Belts are being tightened and whips cracked in one of Africa’s richest places

FOR the past four decades or so, Botswana has been Africa’s golden boy. The former British possession has grown as fast as almost any country in the world. It has built an enviable reputation for good governance and political stability. It has a decent record on civil liberties and a relatively free press. Once one of the world’s poorest countries, it now ranks among the richer middle-income ones. A lot has to do with the discovery of diamonds, of which it is the world’s biggest producer, soon after independence in 1966. But unlike many other mineral-rich countries, it has invested wisely. It has been ranked as Africa’s least corrupt country.

But for the past two months it has been shaken by its first nationwide public-sector strike. Botswana’s 2m people, generally a deferential lot, were shocked when their normally unarmed police used tear-gas and rubber bullets to disperse rioting secondary-school pupils after they went on the rampage in April. The government closed all state schools, though they have since reopened. ...