26 May 2020

The Ministry of Transport and Communications has resumed some of the services that were suspended during the extreme social distancing period.

 Briefing the media on Tuesday May 26, Minister of Transport and Communications, Mr Thulagano Segokgo said such services included the renewal of driving and motor vehicle licenses, registration of vehicles and accreditation of private garages by Central Transport Organisation (CTO) and the renewal of CTO certificates.

Minister Segokgo said vehicle testing would resume on June 2, the renewal of Professional Driving Permits licenses (PrDP) and practical testing for licenses would resume on July 1, while the date for theory tests would be announced in due course.

On other issues, Mr Segokgo said roads construction around the country such as the Boatle/Gaborone, Maokane/Machaneng among others had commenced.

The minister stated that the construction of the two bridges at Shakawe and Kazungula were not suspended and all the COVID-19 protocols were adhered to particularly at the Kazungula, which involves two countries of Botswana and Zambia.

On issues raised by truck drivers, Mr Segokgo said his ministry and other stakeholders were working round the clock to address the concerns. However, he noted that they were putting up parking lots, toilets and showers for the drivers to use while awaiting COVID-19 test results.

Mr Segokgo also said the other intervention was that of escorting trucks from the Tlokweng border gate delivering goods in Gaborone so that they do not wait for their results but deliver goods and return to their countries.

He said the other option was to allow truck drivers where possible to swap trucks at the border to prevent those from outside from entering the country while those from within would deliver the goods to their destination.

Mr Segokgo appealed to Batswana desist from stigmatising the truck drivers as they were doing a sterling work to bring the most needed food and medical consignments into the country.

He clarified that health officials isolated immediately any driver who tested positive, while necessary arrangements were being done to facilitate the movement of the truck. ENDS