25 Aug 2020

The Southern District Commissioner, Mr Mmoloki Raletobana has called on employees in the district to adapt to the fourth industrial revolution.

Speaking during a district disaster management committee meeting on Monday, he said it was important for employees to acquaint themselves with the concept of fourth industrial revolution for the benefit of the country.   

According to development experts, the concept of the fourth industrial revolution was coined in 2016 by Klaus Schwab, a German economist and the founder of the World Economic Forum who penciled a book titled The Fourth Industrial Revolution.

The fourth industrial revolution, however, is not only about smart and connected machines and systems, its scope is much wider. 

It is the fusion of such technologies, their interaction across the physical, digital and biological domains that make the fourth industrial revolution fundamentally different from previous revolutions.

Mr Raletobana therefore implored heads of departments to take advantage of the concept as the benefits were evident citing increased productivity, efficiency and quality in processes, greater safety for workers by reducing jobs in dangerous environments, enhanced decision making with data-based tools and improved competitiveness by developing customised products that satisfy consumers' needs.

He said the use of information communications technologies (ICTs) remained paramount in COVID-19 era.

On other issues, Mr Raletobona implored the nation to learn to live with the COVID-19 pandemic arguing that alternative ways to fight the plague should be explored.

Mr Raletobana was of the view lock-down may cripple the economy thus Batswana should come up with innovative ways to strike a balance between fighting the pandemic and ensuring that the economy remained buoyant.

He said it was imperative to compare COVID-19 with other previous pandemics such as HIV/AIDS which Batswana learnt to live with.

He said evidence showed that there was a substantial reduction in the infection rate.

Mr Raletobana said in the case of HIV/AIDS, applying appropriate preventive measures would thwart the disease whereas in COVID-19 practicing set health precautionary measures would ensure that the disease was kept at bay. 

He therefore said the country needed to push forward but at the same time people should exercise caution to save lives. 

"We need to resume full service delivery to allow the economy to recover from the previous lock-downs,” he said. Mr Raletobana spoke of the need to introspect with regard to what the district had been doing, saying the subjective observation method provided an opportunity to check the results obtained through various approaches that would shed light on the direction to take.

The district commissioner said to make impactful decisions there was need for the district leadership to meet hence the district disaster management committee meeting.

He said though COVID-19 was a challenge in the country, statistical evidence showed that the pandemic was managed well and the situation was under control.

For her part, Southern Region’s District Health Management Coordinator in the Ministry of Health and Wellness, Ms Josephine Mosimanewakgosi said Debswana Jwaneng mine hospital had been testing the hot spots following recent cases in Jwaneng. 

She however said the area remained a green zone.

She said the other new development was that people who tested positive but did not show signs of COVID-19 were isolated within their homes whereas those who showing signs were taken to Sir Ketumile Masire Teaching Hospital in Gaborone for medical observation or continuous assessment. ends