa's last hunter gatherers -- has added to the concerns about its commitment to democracy and minority rights.

Botswana's highest court ruled last year the government had illegally forced the San Bushmen off their ancestral lands and said they should be allowed to return.

The government has said it will abide by the ruling but placed conditions on the rights of the Bushmen to return to their land in the Kalahari.

Earlier this month it banned the head of Survival International -- a pressure group that backed the Bushmen in their battle -- from the country. The list of banned individuals also included BBC World Affairs Editor John Simpson, former Financial Times Africa editor David White and another Australian academic who has criticised the government.

Some commentators see the hand of Deputy President Ian Khama, a former army general who is widely expected to take over as president next year ahead of elections in 2009, in the government's tougher stance.

Several other ex-generals have also been appointed to key government positions since the elections in 2004.

"Military officers by nature believe that everything revolves around security," said Zimbani Maundeni, head of Botswana's Democracy Research Project. "Botswana has never had a dictatorship and any sign that points towards that becomes very alarming."

Presidential spokesman Jeff Ramsay dismissed the concerns, noting the mooted intelligence bill -- which critics say has been kept under wraps -- was being debated in parliament. He declined to comment on the banning of foreign journalists.

Institute for Global Dialogue's Zondi said the government must take heed of growing concerns that it is surpressing debate and urged political leaders not to squander the country's reputation as a beacon of hope for Africa.

"There is a worrying trend in Botswana about how the government responds to dissent," he said. "It needs to be careful that perceptions it is becoming dictatorial and eroding its hard-fought record on democracy are not allowed to fester."