12 Oct 2016

Refusal by some residents in Chobe to have their houses sprayed against malaria is severely compromising Botswana’s target of malaria elimination with a likelihood of jeopardising the sensitive tourism industry.

This came to light at a kgotla meeting on Tuesday (October 11) in Kazungula addressed by the area member of parliament.

Head of District Health Management Team (DHMT) Dr John Makuka revealed that Chobe District failed dismally last year attaining only 46 per cent coverage. Dr Makuka used to attain 90 per cent in the past but due to residents resistance towards having their houses sprayed they had regressed.

As a result of this the district was the worst performing of the six districts that are malaria prone. “We also registered a disturbing number of cases at 136 in the district last year which is the highest number of cases we have seen in the last three years,” he noted.

Kazungula, he said was the worst performing in this endeavor yet it was the most populous village. As such, he urged residents to be more receptive and open their houses to spraying teams.

Spraying is scheduled to commence end of October.

Still at the kgotla meeting, Member of Parliament for Chobe, Mr Machana Shamukuni urged residents of Kazungula to resuscitate their community trust KALEPA for the benefit of the development of their area.

KALEPA which is a shared trust for Kazungula, Lesoma and Pandamatenga villages has been dormant for years now after collapsing due to financial mismanagement amongst other factors. Shamukuni said this at the kgotla meeting citing Chobe Enclave Community Trust (CECT) and Seboba Trust as examples that KALEPA could benchmark from.

“With projects such as Zambezi Integrated Agro Commercial project soon to commence, it is in the interests of residents here to get their community trust in order and negotiate profitable lease agreements for the earmarked CH8 concession area,” he said. He urged them to vote in people who have the interests of the community at heart. ENDS