25 Oct 2020

The United States of America shall continue to support  Botswana government on issues of health, education, peace and security, through training of security and law enforcement personnel.

Speaking during a tour of Tsabong recently, US ambassador to Botswana, Mr Craig Cloud said illegal border crossing posed threats to security.

Thus, he said the US International Law Enforcement Academy (ILEA), which trained officers from 35 countries in sub-Saharan Africa and a handful from South East Asia and Brazil, would tailor make training courses to deal with the challenge.

He said his visit was meant to appreciate Kgalagadi, as part of the community building ‘mabogo dinku’ nationwide tour.  

He said the US continued to partner with government in the fight against HIV/AIDS and COVID-19 pandemic, through support offered under the US President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and various programmes.

“We are here to see how the US government can help to respond to some of issues that you might have in Tsabong,” he said.

In response, Tsabong District Commissioner, Mr Bigboy Mangwa said illegal border crossing was one of the major challenges in the district, adding however that joint Botswana Police Services and Botswana Defence Force border patrols had identified hotspots, which they were working on.

He said unlawful border crossing reversed government efforts in the fight against COVID-19 and cross border crime.

He said the security personnel were also grappling with cross border crime, as some poachers trafficked live wildlife, while others killed them and smuggled trophies, ivory and skins outside the country, adding that assistance in the area would be greatly appreciated.      

On other issues, Mr Mangwa said there was child labour in farms, as well as alcohol and drug abuse, which perpetuated gender based violence (GBV), and teenage pregnancy.

He said in the last quarter, more than 30 girls dropped out of school, which for such a small population, was a major challenge.

He said drug abuse in the area also affected interventions against HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases.

Meanwhile, he said, the different HIV/AIDS interventions in the district were bearing fruit as the HIV statistics curve was flattening, citing that in 2013, the HIV prevalence rate was around 17 per cent, and was currently 11.5 per cent.

He appreciated the support Tsabong sub-district received from the US Embassy over the years, citing that Gakhibane village benefited a community hall complete with sports and recreational facilities, which was initiated by an American Peace Corp in 2016.  

Meanwhile, Mr Mangwa said the sub-district had recorded four COVID-19 cases and all have recovered.

He said the challenge was that there were no isolation centres in the district, revealing that the current one can only hold four patients at a time.

Thus, he requested for funding of a 10-roomed isolation centre, saying it was costly to refer COVID-19 patients to Gaborone.

While in Tsabong, Ambassador Cloud toured the primary hospital, kgotla, police station, Tsabong South Brigade, and met with education officials where he donated a cheque over P200 000. 00 to Tsabong Unified Senior Secondary School to be used for procurement of tablets for students to improve e-learning. Ends