Botswana Population and Housing Census 2001 Analysis

Published in

The Population Studies Working Papers (University of Botswana):

Volume 3 pp.41-75, 2002

Haron 2003 1

Botswana’s Population and Housing Census 2001:

An Analysis and Interpretation of its different Religious Traditions*

Muhammed Haron

University of Botswana

0. Introduction

According to the United States State Department „Religious Freedom Report‟ of

20021, it affirmed that the Botswana Constitution provides for the freedom of religion,

and that the government respects this right in practice. The Botswana government‟s

caring policy contributed to its population‟s healthy attitude towards other religions.

Section 11 (2) of the Botswana Constitution states: “…no person shall be hindered in

the enjoyment of his/her freedom of religion, freedom to change his/her2 religion or

belief either alone or in community with others, and both in public and in private, to

manifest and propagate his/her religion or belief in worship, teaching, practice and

observance.” And this has, in turn, promoted the development of a cordial relationship

amongst its citizens and particularly its expatriate/immigrant community.

The Botswana Government pursues a policy that provides the necessary protection to

its citizens, and takes offence against anyone – in both the private and public spheres

– who adopts an intolerant approach to other‟s religious traditions. In fact, its Vision

20163 policy further endorses the notion of building a moral and tolerant society that

would bring about a caring and compassionate nation. These essential elements form

part of the broad based strategy that would eventually make Vision 2016 a reality.

I just wish to express my gratitude to colleagues and friends who have critically perused the

papers and offered the criticisms. However, the (incorrect) interpretation and analyses are all

mine.

1 Visit: http://atheism.about.com/library/irf/irf02/blirf_botswana.htm for more information on the

report.

2 The researcher took the liberty of inserting „her‟ in order to make it more inclusive.

3 The document entitled Vision 2016: Towards Prosperity for All was finalised by The Presidential

Task Group and came into effect during 1997.

http://atheism.about.com/library/irf/irf02/blirf_botswana.htm

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Haron 2003 2

And Vision 2016, in fact, pointed out the significance of offering assistance to

religious organizations in playing a key role in realising these goals.

Since religion has been recognized as an important phenomenon in the Batswana

society, it is a clear endorsement that religion, which has been revitalised and

resurfaced during the latter part of the 20th

century, possesses the necessary

ingredients to effectively contribute towards a tolerant, morally sound and safe

society. Thus its strategic and significant role cannot be underestimated in the

contemporary world. And it is therefore very important that when states undertake

surveys of their respective populations, which is “a major determinant of national

power” and a nation‟s “greatest resource” (Organski & Organski 1961), that they

include „religion‟ under their „national topic chart.‟

„Religion‟ featured in the 1946 census survey as a topic when Botswana was still

known as Bechuanaland, religion listed it as a topic; unfortunately, this was later

dropped and did not appear in any of the subsequent surveys, according to Damschke

& Goyer (1986), that were circulated in 1956, 1964, 1971 and 1981; the trend

continued when the enumerators designed the 1991 census survey4. The Central

Statistics Office (hereafter CSO) redressed the issue when they included „religion‟ as

one of its important national topics in the Botswana Population and Housing Census

of 2001 (hereafter referred to only as BC 2001). It was indeed a pity that the CSO did

not retain it after the 1946 census because the absence of earlier religious affiliation

figures of its population makes it extraordinarily difficult for researchers and

statisticians to offer a meaningful analysis and interpretation of the BC 2001. Despite

this acknowledged shortcoming an attempt will still be made that would account for a

reasonable analysis and interpretation based upon available secondary sources.

The purpose for this article is to offer an analysis and an interpretation that would

assist in understanding the reasons for the presence of a variety of religious traditions

on Botswana soil. However, since the University of Botswana‟s Ms. Ntloedibe-

4 Even though the information on „religion‟ was not part of the included national topics, Amanze

(1998) however indicated that he drew his sources on the different religious traditions from the CSO

office data that had statistics available for the Botswana Housing and Census of 1991.

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Haron 2003 3

Kuswane completed a separate analysis of Botswana‟s „Badimo‟ Religious Tradition,

which forms part of the general statistical analysis project requested in May 2002 by

Botswana‟s Central Statistics Office, this article should be seen as a complementary

contribution. It moreover intends to peruse and analyse all the religious traditions

listed in the survey, and identify those that are not mentioned in the accompanying

tables. Furthermore, it hopes to make sense of why the figures are low for some, and

the reasons for sizeable numbers in others. In addition, it intends to offer tentative and

speculative thoughts on those who indicated why they opted to indicate „no religions.‟

The article begins by making general remarks about the context within which this

study locates itself, and then goes on to provide relevant statistical data of religious

traditions in the world before zooming in on the tables that specifically captures the

data of the Botswana religious traditions; and, in the process, it weaves a few critical

remarks regarding certain insertions and omissions into the text.

1. The Context

Botswana, being a land locked state with a small population and a fair amount of

resources, has over the years developed into a multi-cultural, multi-lingual and multi-

religious nation. Since its inhabitants are located in different part of the country, a

variety of cultures had always been present, and a number of local languages had also

been and are still spoken. And with the introduction of Christianity via the missionary

impulse in the 17th

century and thereafter, it resulted in Christianity becoming the

most influential religion in this country; according to BC 2001, it replaced the African

Traditional Religion - referred to in the census as Badimo – as the major religious

tradition and thus the dominant religious representative; however, this is still an issue

of debate as noted from the discussion that follows.

Many decades after Christianity was planted on Botswana soil in the early 1800s,

other religious traditions slowly trickled into the region. The first amongst these

immigrant religious traditions was Islam, which was later followed in the mid 1960s

by the Bahais and Hindus respectively. By the mid 1970s the Buddhist and Sikhs also

joined their company. Most, if not all, of the adherents of these traditions came to

Bechuanaland Protectorate - as it was initially known - as economic migrants; some

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Haron 2003 4

came for short periods whilst others came for longer. However, there were also those

who became naturalised citizens when their working conditions were found to be

favourable; and those who did not wish to become naturalised were forced to

reconsider for the sake of their children who had become accustomed to their adopted

environment and had grown up in emerging, prosperous surroundings. And since

these children regarded their adopted Botswana environment as their home, they

resisted the idea of repatriating back to the land of their birth. And those children of

the economic migrants or expatriates, who were born in Botswana, automatically

considered Botswana their motherland and, by implication, distanced themselves from

their parents‟ birthplace. In fact, this has been one of the major dilemmas faced by

immigrant working communities. Initially when they came to work in Botswana, they

came on their own and as the conditions became more conducive and favourable, they

brought their families and eventually made Botswana their new place of abode.

Many of the economic migrants not only transported their bags and clothes along with

them, but more importantly also brought their national identities, tribal customs and

religious traditions along with them. These customs and traditions slowly became

rooted in a new foreign environment facing many diverse challenges. In addition to

the working migrant skilled and unskilled labourers, there were also an influx of

refugees from neighbouring states and countries such as Somalia and others that were

in endless socio-political turmoil. Many ended up in Botswana with the assistance of

the United Nations Refugee Agency, commonly known by as the UNHCR. Here

specific reference is made to the Namibian, Angolan and Somali refugees who were

housed in Dukwi, which is geographically located in the northeastern part of the

country. Whilst some of the refugees, particularly the Namibians, have been yearning

to go home, others as in the case of the Angolans and Somalis have opted to remain in

the country and have been given the assistance to start their own small businesses or

pursue their studies with the assistance of the UNHCR5. Many of the children of

these refugees have been granted the opportunity to pursue their education by

attending Botswana educational institutions with the financial help of this

5 Cf. The UNHCR Global Report 2002 – Southern Africa Regional Overview that mentioned the

number of refugees (+3,320) in Botswana at the end of 2002; most of these refugees were from

Namibia, Angola and Somalia and those that remained and are in the process of being naturalised have

the opportunities of pursuing studies and embark upon career opportunities (p.4).

