In Botswana the power to certify is not given to a ministry or directorate but to office holders listed by title, and the list stays open to later appointments. This page is for Botswana institutions receiving Turkish papers and for Turks with documents from Botswana. It explains the office holder model, what a certificate signed by a District Commissioner or a magistrate means for a Turkish office, how Türkiye’s own HCCH entry compares, the dates in the succession record and the place of translation.
Titles, not institutions, in Botswana
The HCCH authority page, updated on 19 January 2022, gives no institution for Botswana; it lists titles: the Permanent Secretaries of ministries, the Registrar of the High Court, District Commissioners and persons holding a subordinate court of the first class. Persons appointed by the President by notice in the Gazette are added. The signature on a certificate from Botswana may belong to anyone holding one of these titles; the HCCH summary does not assign documents to titles, and that was not checked on this site.
Who signs a Botswana certificate, and what it attests
Next to central titles such as Permanent Secretary and Registrar, the list includes District Commissioners and first-class subordinate courts; where these office holders serve and how many there are is not stated in the HCCH summary. For a Turkish institution two separate questions arise. The first is who issued the certificate: in Botswana, a person holding one of the listed titles. The second is what it attests: under article 5 an apostille confirms the authenticity of the signature, the capacity in which the signer acted and the seal or stamp; the content of the document is outside that confirmation. The certificate is issued at the request of the signer or of any person presenting the document.
A Botswana list that grows by Gazette notice
The last item on Botswana’s list is open-ended: the President may make further persons certifying officers by notice in the Gazette. The HCCH list is therefore not closed; the names of persons appointed by notice are not in the HCCH summary and were not followed on this site. A title not on the list, seen on a Botswana certificate, may reflect such an appointment; how to verify that was not found in this site’s survey. The e-APP chart of 13 August 2026 has no electronic apostille or online register for Botswana, and the HCCH page shows no fee.
Governor, district governor, Permanent Secretary: two entries compared
Türkiye’s HCCH entry also works with titles: for administrative documents, in provinces the Governor, the Head Official of the District and the Chief Secretary, and in towns the Head Official of the District; for judicial documents, the Presidencies of the Judicial Commissions where high criminal courts sit. When a Botswana authority asks for an apostille on a Turkish document, it comes from one of those: a valilik or kaymakamlık, the provincial or district governor’s office, for administrative documents and every notarial act, and the adalet komisyonu başkanlığı for the original of a court judgment. For a notarial act, any province or district may be chosen since 30 November 2024. An apostilled Turkish document is not legalised again at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Botswana has not acceded to ETS 063, CIEC 16 or CIEC 17, so no CIEC exemption applies to civil status documents.
1965 extension, 1966 effect, 1968 notification
The HCCH notifications page records that the Convention applied to the territory of Botswana through the United Kingdom extension of 24 February 1965. After independence Botswana notified succession; the HCCH table gives the notification date as 16 September 1968 and the effective date as 30 September 1966, because in succession the effect reaches back to independence. For a Turkish file the gap between the two changes nothing: Botswana was already on record when Türkiye became bound on 29 September 1985, and that day marks the start between them. No objection is recorded between the two countries.
Translation in a Botswana file, and open points
Which language, and whose certification, Botswana institutions want on a translation of a Turkish document was not found in this site’s survey; the receiving institution decides, and the question is asked before the chain starts. A translation made in Türkiye is certified by a notary, the notary’s certification is certified by a governor’s office, and that certificate confirms the notary’s signature without assessing the translation. Whether a Botswana certificate is included in the Turkish translation of the document is decided by the Turkish institution. Open points: the allocation of documents among office holders, persons appointed by notice, the fee and the verification route. A translation office renders the text and has no say in which office holder issues the certificate.