2001 Botswana judicial reform referendum

A referendum on judicial reform was held in Botswana on 3 November 2001, having been originally scheduled for 6 October, but later postponed. The referendum asked eight separate questions about judges and courts, all of which were approved, seven by a margin of over 70%. Voter turnout for the referendum was just 4.9%, with 22,600 votes from a total of 460,252 registered voters. The postponement of the referendum by the government, a legal challenge by the Tswana nationalist group Pitso Ya Batswana, and a call by the group for a boycott were all suggested as reasons for the low turnout. Pitso Ya Batswana claimed that the referendum was an attempt by the BaKalanga ethnic group, who are over-represented in the judicial system, to increase their hold over it.