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Haron 2003 5

organization and the Botswana government. According to the UNHCR Global Report

2000, for example, about 40 Somali refugee children were permitted to attend primary

school, 30 adults were allowed to study English, and 6 young adolescents were given

the chance to enter educational research centres. In their case, they gradually merged

their migrant Somali cultures and customs with those in Botswana.

From the afore-mentioned, it can be seen that Botswana has, over the decades,

gradually developed into a fairly, vibrant multicultural, multilingual, and multi-

religious society. The indigenous cultures and languages as well as the immigrant

cultures, languages and religious traditions have pushed the country into the direction

of being a pluralistic state. These factors have therefore changed the demographics of

the state over the years and have developed it into a special blend and mixture that is

different from other neighbouring states. Although the discussion that follows will not

be looking at the cultural and linguistic issues, these should be ever present in the

back of one‟s mind since they do form an integral part of the individual and family‟s

religious identity.

2. Religious Traditions

Before offering an analysis of each of the religious traditions covered in the survey

and speculating on those columns that refer to „no religion,‟ it intends to briefly

discuss the major religious traditions, their branches and their demographics since

these would have implications for the nature of the BC 2001 survey. In passant,

mention should be made of the fact that it is not the intention of this article to venture

into defining the word „religion,‟ nor to elaborate upon the differences that exist

between the beliefs and practices of each of the religions as these have adequately

been addressed in many works on religion and in the sociology of religion. Many

competent and capable scholars such as Professors Mircea Eliade, Wilfred Cantwell

Smith, Ninian Smart and an array of others have dealt with their definitions and

interpretations in well-known and circulated publications as well as on the world wide

web.

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The editors cum managers of the www.adherents.com site identified 12 major world

religions, listed the different branches of each of these and provided relevant

demographic data in order to provide interested stakeholders with an idea of the

numerical strength that these traditions possess. Since it was updated in May 2003,

the information is reasonably fresh, and most definitely, relevant and useful. The

traditions (including their branches) were listed in an alphabetical order and are: Babi

& Bahai Faiths (6m), Buddhism (329m), Confucianism (6.3m), Christianity (+1,5 b),

Hinduism (32m), Islam (+1,2 b), Jainism (4,8 m), Judaism (6m), Shinto (12,5 m),

Sikhism (23,2m), Taoism (2,5m), and Zoroastrianism (130m); the site had no

demographic figures for Confucianism nor for Taoism6. Barret & Johnson (2002)

provided the following statistics for Southern Africa, namely South Africa,

Swaziland, Lesotho, Botswana and Namibia: Christianity (39m), ethnoreligionists

(4,4m), non-religious (1,4m), Islam (958 th), Hindus (960th), Bahais (301th),

Buddhist (46th), Judaism (159th), and Sikhism (8,8th). These two scholars were very

wary of the fact that there is a tendency amongst contemporary communities not to

categorically state their religious status; and because of this, created the non-religious

category in order to gauge their actual numbers.

These demographics offer a rough overview as well as an insight into the numerical

strengths of the different religious traditions across the globe and specifically in

Southern Africa. They are not absolutely accurate nor are they meant to be; for

example on the www.adherents.com website (2002) the calculations for Bahais

worldwide is 6m but according to Barret & Johnson (2002) its 7m; from amongst the

many speculative reasons, it could be argued that the surveys did not look at certain

specifics such as formal adherents as opposed to someone who sees him/herself as an

informal adherent, or a practitioner as opposed to someone who only verbally

expresses his/her affiliation to a particular tradition7. In fact, the latter are selected

6 Information on these stats have been extracted from Barret & Johnson‟s (2002) „World Religions

Statistics‟ article.

7 See for example the International Social Survey Program – Religion Surveys at www.issp.org, which

conducted a survey in 1992 and 1998 respectively. The surveys covered the impact of religious beliefs

and behaviours upon the social, moral, and political attitudes, and include questions on religious

upbringing, current religious activities, traditional Christian beliefs, and existential beliefs. Glenn

Trewartha (1969) cautioned that data on attitudes etcetera will be difficult to map and as a result, hard

to analyse.

http://www.adherents.com/


http://www.issp.org/

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Haron 2003 7

issues that also affect the quality of BC 2001 results. And as a consequence, one of

the major shortcomings of BC 2001 is that it does not request the individual to fill in

the religious branch or denomination the individual belongs to. The mentioned

website clearly reflected the variety of branches and different denominations that

exist, for example, within Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and the Bahai Faith; all of

these religious traditions are listed in the BC 2001 survey. The BC 2001 unfortunately

does not include or set aside space for Judaism, Buddhism or Sikhism; traditions that

have become part and parcel of the Botswana religious landscape for more than three

decades.

It might be useful to refer at this juncture to two different tables presented by two

different researchers who included all the mentioned religious traditions referred to in

the tables below and some unlisted ones. The first table was put together by Amanze

(1994: xi) – and later incorporated and interpreted by Nkomazana (2001: 341), when

he collected his data during the early 1990s for his Botswana Handbook of Churches

(hereafter BHC), and the second table, which was based on statistics made available

in 2000, was put together by Melton when he prepared his entry on „Botswana‟ for the

four volume Encyclopaedia that was edited by himself & Baumann (2002: 158).8

Whilst Amanze acknowledged that he gathered his information during his fieldwork

research from the secretaries of the various churches and leaders of the different

religious traditions in Botswana, and Melton provided no specific source from whence

he drew his statistics.

Prior to furnishing the two tables it might be in order to refer to the fact that Ness &

Ciment‟s (1999) statistics on Botswana leaves much to be desired; the reason for this

8 The religions of Botswana should be taken seriously. Scholars such as Amanze and Nkomazana have

proven in their research that religion plays a vital role in the lives of most – if not all - of the Batswana

including those who stated that they have „no religion.‟ One major advantage that Botswana has when

it is compared to its neighbours, namely South Africa and Zimbabwe, is that it has a small population

that is manageable and controllable; by implication, this means that the extremists elements that

operate amongst adherents of these religious traditions can easily be identified, managed and controlled

without the government interfering in the actual religious affairs of the specific religious traditions.

And this is, of course, another important reason for collecting data on the different religious traditions.

This might sound like doing the work for the intelligence services around the world, but is a problem

that all religious communities these days face and it will have to be challenged whether one likes it or

not.

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pessimistic statement is that when they tabulated information on Botswana in their

encyclopaedic work, they had no information about the country‟s statistics on

„religion‟ except to state it has 50% religionists and 50% animists! Under the

respective periodical columns where the years 1965, 1980 and 1995 were punched in,

they had no data. And perhaps it might also be appropriate to mention that when John

Ross edited his two volumes encyclopaedia, which was published two decades ago in

1982, there was no entry on „Botswana‟ except under the broad „Sub-Saharan Africa‟

entry by Jeane Stillman. It is assumed that despite Botswana‟s geographical location

and its resources, it has always been given scant attention by European based scholars

during the earlier periods. This seemed to have changed during the past few years

because of its mineral resources, its socio-political stability and the spread of the

HIV/AIDS pandemic amongst its small but steadily growing population.

