Festus Mogae Net Worth

Background and career

Festus Gontebanye Mogae (21 August 1939 – 8 May 2026) was a Motswana economist and politician who served as the third president of Botswana from 1998 to 2008. He previously served as vice-president from 1992 to 1998 and minister of finance and development planning from 1989 to 1998 under Quett Masire. A member of the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP), he led the party throughout his presidency.

Educated at the universities of Oxford and Sussex, Mogae began his career in Botswana's civil service in 1968. He worked in the finance ministry and represented African countries at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) before becoming governor of the Bank of Botswana in 1980. He served as permanent secretary to the president from 1982 to 1989, when he entered Parliament as a specially elected member. He won the Palapye constituency in the 1994 general election. He succeeded Masire on 1 April 1998 and led the BDP to victories in 1999 and 2004.

During Mogae's presidency, revenue from diamonds financed public services while the government sought to develop other industries. Mogae made HIV/AIDS a national priority. In 2002, Botswana became the first African country to launch a national programme of free antiretroviral therapy. Routine HIV testing in public health facilities followed in 2004. His government faced criticism over the relocation of San communities from the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, the deportation of political scientist Kenneth Good and the secrecy surrounding executions.

Mogae backed his vice-president, Ian Khama, in a contest for the BDP chairmanship in 2003. Khama's victory helped secure his position as Mogae's successor. Mogae left office on 1 April 2008 after reaching the constitutional limit of ten years. That October, he received the Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership for his leadership during the AIDS epidemic and his record in government. In retirement, he continued his HIV/AIDS advocacy, served as a United Nations special envoy on climate change and chaired the supermarket group Choppies. In 2019 he said that he regretted choosing Khama as his vice-president.