14 Dec 2020

Tlokweng and Pioneer border gates have started conducting the rapid antigen test for COVID-19 on incoming travellers, it has been revealed.

“This is a test we have started conducting in this past week and we are in the process of rolling it out to where there are borders and frequent movements,” Dr Kereng Masupu said in an interview on December 11.

  Dr Masupu, who is the presidential COVID-19 task team coordinator said the test would be rolled out to other border gates as and when they opened for business.

He said the recently introduced test was conducted on travelers upon arrival in Botswana to ascertain the COVID-19 results they presented.

The test required no equipment, released results in about 30 minutes and was therefore ideal for points of entry, explained Dr Masupu.

He said different district health management teams had sent officers for training on conducting the test. 

Meanwhile Dr Masupu has explained that those leaving the country were required to have conducted the polymerase chain reaction test, which should not be more than 72 hours old. 

The interview followed the team’s  tour of Pont Drift and Platjan border posts Friday.

He revealed that the visited border posts were among facilities earmarked for possible opening in the next phase and therefore needed to be put in shape.  

Explaining that border gates were essential to economic activity, Dr Masupu said their reopening augured well for the economy which had basically shut down when points of entry were closed.   

Quizzed about the readiness of the toured border gates, Dr Masupu said, “I think there are a few issues that need to be addressed especially as regards training of officers on testing and availability of accommodation for office and residential”.

He therefore challenged relevant immigration and nationality department as well as Botswana Unified Revenue Services officers to address the outstanding matters.

Following a briefing by chief immigration assistant Ms Keiphe Nku, Dr Masupu decried the inadequacy of rest rooms to cater for expected numbers of clients. 

The Plaatjan Border Post has  only two toilets shared by officers and clients. 

Ms Nku had informed the task  team that the office handled about 300 clients daily. 

Dr Masupu called for consideration and assessment of logistics putting emphasis on the inventory of every need before a possible opening of the facility today. He also advised frontline workers to use surgical masks as they were more effective especially that they dealt with a great number of people on a daily basis.

“We are a conduit of many countries as opposed to what we used to call a landlocked country,” said Dr Masupu who stressed that tourists and clients needed superior customer service as they were critical in marketing the country.

At Pont Drift Border Post, the task force learnt that it was easy for illegal border jumpers to cross into and out of Botswana as there was no border fence. 

The two countries of Botswana and South Africa are separated by the Limpopo River.

Updating the team, immigration officer Mr Madome Moyagabo said illegal border crossing was rife fueled by people having relatives and friends on either side of the river.

He said Mophane worm harvesters were also involved in the illegal act owing to border closures.  Those who had harvested the worm sought illicit ways of exporting it to South Africa, he said. Ends