Amanze Table9: 1994

RELIGIOUS

TRADITIONS

NUMBERS PERCENTAGE 10

TIME PERIOD OF

ESTABLISHMENT

African Traditional

Religion

1,4m 76,18 Pre 1800s

Christianity

392,035 30 Early 1800s

Islam 3,000 0,2 Late 1800s

Bahaism 5,000 0.4 1960s

Hindus

2,000 0.2 1970s

Buddhists

1,500 0.01 1970s

Sikhism

1,440 0.01 1970s

1,904,975 100

It might be useful to represent the above statistics graphically (see figure below)

without including the two major religious traditions; this amended form thus reflects a

slightly different picture:

9 The Table was reproduced by Nkomazana (2001:341) without any changes.

10

This researcher included the time-line to demonstrate when each of these traditions established

themselves in Bechuanaland/Botswana. However, it might be very difficult to indicate this with regards

to Botswana‟s African Religious Traditions; it is for this reason that pre-1800s was considered an

appropriate time-frame.

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5,000

3,000

2,000

1,500

1440

B = 39%

M = 23%

H = 15%

Bu = 12%

S = 11%

S = 11%

Bu = 12%

H = 15%

M = 23%

B = 39%

The numerical order clearly shows that by 1994 the Bahai Faith was, amongst the

minority religious traditions, the leader in this pact. However, when shifting sights to

Melton‟s table below, a few discrepancies appear.

Melton Table11

: 2002

RELIGIOUS

TRADITIONS

NUMBERS PERCENTAGE Rate Projections 2025

Christianity

Independent

Protestant

Roman Catholic

972,000

498,000

178,000

60,000

59,9

30,7

11,0

3.7

3.12

3.90

1.97

2.30

1,488,000

780,000

250,000

115,000

Ethnoreligionists

629,000 38,8

1.43 714,000

Bahaism

12,000 0,8 2,82 22,000

Islam

3,300 0.2 3,56 6,000

Hindus

2,200 0.1 3,75 5,000

Jews

340 0.0 3.03 400

Sikhism 200 0.0 2,60 400

Non-religious 2,300 0.1 4,98 5,000

1,622,000 100 2.43 2,242,000

The above table identified seven religions traditions and included those who identified

themselves as non-religious. The Christians and Ethnoreligionists have the most

11

In this table the statisticians chose to refer to ATR as ethnoreligions, which they defined as followers

of local, tribal or shaministic practices. They also included a category „non-religious,‟ which coincides

with a category also included in BC 2001.

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Haron 2003 10

adherents, and the Jews and Sikhs have the least. In the pie graph below the two major

groups were excluded for obvious reasons. The graph reflects that the Bahai Faith

adherents make up 59% and the Jews and Sikhs 1% each. The graph shows that it

conspicuously differs from Amanze‟s table and its amended representation:

B = 59%M = 16%

N-R = 11%

H = 11% J S

The two tabular entries concretely demonstrate the extent to which researchers differ

in their collection of statistical data. One of most obvious discrepancies is noted when

considering the numbers attributed to ATR (Amanze‟s Table) and ethnoreligionists

(Melton‟s Table); the latter gives an extremely conservative number, which is a little

bit more than a half a million, whereas the former gives a figure of almost one and a

half million. And under the Bahai category, Amanze mentions 5,000, which is a

reasonable figure but may still disputable when taking into account the figures

reflected in BC 2001; and Melton mentions 12,000, a figure which is way over the

top. This shows the discrepancies in inflating numbers - or for that matter deflating

numbers - without considering their serious implications. These tables act as a

prelude to what will be discussed when scrutinising each tradition separately

beginning with Christianity in Botswana.

The Christians:

Christianity‟s presence – as already indicated - dates back to the early 1800s when the

London Missionary Society (est. 1795) made inroads under the leadership of Robert

Moffat in Kuruman amongst the Batswana (Amanze 1998: 36; Nkomazana 2001:341-

342). Since then Christianity made its arduous journey, and branched out into

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numerous branches and denominations; at the head of the denominations was the

Methodist Church that rooted itself between 1836 and 1840, followed later by the

Dutch Reform in 1857, the Lutherans in 1857, the Roman Catholics in 1895, the

Anglicans in 1908 and the Seventh-Days Adventists in 1921. Other denominations

such as the Pentecostal and African Independent Churches also made their way into

the religious market. Amanze‟s BHC (1994) not only gives an overview of the variety

of churches that have mushroomed in different parts of Botswana over the many

decades but also indicates their general location, their membership figures and other

invaluable data that were not recorded before. The membership figures, which

Amanze included under most of the entries, are extremely valuable in that it grants

one the opportunity to compare them with those hauled in by the survey.

A glance at Table 1 below immediately begs the question: What are the various

affiliations of the Christians? In other words, to which denominations do the more

than 100,000 Batswana Christians belong? Who from amongst them are Methodists?

How many of them are Roman Catholics? The absence of the list of denominations as

a sub-heading is one of the drawbacks of this survey. Tabulating Church affiliations

are an invaluable source of information for the statisticians, religionists and, of

course, the politicians. Since the number game can be a contentious issue, it becomes

crucial to have a more-or-less accurate figure at hand to know numerical strengths and

weaknesses. The Roman Catholics might argue that they are numerically stronger

than the Apostolic Church in the country; and for them to justify this they need near

accurate statistics to prove this. But despite the absence of these numbers, the

researcher can at least in the interim period go back to Amanze‟s BHC (1994), which

have – as already stated – most of the membership figures of the different

denominations in it; he mentioned that he collected the data from the secretaries of the

churches and those who were in the leadership of the other religious traditions.

The other issue that may also be raised is to ask the following: what percentage of the

Christian community is immigrant or economic migrant Christians and how many

from amongst the fluctuating numbers of refugees are Christians. No clarity can be

gained from the stats as it appears in BC 2001. In addition, it is difficult to argue - as

Ntloedibe-Kuswane (2003) did – along the lines that those non-residents and

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respondents who did not complete the form regarding their affiliation are adherents of

Christianity; it should be borne in mind that the country brought in a sizeable number

of skilled labourers12

from regions such as Eastern Europe where atheism was

rampant and viewed as a national „belief‟ system or as in the case of Asia where

Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism were and remain the dominant religious

traditions, and this meant that their belief systems have not been recorded as part of

the religious minority traditions alongside Islam, Hinduism and Bahaism.

In fact, when scanning the South Asian continent it will be observed that Hinduism,

Islam and Christianity are not the only traditions on that continent; Sikhs and Parsis, a

branch of Zoroastrianism, also form part of that continent‟s minority traditions. And

as far as one could assess, there are a few Sikh families that are in Botswana; their

history goes back to more than 20 years in Botswana and about 15 years ago – 1989

to be exact - they built their own place of worship. The mere fact that they were able

to build a place of worship clearly supports the notion that they have grown steadily

and presently constitute a few hundred. But whether their numbers are as much as

1,440 as Amanze claims or as small as 200 as Melton states remain conjecture for the

time being; in fact, it should not be difficult to gauge from the Sikh community what

the actual tally is.

Returning to Christianity, the census categorically proves that it is the dominant

religion even though the government chose not to describe itself as a Christian

country. This is supported by the Educational Policy adopted by the Department of

Education, which has encouraged the implementation of a faith based educational

programme instead of a predominantly Christian based one; in any case, this issue is

being debated by the Christian communities since some of them argue that there is no

need to expose the Batswana to other religious traditions when the majority are in fact

Christians.

12

It is important for the census to not only look at „internal migration‟ of its population but also at

external migration from and immigration to the country. These statistics will assist in clearing the

speculations that exist with regards to immigration patterns. After all religion forms an integral part of

these immigration patterns.

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In this regard, the observations of Nkomazana (2001: 341) must be brought into

purview. He argued that percentage wise the Christians are much less than those who

are Badimo or what he prefers to call „Traditional Indigenous Religion;‟ he allocates

65% to the latter and 33,95% to the former. The issue at hand is that the Batswana

identity seems to be fluid when it comes to Christianity and ATR; there exists a

marriage of convenience to the extent that individuals belong to both the Church and

the ATR at the same time; and because of this situation the figures fluctuate

dramatically between the two categories. When comparing Amanze/Nkomazana‟

percentage allocation to the statistics revealed in BC 2001, a major question is raised

as regards the reliability of the information pertaining to the religious affiliation

between the two groups, and this also brings into question the methods that were used

to arrive at the numbers and percentages. This unfortunately will remain debatable

amongst the theologians, religionists and the statisticians for the foreseeable future.

