South-East District
BaLete territory that donated land for Gaborone, then had the capital carved out in 2006—now surrounds the city as agricultural hinterland and bedroom community. Donut without the center.
South-East District is what remains after Gaborone was carved out. In the 1890s, this was BaLete territory plus unclaimed land near the rail line—modest in size, agricultural by nature, unremarkable by Tswana standards. Then in 1964-1966, planners built Botswana's new capital on land that technically fell within South-East's boundaries. For 40 years, the district contained both Gaborone and the rural hinterland. Then in 2006, the government split them: Gaborone City became its own administrative district, and South-East became the donut surrounding the hole—territory defined by what it no longer contains.
The separation wasn't arbitrary; it reflected metabolic divergence. Gaborone's diamond-fueled economy operates at different scale and speed than South-East's agriculture and small-town commerce. Administratively combining them made no sense—Gaborone's budget dwarfed the district's, infrastructure priorities conflicted, and BaLete chiefs lacked authority over the cosmopolitan capital anyway. The split formalized what was already true: these were different organisms sharing a border, not a unified whole.
What remained as South-East District after 2006 is modest: Ramotswa (the administrative capital), Tlokweng, Otse, and scattered villages totaling about 65,000 people (2022 census). The district functions as agricultural supplier and bedroom community for Gaborone, which sits just kilometers away across an administrative line. About 21,810 workers in South-East engage primarily in agriculture—cattle, goat, sorghum—producing food and labor for the capital's consumption. The relationship exhibits asymmetric mutualism: Gaborone provides markets and wages, South-East provides inputs and housing overflow. The terms favor the capital.
By 2025, South-East faces the challenge of proximity without integration. The district can't compete with Gaborone economically—it lost the urban core that would have generated tax revenue and jobs. It can't maintain independence economically—most residents commute to Gaborone for work. And it can't merge with the capital—tribal identity and administrative inertia keep the boundaries frozen. The result is satellite existence: South-East orbits Gaborone's gravity but remains formally separate, like moon that can't escape or collide.
By 2026, the district's trajectory is clear: continued absorption into Greater Gaborone without legal annexation. Housing developments spread eastward from the capital into South-East territory. Commuter traffic clogs the roads. BaLete identity persists in name only—younger residents identify with Gaborone, not Ramotswa. The district that donated land for the national capital in the 1960s now exists primarily to house people who work there. Geography and economics push toward integration; politics and tribal boundaries resist. South-East will remain a separate district on maps, increasingly indistinguishable in practice from the city it surrounds.