15 Jun 2016

The Minister of Infrastructure, Science and Technology, Mr Nonofo Molefhi, has expressed concern over the loss of Botswana’s indigenous knowledge.

Addressing Ntlo ya Dikgosi in Gaborone on Tuesday, Mr Molefhi said some foreigners had, in the past, acquired herbs from Botswana to their respective countries where they presented them as their own.

However, he highlighted that measures had been put in place to ensure that everyone who transits fresh or dried herbs from Botswana acquired permit so that indigenous property could be preserved.

Mr Molefhi stated that Batswana were endowed with knowledge on how traditional herbs could be used for medicinal purposes.

Therefore, the ministry was working in collaboration with the Botswana University of Agriculture and Natural Resources to explore this knowledge.

He said the ministry had an open door policy for people who wanted to conduct research.

The minister said Batswana were encouraged to register their intellectual property and copyright their material with Companies and Intellectual Property Authority (CIPA) to preserve their property so that they could obtain royalties.

He said remaking other people’s songs without consent was illegal.

However, he stated that some songs did not belong to anyone, but were known and sung by every Motswana.

In other issues, Minister Molefhi stated that they were working on erecting street lights that used solar energy.

This would be introduced to councils across the country so that they could take advantage of the solar energy.

He noted that youth would be trained on the connection of solar energy lights so that they could benefit from the project.

Mr Molefhi said the solar energy lights would be made in a way that they could store a large capacity of energy to cater for days when it rains.

Mr Molefhi further stated that they had embarked on accrediting all engineers, quantity surveyors and architects.

He highlighted that the accreditation would ensure that whatever that the three cadres performed conformed to required standards.

Kgosi Mosadi had asked the minister what measures were in place to protect intellectual property giving an example with the past incidents where artists remade songs that had been produced in the past.

Kgosi Thebe Makwa asked the minister what would happen to the solar lights in situations where it rained for a long period without sunlight. ENDS