Before moving on to relate the story of the Muslims where a different picture

emerges, the chart below depicts the numbers of Christians with those who are

classified as Badimo or African Traditional Religion adherents.

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

AMANZE 1994 Melton 2002 BOT CENSUS 2001

BADIMO CHRISTIANITY

A cohort analysis reveals that the percentage from Christianity increases from 1994 to

2000 and 2001 respectively. The reverse is observed when looking at the percentage

for the Badimo/ATR. The BC 2001 almost eliminated the Badimo adherents from the

table, which is in direct opposition to the views held by scholars of Christianity in

Botswana, namely Amanze and Nkomazana.

2.2 The Muslims

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Amanze (1998: x), who did not confine himself to the study of African Christianity in

Botswana but also to the study of Islam in Botswana, 1882-1995, stated that the 1991

census reflected that the Muslims numbered 3,848; a steady increase compared to the

previous years. And in a later publication Amanze (2000: 41) showed that the number

of Muslims steadily decreased to 3,628. But before these publications appeared he

pegged their numbers at 3,000 (cf. Amanze 1994: 156). If these figures are placed in a

chronological order and within their specific time frames as follows: 3,000 (1994),

3,628 (1996)13

and 3,848 (1998), it is noted that there was a steady increase. Amanze

did not comment on the steady growth nor did he give an account for the reasons for

this slow, steady annual increase. Nkomazana (2001: 341), however, seems to have

concurred with the latter figures and thus made no amendments.

Be that as it may, since that time there has been a gradual increase; the number stands

at a little more than 5,000 at present according to the 2001 census. Members of

Botswana Muslim Association‟s executive dispute these figures14

. According to their

calculations partially based upon a survey conducted in 200215

, the numbers are

beyond 7,000 and more towards 10,000. One of their supporting arguments is that

there has been an influx of expatriates from South Asia (Pakistan, India, Bangladesh

and Sri Lanka), East & Southern Africa (Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda,

Burundi, Uganda, Malawi and Mozambique, Zimbabwe and, of course, South Africa);

small numbers of Arabs have also trickled in from Egypt and its sister states. And it is

an established fact that because of the close proximity between Zimbabwe and South

Africa, there has always been a continuous in-and-out flow of Muslim traffic; these

are attributed to the strong familial and commercial ties between the Botswana based

13

Even though this publication of Amanze was completed by 1996/1997, it only appeared in 2000 after

he was requested to bring about some changes by the editors of the series.

14

According to the Islam in Africa Project, which is an NGO group based in Durban under the

leadership of Mr. Muhammad Amra, they reached an outrageous figure of about 23,200. This was

according to their 2001 publication. How they reached this figure is hard to tell; it is however assumed

that this assessment was reached when one of the IAP representatives visited in late 2000.

15

Dr. Mukram Sheikh edited Botswana Muslim Directory 2002. Dr. Sheikh apparently also did a

statistical survey but did not include the information in the firectory since it only listed the names and

addresses of the businesses concerned.

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Haron 2003 15

Muslims and their co-religionists in the two neighbouring states. The standard reasons

of procreation and conversion appear to have played less of a role in the Muslims‟

numerical increase. And as a result of this inflow of immigrants there was a demand

for another place of worship because the central mosque as well as the small Shah

Khaled mosque could not accommodate the increasing numbers. In August 2003 the

new unnamed mosque was completed in Gaborone West, and has taken that extra-

load, which was carried by the central mosque in the past.

The mix of religio-ethnic groups has created a vibrant and diverse Muslim

community; most of these groups usually follow their motherland traditions and thus

cause them to remain in close contact with their specific linguistic and ethnic groups.

For example, the Kiswahili speakers would normally huddle together at the mosque

before or after the performance of their daily ritual prayers, and the same can be said

for those speaking the different South Asian official languages and diverse dialects.

The tables that follow are based upon the information gathered during the 2001

census survey; it is clear from the first table that the numbers of the Muslims are

pretty small when comparing it to the Hindus who, at one stage, numbered less than

20 in the mid 1980s.

The table seems to reflect that the community did not expand numerically over the

past 10 years; if the figures16

recorded by Amanze are more-or-less accurate, then

there has been no significant increase since that time; the 2001 stats reveal that the

growth rate between 1991 and 2001 was indeed marginal, and thus does not leave

much room for a detailed analysis. However, despite the unsatisfactory statistics, it

might be possible to obtain accurate figures if the small Muslim community do a

survey for themselves, and compare theirs to the census figures; something like this

was apparently done during the course of 2002 when they compiled a register of

Muslim individuals and companies in Botswana. Whilst this might appear to be a

sound solution to the problem, it in fact may exacerbate it. Instead of offering a way

out of the statistical impasse, it might create more of a statistical problem. A

conclusion on this issue had been reached by Samia El-Badrey, an Arab-American

16

That is the 3,000 in 1991.

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Haron 2003 16

demographer, who made the point that the data of the group doing the survey “tend to

be higher than reality because the sources want to make sure that their numbers are

high” (quoted by Daniel Pipes 2001). It might be appropriate to make use of the

periodical growth of Muslims as reflected in Amanze‟s table (2000: 41) with the

added BC 2001 figure factorised in:

1

10

100

1000

10000

1911

1936

1956

1978

2001

Muslims

The figure below reflects a comparative view between the 1991 census as recorded by

Amanze and BC 2001 of Muslims residing in the major cities; when taken together,

their numbers add up to over 50% of the total Botswana Muslim population. Out of

the total of 5,036, these cities contain 2,673 Muslims. It clearly illustrates that since

the early 1990s the Gaborone Muslims‟ numbers dropped by 579 as compared to the

numbers presented by the BC 2001 survey. The opposite is observed when viewing

the statistics for Francistown and Lobatse respectively; in the case of the former the

increase was over 200% whilst in Lobatse by 37%.

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

Amanze BOT

CENSUS

Gaborone

Francistown

Lobatse

2.3 The Hindus

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Haron 2003 17

If one compares the growth of the Hindu community with that of the Muslims, then

there is a clear indication that the former has grown at a more rapid pace over the past

three decades. And if this trend continues into the short-term period (next 5 years or

when the next census is due) then they might be in the position to eclipse the latter.

This is however based upon the current status of the naturalised Hindu community as

well as the continuous influx of skilled (Hindu) labour from South Asia and parts of

East Africa. Over the three decades, as a matter of fact, whilst many of the immigrant

Hindus worked in the civil service, and the various governmental ministries, they

lured their co-religionists from East Africa and South Asia to join them and in this

manner slowly bolstered their numbers; and since they also veered off into the

industrial sector, they were able to attract more of their kinsmen and others. The

+3,000 figure may be considered to be a reasonable estimate and possibly an accurate

figure since they have been latecomers to Botswana as compared to the Muslims. A

temple has been constructed in Gaborone and Selebi-Phikwe respectively in order to

demonstrate that they have become a sizeable number. In the past, they travelled to

pray in South African temples. Their numbers, it is assumed, will grow at a slow pace

depending upon the need for skilled labour. Since Hinduism is not a missionary

religion, not many motswana‟s will opt for this tradition; however, if groups such as

the Hari Krishna find their way to Botswana, the situation might change in that

motswanas might consider joining the fold of the Hindus.

