The first warning did not come from a government report or a cybersecurity company. It came from a pensioner in a Botswana village.
“I don’t understand how they knew my pension had been paid.”
Her question hung in the air, followed by a silence that spoke louder than words. Around her, others slowly began sharing their own experiences. Some had received convincing phone calls from people pretending to represent trusted organisations. Others had lost money through mobile money scams. A few admitted they had become afraid to answer unfamiliar calls or open messages on their phones, worried that a single mistake could wipe out their savings.
It is a scene that has become increasingly familiar during the Village Digital Safety Botswana Initiative, a voluntary community outreach programme that has been travelling from village to village, helping ordinary Batswana understand the risks that now accompany everyday digital life. What began as a series of cyber awareness workshops has evolved into something much more meaningful. It has become a platform where communities are finally able to speak openly about a problem that many had quietly carried on their own.
The initiative is the brainchild of Itumeleng Garebatshabe, Founder of Intellegere Holdings, who also serves as the programme’s lead facilitator. Drawing on his background in cybersecurity and digital transformation, Garebatshabe established the project after recognising that while Botswana was making significant progress in expanding digital services, many rural communities were being left without the knowledge needed to protect themselves from the growing threat of cybercrime.
What began as a voluntary effort to share practical digital safety knowledge has since grown into a nationwide community outreach programme. Rather than delivering technical lectures, Garebatshabe has focused on creating open conversations where people feel comfortable sharing their experiences, asking questions and learning from one another. This community-centred approach has become one of the defining strengths of the initiative, with each workshop shaped not only by expert guidance but also by the real-life experiences of the people attending.
Every village tells a different story, yet the challenges remain remarkably similar. A grandmother unknowingly shares a one-time PIN with someone claiming to assist her with a transaction. A young entrepreneur loses access to a social media account that had become essential to growing a small business. Parents express concern about the increasing number of online scams targeting young people, while many participants admit they have used the same password across multiple accounts for years, never realising how vulnerable that simple habit could make them.
These conversations reveal an important truth. Cybercriminals are no longer relying solely on sophisticated technology. Increasingly, they are exploiting something far more powerful—human trust. They manipulate emotions, create urgency and convince people to hand over information willingly. For many workshop participants, understanding this concept becomes a turning point. They begin to realise that protecting themselves online is not only about owning secure devices but also about recognising manipulation before it happens.
The experiences shared across Botswana’s villages closely reflect concerns highlighted in the recently released INTERPOL African Cyberthreat Assessment Report 2026, which warns that cybercrime across Africa is becoming more sophisticated, increasingly organised and driven by rapidly evolving technologies, including artificial intelligence. The report identifies online fraud, phishing, identity abuse and AI-enabled scams as growing threats affecting individuals, businesses and governments alike. For those attending community workshops in Botswana, however, these findings are not abstract statistics—they are lived experiences that have already affected families, neighbours and friends.
One of the most eye-opening moments during the outreach often comes when participants are asked about password security. Many openly acknowledge using birthdays, children’s names or simple number combinations because they are easy to remember. Others admit that one password protects everything from email accounts to banking applications and mobile money services. Few realise that compromising a single password can expose almost every aspect of their digital lives. What cybersecurity professionals consider basic password hygiene is, for many community members, entirely new knowledge. By the end of the workshops, participants leave with practical skills that immediately reduce their exposure to cyber threats.
Mobile money fraud continues to emerge as one of the most pressing concerns. As digital financial services become increasingly central to everyday life, criminals have adapted their methods accordingly. Participants frequently describe receiving fraudulent calls from people claiming to represent banks, mobile network operators or government departments. Others recount being persuaded to verify fake transactions, disclose confidential information or click links promising rewards that never existed. The sophistication of these scams lies not in the technology itself but in the criminals’ ability to exploit trust and familiarity.
Perhaps the greatest concern raised throughout the initiative has been the growing vulnerability of older members of society. Many pensioners openly admit they were never taught how to use smartphones or digital financial services safely. They embraced technology because it offered convenience, easier communication with family and faster access to services. Unfortunately, that same technology has also exposed them to criminals who specifically target individuals unfamiliar with modern digital threats.
Several pensioners have raised troubling questions during the workshops. They wonder how fraudsters seem to know exactly when pension payments have been made or when someone has recently retired. Whether these perceptions arise from sophisticated social engineering, publicly available information or other forms of criminal intelligence, they highlight a deeper issue—the growing loss of confidence in digital systems among some of the people who depend on them most. Rebuilding that confidence requires more than technology. It requires education, open dialogue and strong partnerships between communities, financial institutions, telecommunications providers and public institutions.
Despite these challenges, one message continues to emerge with remarkable consistency. Botswana’s villages are not rejecting digital technology. On the contrary, they are embracing it and asking for the knowledge needed to use it safely. At the end of almost every workshop, before participants leave, someone inevitably asks the same question: “When are you coming back?“ It is perhaps the clearest indication that these communities are not asking for handouts or sympathy. They are asking for information, practical guidance and the confidence to protect themselves and their families in an increasingly connected world.
The Village Digital Safety Botswana Initiativehas demonstrated that cybersecurity is no longer a conversation reserved for ICT professionals. It has become a community issue, an economic issue and a development issue. Every family that avoids becoming a victim of fraud keeps hard-earned income within the household. Every elder who learns to identify a scam gains greater confidence in using digital services. Every young person who understands responsible online behaviour becomes another advocate for safer communities.
As Botswana continues to invest in digital transformation, expanding internet access and encouraging digital innovation, there is an equally important responsibility to ensure that citizens possess the knowledge required to navigate that digital future safely. Infrastructure alone cannot build digital resilience. Communities must be empowered with the skills to recognise deception, protect their personal information and participate confidently in the digital economy.
The Village Digital Safety Botswana Initiative has shown that one conversation can change how a person uses technology. One workshop can protect an entire family from becoming victims of fraud. One informed community can make it significantly harder for cybercriminals to succeed. The demand already exists, the need has been clearly demonstrated and the opportunity to make a lasting difference has never been greater.
For Garebatshabe, the initiative has never been about delivering one-off presentations. His vision is to build digitally resilient communities where awareness becomes the first line of defence against cybercrime. He believes that protecting Botswana’s digital future will require collaboration between government, the private sector, financial institutions, telecommunications providers, development partners and technology companies that share a common goal of empowering citizens with practical digital safety skills.
Botswana’s villages have already sounded the alarm. What happens next will depend on whether government, the private sector, development partners and the broader technology community choose to answer that call. By investing in community-led digital safety education today, Botswana has an opportunity to build not only a more connected nation, but a more confident, informed and digitally resilient one for generations to come.