Botswana has appointed the country's Higher Education Minister Mooketsi Prince Maele as acting president from October 10 to 18, 2026, a statement from the government communications office said on Saturday.

President Duma Gideon Boko travelled to China on Friday for a state visit from October 12 to 17.

"We departed for the People's Republic of China on a state visit at the invitation of President Xi Jinping, with the aim of strengthening bilateral relations, deepening strategic cooperation, and advancing shared priorities for mutual growth and development of our countries," President Boko said on Facebook on Friday.

Vice-President Ndaba Nkosinathi Gaolathe, who would have assumed presidential duties temporarily, also left the country on Saturday for Bangkok, Thailand, where he is scheduled to attend the 2026 International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank annual meetings. "President Boko and Vice-President Gaolathe are expected to return to Gaborone (Botswana's capital) on October 18 and 20 respectively," the Botswana government communications office said.

Higher education minister recently served as acting president

Maele served as Botswana's acting president less than one month ago, when both Boko and Gaolathe were out of the country in September 2026. President Boko was in New York, the United States, for the UN General Assembly, while Vice-President Gaolathe had visited South Korea and Singapore around that time.

In June 2026, Botswana appointed Minister for State President, Defence and Security, Moeti Mohwasa, as acting president when both President Boko and Vice-President Gaolathe had travelled to Cape Town in the neighbouring South Africa for the 9th Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Southern African Customs Union (SACU).

In Botswana, the vice-president is authorised, under the law, to perform presidential functions when the president is away. However, if both leaders are outside the country at the same time, the president may appoint a cabinet minister to serve as president.

Section 36(1) of Botswana's constitution says: "Whenever the president is absent from Botswana or considers it desirable to do so by reason of illness or any other cause he or she may, by directions in writing, authorise the vice-president; or during any period when there is no vice-president or the vice-president is absent from Botswana or is, by reason of physical or mental infirmity, unable to perform the functions of his or her office, some other minister, to discharge such of the functions of the office of president as he or she may specify."

The acting president discharges those functions "until his or her authority is revoked by the president," the law states.