According to Amanze‟s 1994 survey, he recorded that the number of Hindus was

2,000. Many of those Hindus, who had migrated from the neighbouring and

surrounding states where they formed part of the East African and South African

societies, have become naturalised citizens; and a sizeable number joined them from

these regions as well as from South Asia to become part of the growing expatriate

community. At present, many of them are located in the main cities and towns; the

majority of them are found in Gaborone and Francistown respectively, and smaller

numbers reside in Mochudi, Mahalapye, Serowe, Palapye, Selebi-Phikwe, Kanye and

Lobatse. A brief glance at the figure below will give an idea of their residential

distribution in some of the outlying areas; however, in the first figure the two areas

are compared; the one lumps together some of the major cities, where most of the

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Haron 2003 18

Hindus reside, and the other one strings together the sparsely populated outlying

areas, where a smaller number of Hindus is distributed over a wider area.

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

TOTAL =

3,017

Major Cities

Sparsely Populated Areas

The figure above reflects that most of the Hindus are located in major cities such as

Gaborone. It also informs the statistician that since a smaller number is distributed

over a large part of Botswana, the Hindus have – on the whole - not neglected to

migrate to the outlying areas.

2174

9422

27025

888

17

619

Kgalagadi

Ghanzi

Ngamiland

North East

Central

Kgatleng

Kweneng

South East

Southern

The outdoor bars above show that from amongst the outlying areas the Central region

consists of a sizeable number of Hindus and the Kgalagadi district contains the least

number; according to BC 2001 their numbers in the Central region reached 270 and in

the Kgalagadi district there are only 8 Hindus. It is very unlikely that the numbers in

Published in


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Haron 2003 19

these sparsely populated areas will increase by a large margin by the year 2016;

however, this would change, if – for some reason - the economic status of these areas

becomes more attractive in the near future. Moreover a religious group that made their

mark in the rural areas are the adherents of the Bahai Faith; the focus now turns to

them.

2.4 The Bahais17

One of the emerging religious traditions in Botswana is the Bahai Faith. The tradition

has been expanding rapidly in both the urban and rural sectors respectively. The

reason behind this expansion is because the Bahai faith followed the two major

religions, namely Christianity and Islam, in being a proselytising faith. Since they

have entered with this objective in mind, they have been active in sharing their skills

with the locals and in the process strove hard to attract Batswana to their faith. The

success rate is phenomenal, if this is based upon the figures provided by both Amanze

and Melton. And if the latter‟s table is taken seriously then its extraordinary

phenomenal; however, Melton‟s figures are highly questionable. In fact, Table 2

below clearly indicates that its adherents are not only located in the capital city but

has also in the outlying towns and villages; this is all in accordance with the One

World philosophy that they have been preaching over the many years that they have

settled in Botswana. Early in 2003 a new Bahai centre was constructed to reflect their

growth rate and the continuous interest by the motswana youth, who have become

disillusioned with the other major religious traditions in the country, and who have

been seeking alternatives to bring spiritual stability into their selves and their homes.

17

The growth of this faith is inextricably tied to its growth in South Africa. Visit its site:

www.bahai.org.za which describes its history and makes brief reference to Botswana.

http://www.bahai.org.za/

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Haron 2003 20

0

2,000

4,000

6,000

8,000

10,000

12,000

14,000

0

200

400

600

800

Melton 2002

Amanze 1994

BC 2001

The number of adherents belonging to the Bahai Faith, according to Amanze, reached

5,000 by 1994 and they have been found in over 200 villages; the latter issue might be

disputed since BC 2001 census reveal that they are only confined to the areas

mentioned in Table 4 and that there are only 713 adherents. This is a small number

compared Amanze‟s figure; it is basically less than one fifth of Amanze‟s total. In

fact, Amanze‟s estimates are quite conservative when one compares it to Melton‟s

who inserted 12,000 as the representative figure. The latter‟s figure – as already

mentioned earlier - has been and remains highly unreliable. That said, attention should

now be shifted to those categorised under „Other.‟

2.5 Other: Buddhist, Sikhs and Jews

Mention was made of the fact that there are many expatriate workers currently in

Botswana that belong to many religious traditions other than the ones listed in the

survey. A sizeable number of Chinese workers in the construction industry and

elsewhere have been active in different parts of Botswana. It is assumed that even

though many of them might have come from mainland China where atheism was the

state philosophy, a fair number from amongst them adhere to either Confucianism,

Buddhism or some of the other religious traditions located in that vast country. And

the same goes for the South Asian continent where Sikhs, Parsis and others also form

part of the religious minority groups.

Here Amanze‟s BHC (1994) once again comes to the rescue. He gathered data in his

survey of non-Christian religious traditions around the country. He recorded that by

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Haron 2003 21

1994 the Buddhist community only had 1,50018

and were found in the two main cities,

namely Gaborone and Francistown, as well as the two principal towns of Lobatse and

Kanye respectively. The Buddhist referred to in Amanze‟s book are however from Sri

Lanka and not from India or China. And since, it is assumed that these are expatriate

groups, the numbers might have increased since then, and the community might have

spread to other towns that required their skills. The other minority religious tradition

is that of the Sikhs. The Sikh community immigrated to Botswana in the 1970s, and

have settled in the main cities and towns; they are found in Gaborone, Francistown,

Lobatse, Molepolole and Selebi-Phikwe, and built their place of worship in 1989 in

Gaborone.

Below the first pie graph includes all the minor religious traditions listed in Amanze

and Melton‟s tables. An observation was already made of the fact that Melton‟s

statistics have exaggerated the figures pertaining to the Bahai Faith adherents;

particularly when it is compared to Amanze and the BC 2001 tables. The first pie

graph below consciously demonstrates this distortion. When working out a mean

between the two tabled figures of Melton and Amanze respectively and accommodate

the BC 2001 figure of 713, then the actual figure might hover between 1,000 and

18

In his text the number reflects as 150 and not as 1,500; the latter appears in his table, however. The

same goes for the Sikh entry where the actual number 1,440 and not 140.

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Haron 2003 22

2,000.

Hinduism

15%

Buddhism

12%

Sikhism

11%

Judaism

1%

Bahai

38%

Islam

23%

It is quite interesting to note that whilst Amanze did not include Judaism in his list,

Melton ventured to include Judaism and peg these adherents at 350. And in the case

of the Sikhs and Buddhists, Amanze tabled 1,440 for the former and 1,500 for the

latter; and when scrutinizing Melton‟s statistics, he concluded that the Sikhs were

only 200 in number, and, in addition, he assumed that there were no Buddhists in

Botswana! In fact, the BC 2001 also overlooked the presence of both the Sikhs and

the Buddhists and because of these oversights it can tangibly be argues that they

should feature under „Other‟ category in BC 2001.

The purpose of the second reconstructed graph below, though based on statistical

speculation and assumptions, should be viewed as a corrective measure and thus

offers a more realistic and less exaggerated picture of the representations of the

minority religious traditions in Botswana. Even though this reconstruction might not

be to the liking of the local followers of the different religious traditions, it offers a

slightly different picture and an acceptable interpretation.

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Haron 2003 23

Islam

42%

Hinduism

24%

Buddhism

8%

Sikhism

8%

Bahai

16%

Judaism

2%

2.6 No Religion

This category has become an acceptable one in contemporary census surveys. In fact,

in Melton & Baumann‟s (2002) edited work „non-religious‟ was defined as those

individuals who see themselves as not religious, non-believers, agnostics, free

thinkers, indifferent, uninterested or de-religionized secularists. And, for example, the

American Religious Identity Survey of 2001 questioned the interviewees whether they

adopted a religious or secular outlook19

.

