21 September 2025
On August 31, Botswana woke up to the dreaded and heartbreaking news that our beloved music star ATI had died at the tender age of 35. While the nation was united in its grief over the tragic loss of such a great talent, ATI’s death evoked a myriad of emotions that reverberated right across the length and breadth of Botswana. Mainly, there was grief and anger. Anger at the government for failing ATI and the countless young people of Botswana. Fury and disappointment at the fact that while government officials claimed they were devastated, they simply hadn’t done enough, that they had failed ATI.
ATI was hugely talented, affable and had no airs and graces. He often spoke candidly and publicly about his battle with drugs. What’s more, it’s a well-known fact that Botswana is in the grip of the scourge of drugs. What we at YourBotswana and the rest of Botswana find baffling is that no administration, past or present, has sought to meaningfully address this crisis. Batswana have to go across the border to South Africa to seek help getting clean. What of those who simply don’t have the means to do so? How can a country that has previously been touted as Africa’s success story not have a single substance abuse rehabilitation centre anywhere in the country? It truly beggars belief!
We came across a Facebook post that former Ms Botswana, Emma Wareus posted following ATI’s death that resonated with us at YourBotswana that we’d like to share:
I’ve been carrying this message in my heart for years. I’ve wanted to write this, to share it, to scream it, for a very long time. But I didn’t have the strength. Or the words. Or the courage. Today, I do. Because silence is no longer an option. Not when our children are dying. Not when our families are breaking. Not when the crisis is this loud and the response is still this quiet.
We have a national crisis. A silent war eating away at the soul of our country. Drug abuse in Botswana is not just rising – it is RAGING.
It is claiming our brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, and friends. It is destroying homes. It is breaking families. And let me be clear: this is no longer a problem. It is a pandemic of despair.
And I am not speaking from headlines or statistics. I am speaking from my own lived experience. My family has been navigating the devastating ripple effects of drug abuse for nearly a decade. And those who know me personally, know that I do not shy away from speaking about it. I speak because it matters. I speak because I am tired of the silence. I speak because I’ve watched people I love suffer in systems that were supposed to help them, but couldn’t.
Not because the doctors or nurses didn’t care. Not because social workers or professionals didn’t try. But because the system failed THEM. Because we had a government that neglected mental health. That neglected rehabilitation. That neglected its people.
Let me ask you this:
- Where are the rehabilitation centres in our country?
- Where are the integration programmes, the halfway houses, the community-led interventions?
- Where is the public funding for mental health services?
- Where is the national implementation of the strategies government officials have spoken about?
Yes, we’ve heard talk that a Drug Enforcement Agency was proposed, and there’s word of a national master strategy being drafted. In March this year, the Assistant Minister of Health spoke of a rehabilitation-centred human rights-based approach. Botswana even hosted an AU conference on synthetic drug trade.
But I ask again: Where is the 𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍?
Why is it that families have to send their loved ones across the border to South Africa, and pay out of pocket for help, when help should exist right here at HOME? And what about the families who can’t afford that? What happens to them? What happens to THEIR children?
The link between drug abuse and mental health is undeniable. Yet Botswana treats mental health as an afterthought, if a thought at all. Our youth are silently screaming, and our government is looking away.
We need to stop pretending that this is an isolated issue. This is a systemic failure. And the cost is human life.
Where is the leadership? Where is the urgency? Where is the compassion? Why has this not been declared a State of Emergency?
How many more young people must we bury before action is taken? How many more families must be shattered? How many more parents must be left to pick up the pieces, alone?
WE CANNOT AFFORD TO WAIT! I am tired. I am angry. I am heartbroken. But I will not be silent. And neither should you.
This post is not just a cry for help. It is a call to action. To every official in Parliament, every policymaker in Gaborone, every Ministry tasked with the well-being of our people: do better. Be better. Act now.
And to every citizen reading this especially those who have suffered quietly – I see you. I stand with you. And I urge you to speak out, demand more, and fight for change.
This is me, speaking. Loudly. Clearly. Finally.
Words: Emma Wareus via Facebook
About the author: Emma Wareus (born 28 July 1990 in Gaborone) is a Botswana model and beauty queen who won first runner up at the 2010 Miss World pageant on October 30, 2010 in Sanya, China. She received her Masters Degree from Elliott School of International Affairs and is also a poet, performing artist, story teller and dancer.