The statistics, as shown in the table below, singles out the „no religion‟ group as the

second largest in Botswana. This is indeed a worrying factor from, at least, two

dimensions; firstly, it demonstrates that a large number are either disillusioned with

the major religious traditions – a fact alluded to earlier – in which they were brought

19

See www.gc.cuny.edu/studies/key_findings.htm, which offers an analysis of the ARIS 2001 data;

this survey was conducted by Barry Kosmin, Egon Mayer & Ariela Keysar.

http://www.gc.cuny.edu/studies/key_findings.htm

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Haron 2003 24

up or basically confused as regards, which religion to ultimately to choose20

, and

secondly, it does impact upon the future state of religion in the country. A cohort

analysis shows that the age groups ranging from 15 to 29, who have firmly identified

themselves in this category, collectively tally more than 100,000. And in a sense

might tentatively be described as rudderless since they in a transitory phase in which

they are floating from one religious tradition to another with the hope of eventually

finding a secure spiritual home. Snap surveys amongst the university student

population will readily reflect the degree of disillusionment that pervades the young

adolescent communities. However, it is not correct to say, as Ms. Ntloedibe-Kuswane

avers in her assessment of the survey, that all of them were and are in effect

Christians. The problems with this assumption is that they might have grown up in a

specific Christian denomination but have abandoned their denominational beliefs at

quite an early period in their lives. And their departure from these denominations

clearly indicates that individuals in the mentioned age categories have had genuine

problems with the beliefs and practices of their specific religious traditions, or

experienced social problems that their respective communities were unable to resolve.

The alternative left for them was to seek solace outside their religious traditions; one

such alternative was to opt for one of the minority religious traditions and the others

was to adopt a secularist approach without abandoning their quest for spirituality.

The cone shaped graph below captures the tables of Amanze and Melton as well as

BC 2001. When revisiting Amanze‟s table, it was observed that he did not

accommodate those who chose not to be identified with religion. Melton, being

located within the USA scene, has been aware of the fact that there has been an

increasing number of individuals who have been identifying themselves with the „no

religions‟ category. And it appears that the CSO enumerators were aware of this trend

and thus included it as one of the many options for the respondents.

20

It is an accepted fact that whilst they might not identify with a specific religious tradition, they are

not agnostics or atheists according to the earlier mentioned definition; they would describe themselves

as religious or are conscious of religion. Bouma & Hughes (1998) make the point that their association

with non-religious traditions “does not necessarily indicate a lack of interest in spirituality,” and that

added that complementing surveys affirmed that they continue to express their beliefs in God, albeit in

a very personal and private way.

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Haron 2003 25

Christianity

Bad

imo

Non-

Relig

iou

sAmanze

Melton

Bot Cenus

When perusing the figures and make a rough calculation of the three categories listed

in this cone graph, one can automatically conclude that the majority of the population

are located in these categories. According to BC 2001 the non-religious adherents

consist of 21% of the total of the three, which is 1,168,321, all together. The non-

religious adherents therefore make up a sizeable number of the Botswana population.

C = 73%

ATR = 6%

N-R = 21%

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Haron 2003 26

2.7 Non-Residents & Unknown

It is assumed at the time of undertaking the survey that the designers included a „Non-

Resident‟ category for those who were either visiting local and expatriate family

members, or were either here on short business trips or were basically tourists.

However, the enumerators probably faced difficulties in soliciting their responses

regarding their religious affiliations; this argument is extended to those in the

„Unknown‟ category; the latter appeared to have opted not to divulge their affiliations

since they might have considered it a private issue and thus viewed it as unnecessary

and unimportant to publicise their affiliations. Fortunately, the numbers in both

categories are negligible and do not affect the outcomes of the survey. It might be of

interest to note that in both instances the age categories that did not declare the

affiliations were between the 25 to 54 age groups. In these two categories the total

amounts to 2,859, which is just over 50%. Since it is generally very difficult to

speculate what the religious affiliations of the individuals in these age groups are, it is

best to leave the categories with as little comment as possible.

TABLE 1: RELIGIOUS AFFILIATION BY AGE GROUP.

Age Christian Muslim Bahai Hindu Badimo Other

No

religion

Non

residents

Un-

known Total

12-14 92,332 295 41 142 4,157 421 25,084 244 19 122,735

15-19 148,055 438 79 168 8,143 974 45,424 297 127 203,705

20-24 119,476 681 80 204 8,485 1,358 39,690 276 364 170,614

25-29 103,829 850 100 446 8,106 1,234 32,452 228 521 147,766

30-34 81,886 747 87 487 6,327 904 22,733 174 410 113,755

35-39 69,682 593 85 420 5,728 659 17,697 142 337 95,343

40-44 55,731 430 82 340 5,196 495 13,733 110 256 76,373

45-49 46,022 315 39 257 4,632 390 11,560 85 180 63,480

50-54 32,203 233 43 213 3,814 279 8,063 60 192 45,100

55-59 23,788 165 20 142 2,966 190 5,846 44 144 33,305

60-64 19,931 93 19 89 2,838 177 5,335 32 101 28,615

65-69 17,592 80 11 52 2,815 148 4,700 30 46 25,474

70-74 14,423 47 7 16 2,675 123 3,796 16 27 21,130

75+ 27,210 69 20 41 5,447 287 8,719 416 84 42,293

Total 852,160 5,036 713 3,017 71,329 7,639 244,832 2,154 2,808 1,189,688

The Table above reveals that amongst minority religious traditions the groups

between the ages of 20 and 29 forms a sizeable number within their respective

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Haron 2003 27

religious traditions. And the figures in the above table have been keyed into the black

and white bar graph below to get a different perspective of the figures; in fact, the bar

graph was the best way to present these figures since the pie graph format could not

offer a clear presentation as desired. The columns have been placed in a numerical

order beginning with Christianity that has the most adherents and ending off with the

Bahais who have the least adherents.

0

100,000

200,000

300,000

400,000

500,000

600,000

700,000

800,000

900,000

1,189,688 852,160 244,832 71,329 7,639 5,036 3,017 2,154 2,808 713

Christian

ityNon-Rel Badimo Other Muslims Hindus Non-Res

Unknow

nBahai

3. Religious Affiliation in Districts & Towns: An Interpretation

The second table provides a break down of religious groups in different parts of the

country; the list of districts reveals that most of the Muslims are located in Gaborone

and surrounding areas, and they are closely followed by the Hindus and „Other‟.

Because of the widespread disillusionment and indifference towards religions urban

areas, it is therefore not surprising to note that more than 19,000 indicated that „no

religion‟ and a miniscule number of non-residents opted not to reflect their religious

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Haron 2003 28

affiliation. One supposes that those referred to as „unknown‟ preferred not to make

known their religious affiliation status. It is of concern that a sizeable number of

persons in other districts such as Southern and Kweneng also chose to reflect „no

religion.‟ Whilst it might be difficult to assess the reason for this response, one may

venture to surmise that there is a degree of non-committal to any form of religious

tradition.

Since the towns located in the remotest parts of the country are all sparsely populated

it is reasonable to conclude why each of them have the smallest numbers of religious

traditions and why only a handful of Muslims, Bahais or Hindus are found in the

specific town or district. Take for example the following towns: Sowa Town where

there are 2 Bahais, 4 Hindus and 5 Muslims; Orapa there are 1 Hindu, 3 Bahais and

18 Muslims; and Kgalagadi North there are 1 Hindu, 2 Bahais and 10 Muslims. On

the whole, there has been an uneven distribution of religious minority groups mainly

because of the nature of their work, and the geographical location of the towns.

TABLE 2: POPULATION AGED 12 YEARS AND OVER BY RELIGIOUS

AFFILIATION AND DISTRICT

District Christian Muslim Bahai Hindu Badimo Other

No

religion

Non

residents Unknown Total

Gaborone 118,217 1,976 158 1,790 4,706 1,370 19,715 297 525 148,754

Francistown 47,807 390 41 351 2,740 330 10,428 88 220 62,395

Lobatse 18,075 317 20 122 466 95 3,468 25 167 22,755

Selibe

phikwe 27,166 136 27 116 3,097 209 7,098 47 77 37,973

Orapa 5,065 18 3 1 275 45 1,814 6 42 7,269

Jwaneng 8,700 39 26 9 284 60 2,579 7 33 11,737

Sowa town 1,750 5 2 4 116 19 322 6 4 2,228

Southern 88,242 225 26 21 3,557 351 23,711 149 5 116,287

Ngwaketse

south 57,903 187 13 18 2,174 198 16,940 93 5 77,531

Barolong 24,879 35 13 3 1,134 132 5,396 48 - 31,640

Ngwaketse

west 5,460 3 - - 249 21 1,375 8 - 7,116

South east 38,101 253 50 74 959 362 5,665 93 56 45,613

Kweneng 109,360 607 93 94 7,418 1,001 43,114 260 14 161,961

Kweneng

east

93,576

564 64

81

4,661

770

34,747

242

13

134,718

Kweneng

west

15,784

43 29

13

2,757

231

8,367

18

1

27,243

Kgatleng 39,276 141 38 22 4,397 399 7,830 84 2 52,189

Central 212,935 684 144 270 33,428 2,560 84,964 789 640 336,414

Serowe-

palapye

67,815

199 35

111

8,727

534

27,328

357

113

105,219

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Haron 2003 29

Central

mahalapye

46,318

158 52

60

5,242

590

21,691

130

350

74,591

Central

bobonong

27,737

43

12

24

5,668

440

9,954

97

88

44,063

Central

boteti

19,661

46 8

26

5,252

235

6,954

33

29

32,244

Central

tutume

51,404

238 37

49

8,539

761

19,037

172

60

80,297

North east 23,061 29 10 25 2,685 231 6,612 47 9 32,709

Ngamiland 73,217 147 51 88 4,932 352 19,176 157 930 99,050

Ngamiland

east 37,998 102 17 74 2,154

159

10,113

114

208

50,939

Ngamiland

west

23,534

24 23

6

2,157

72

6,423

35

80

32,354

Chobe 10,231 21 8 8 560 91 2,270 8 299 13,496

Delta 1,454 - 3 61 30 370 - 343 2,261

Ghanzi 17,020 26 17 22 1,597 141 4,284 22 32 23,161

Ghanzi 16,715 26 17 22 1,532 140 4,198 22 26 22,698

C.K.Game

reserve

305

- - -

65

1

86

-

6

463

Kgalagadi 24,168 43 7 8 672 114 4,052 77 52 29,193

Kgalagadi

south

15,585

33 5

7

374

50

1,726

10

43

17,833

Kgalagadi

north

8,583

10 2

1

298

64

2,326

67

9

11,360

Botswana 852,160 5,036 713 3,017 71,329 7,639 244,832 2,154 2,808 1,189,688

4. Religious Affiliation according Economic Activity: An Analysis

Reference was made in the previous section of the fact that individuals and families

affiliated to specific religious minority groups stationed themselves in certain districts

and towns because of the nature of their work. In some cases, they are in a town

because they run a grocery shop or a food store. In others, they may be involved in the

construction or industrial sector. And in other instances, they are working in one of

the governmental departments located in that specific district or town.

The table below shows that the Muslims and Hindus in the Self-Employed sector with

employees form a sizeable number. In the case of the Muslims they reached 803 as

compared to the Hindus who number 469. The Bahais only consist of 52 such

persons. Perhaps one may wish to bring into purview the position of the Sikhs who

have entered the motor car industry with panel beating as one of the areas in which

they specialize; these individuals and families have a good number of employees.

However, in the „Self-Employed with no employees‟ category the Muslims far

outnumber the Hindus and Bahais.

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Haron 2003 30

The respective Muslim and Hindu religious traditions tread a patriarchal lineage; and

in both cases most of their adherents hail from the Indian sub-continent where the

males are the dominant gender. The women in the South Asian sub-continent have

generally experienced discrimination and oppression. Their disadvantaged status has

thus always placed them in a secondary position in all spheres. Bearing these thoughts

in mind it is therefore not surprising to find them continuously marginalized wherever

their traditions and cultures travelled and migrated to. Botswana like its neighbouring

states have witnessed the disadvantages Muslim and Hindu women have been facing

in both the household and the work place where the control and power remained in

the hands of the stronger gender, namely the males. However, despite their

marginalized status some have made great strides in breaking their religio-cultural

bondage and have been able to enter and compete in the work place on an equal

footing. Thus when one scans the table below, it is admirable to note that some of

them are self-employed with no employees and a handful is self-employed with

employees. It is very encouraging to see that amongst the Christians there are a fairly

well represented number, and the same may be said of the Muslims and Hindus. In the

economic arena, it appears that the male and female Bahais are lagging behind when

it comes to the „self-employed with no employees‟ and the „self-employed with

employees categories‟ respectively.

And when it comes to owning land, one assumes that since most of the expatriates

who are working in Botswana on renewed contracts, do not possess much land; in fact

many of them have been somewhat deprived of this because of the various restrictions

in owning land or for that matter cattle posts legally. However, the paucity of

individuals who do own them seems to belong to the upper-middle and rich classes;

their numbers appear to be very small. The overall figure for the minority religious

traditions that own land or cattle posts are 25 of whom 16 are males and 8 are

females. The others who own land are either Christians, Badimo or those „no

religions‟ adherents.

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Haron 2003 31


AFFILIATION AND CURRENT ECONOMIC ACTIVITY CURRENTLY

WORKING

ECONOMICALLY ACTIVE

RELIGION &

SEX

Employee

Paid Cash

Employee

(paid in

kind)

Self

Employed

(No Employees)

Self

Employed

(with Employees)

Unpaid

Family

Helper

Own

Land/

cattle post

Un-

known

Total %

BOTH SEXES

CHRISTIAN MUSLIM

BAHAI

HINDU BADIMO

OTHER

NO RELIGION UNKNOWN

TOTAL

267 097 1 690

281

1 339 21 278

2 912

73 755 600

368 952

1 388 8

-

5 293

21

668 4

2387

28 335 195

31

52 2 847

342

5701 45

37 548

12 145 803

52

469 636

244

1987 32

16 368

3 750 14

5

5 643

48

1504 8

5 977

10 660 14

8

3 2 400

115

4 365 25

17 590

284 3

-

2 30

3

82 8

412

323 660 2 727

377

1 875 28 127

3 685

88 062 722

44 9235

MALE

CHRISTIAN

MUSLIM BAHAI

HINDU

BADIMO OTHER

NO RELIGION

UNKNOWN

TOTAL

140 219

1 341 179

1 069

16 885 2 327

56 593

485

219 098

849

5 -

4

218 20

515

2

1 613

10 809

145 12

33

1 676 216

3 442

29

16 362

7 673

636 36

336

499 191

1 662

24

11 057

2 170

7 1

1

447 36

1 135

8

3 805

7 539

9 5

2

1 887 98

3 707

20

13 267

99

1 -

2

16 3

53

5

179

169 359

2 144 233

1 447

21 628 2 891

67 107

573

265 382

FEMALE

CHRISTIAN

MUSLIM

BAHAI HINDU

BADIMO

OTHER NO RELIGION

UNKNOWN

TOTAL 9

126 878

349

102 270

4 393

585 17 162

115

149 854

539

3

- 1

75

1 153

2

774

17 526

50

19 19

1171

126 2259

16

21 186

4 472

167

16 133

137

53 325

8

5 311

1 580

7

4 4

196

12 369

-

2 172

3 121

5

3 1

513

17 658

5

4 323

185

2

- -

14

- 29

3

233

154 301

583

144 428

6 499

794 20 955

149

18 3553

91%

27%

61% 29%

30%

27% 31%

26%

5. Religious Affiliation in High & Low Populated Areas: Some observations

It is not too difficult to make a few remarks about religious affiliation in the high and

low populated regions. Earlier reference was made to the fact that few of the

adherents belonging to the listed religious minority groups are located in the low

populated districts. The reasons for this are many; it suffices just to point out one,

which is: these areas do not have much to offer in terms of mineral deposits or

agricultural products or cattle rearing. And since this is the case the business sector do

not plough much time and monetary investments in them, forcing rural dwellers as

well as immigrant skilled workers to move to the more financially lucrative areas.

These areas have thus become highly populated because of the financial opportunities,

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Haron 2003 32

benefits and spin-offs that exist, and the religions have thus migrated along with their

adherents to these densely populated districts.

A quick glance at the population in the Gaborone district shows that these minority

religious representations are found in high numbers as compared to the Delta district

where there is only 3 Bahais, and in the CKGR district where none of them are

represented. It is assumed that the 1 „Other‟ in the latter district is not a significant

other and needs no further comment. It is therefore not surprising to notice that the

large numbers of Christians, sizeable numbers of Badimo adherents as well as a few

religious minority groups reside in the city of Gaborone and respective districts of

Kweneng East and South East, which form the financial hub of the country. There

appears to be a decline in Badimo adherents in areas such as the Sowa, CKGR and

Delta where their numbers were expected to have been higher because most African

Religious Traditions are normally associated with the rural regions. Once again the

conclusion reached is that most of the religious traditions‟ adherents are found in the

regions where economic activity has been flourishing and where the industries are

located, and that they have petered out where economic productivity has had the most

insignificant output and spin-offs.


AFFILIATION IN HIGH AND LOW POPULATED DISTRICTS

Religion Kweneng

East

Gaborone Sowa CKGR Delta Ngwaketse

West

Christian 93 576 118 217 1 750 305 1 454 5 460

Muslim 564 1 976 5 - - 3

Bahai 64 158 2 - 3 -

Hindu 81 1 790 4 - - -

Badimo 4 661 4 706 116 65 61 249

Other 770 1 390 19 1 30 21

No Religion 34 747 19 715 322 86 370 1 375

Non

Residents

13 529 4 6 343 -

Unknown 242 297 6 - - 8

Total 134 718 148 754 2 228 463 2 261 7 116

6. CONCLUSION

The presence of a variety of religious traditions on Botswana soil during the last three

decades of the 20th

century clearly reflects the socio-economic transformation and the

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Haron 2003 33

partial demographic changes that Botswana experienced. The presence of Christianity

since the beginning of the 1800s have deeply affected the status of African Traditional

Religion during the 20th

century, and the migration of the minority religious traditions

to Botswana have contributed towards the existence of a diverse, rich religio-cultural

and multi-lingual society. One is astonished that a population statistician such as

Clarke (1997) made no mention of „The Future of Religion‟ or „The Position of

Religion‟ in his well-publicised short essay on The Future of the Population.

In order to have a more informed reading and understanding of this multi-cultural and

multi-religious society, it becomes necessary to take cognisance of the position of

religion. And more specifically an attempt should be made to identify the various

Christian denominations as well as the different branches of the African Traditional

Religions in Botswana to fill in the bigger picture. The CSO will have to devise ways

and means that would assist and accommodate these varied strands/groups in the

forthcoming population survey. In fact, Trompf‟s (1998) article on the religious

traditions‟ attitudes towards population planning should be helpful in assisting

statisticians in the future. He underscored the positive position religious traditions

have taken with regards to issues such as the ethics of caring for human reproduction

and the ethics of protecting the environment. Among the many issues that will have to

be considered are: (a) the attitudes of the youth towards their respective religious

traditions, (b) the perspectives of these traditions on the issues of birth & death – more

specifically the fertility and mortality rates, (c) the concerns and solutions that

religious traditions have for diseases and illnesses such as terminal Cancer and

HIV/Aids, and (d) gauging the frequency of the migration of religious traditions from

and to Botswana. And as a spin off of these, an assessment should be made of the

extent of the religious traditions‟ growth, and the degree of religious conversion

amongst the Batswana themselves.

The inclusion of „religion‟ as an important topic has not only redressed the issue, it

also significantly added to the comprehensive understanding of Botswana‟s

population patterns. It has provided significant data that demonstrates the importance

of religion within a country such as Botswana. The notion that religion did not and

does not play a crucial role in the development of this society is far from true; the

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Haron 2003 34

statistics bears testimony to the fact the different religious traditions and their

adherents have and continues to make substantial contributions to the development of

this country, which directly works towards the realization of Vision 2016.

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Haron 2003 35

7. BIBLIOGRAPHY

Books & Articles:

Amanze, James N. Botswana Handbook of Churches. Gaborone: Pula Press. 1994

Amanze, James N. African Christianity in Botswana. Gweru: Mambo Press. 1998.

Amanze, James N. Islam in Botswana, 1882-1995. Uppsala: African Association for

the Study of Religions. 2000.

Amara, Muhammad (ed). Islam in Africa Project. Durban: IAP. 2001.

Anon. “American Religious Identification Survey.” Online:

www.gc.cuny.ed/studies/key_findings.htm. 15pages. 2001.

Anon. Interreligious Religious Freedom Report. Online:

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Barret, David B. & Todd M. Johnson. “A Statistical Approach to the World‟s

religious Adherents, 2000 – 2050.” In Religions of the World: A Comprehensive

Survey of Beliefs and Practices (ed. J. Gordon Melton & Martin Baumann). Santa

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Bouma, Gary & Philip Hughes. “Religion and Age in Australia.” In People and

Place. 6(1). 1998.

Bouma, Gary & Philip Hughes. “Religious Residential Concentrations in Australia.”

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Campbell, E.K. “Population Distribution and Urbanization.” In Botswana: Politics

and Society (ed. W.A. Edge & M.H. Lekorwe). Pretoria: Van Schaick. Pt. V Ch. 17

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Clarke, John I. The Future of Population. London: Phoenix – Orion Publishing Group

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Haron, Muhammed. “Gaborone Muslims: A Vignette into their lives.” Gaborone:

Unpublished University of Botswana TRS Paper. October 2003.

Melton, J. Gordon. “Botswana.” In Religions of the World: A Comprehensive Survey

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Motswapong, Elizabeth. “Hinduism in Botswana.” In BOLESWA. University of

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Population and Demographics. Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers. Pp. 219-222,

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Nkomazana, Fidelis. “Religion in Botswana.” In Botswana National Atlas (ed. Francis

Sepe). Gaborone: Government of Botswana. Ch. 24 „Culture & Heritage‟ pp. 327-

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Ntloedibe-Kuswana, G.S. “African Religion and 2001 Population & Housing

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Organski, Katherine & A.F.K. Organski. Population and World Power. New York: A.

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Parrent, Saroj. “Muslims in Botswana.” In African Studies. 48(1): 72-82, 1989.

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Roxanne, J. “Some interesting religion demographics.” Online:

www.democraticunderground.com 22 November 2001.

Stillman, Jeanne B. “Sub-Saharan Africa.” In International Encyclopaedia of

Population. (ed. John A. Ross). New York: The Free Press. Vol. 2 pp. 625-636, 1982.

Trewartha, Glenn. A Geography of Population: World Patterns. New York: John

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Trompf, Garry W. “The attitudes and involvement of Religions in Population

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http://www.democraticunderground.com/


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Haron 2003 37

www.thearda.com

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Documents

Botswana Population and Housing Census 2001 Analysis