20 Dec 2020

This year remains one of the most challenging, mainly due to the COVID-19 pandemic that turned the world upside down and brought travelling to a stand-still.

When the year began it seemed the world would sail through with peace and prosperity, unbeknown that March 2020 would commence a total global shutdown.

In an interview with Kgosi Visco Tsiane of Takatokwane, COVID-19 pandemic has  been one of the most challenging sicknesses of the 21th century, bringing with it disastrous outcomes that crippled many economies and shut down many businesses.

He said this was a learning curve for the world, expressing optimism that the world could emerge stronger even in the midst of hardships and death.

Kgosi Tsiane said it had been tough for many people to understand why it was necessary for the lockdown to be instigated as that on its own took away their freedom and ease of movement.

“This meant that things will never be the same again as governments were forced to come up with strict regulations and protocols to safe guard the lives of citizens, ” stated Kgosi Tsiane.

Kgosi Tsiane, however, said he was impressed with the response by Botswana government and its citizens as the messages reached many on time and they responded positively.

He added that even though it was not easy, Batswana in general obeyed the health protocols and that helped in fighting the spread of the virus.

He commended government for containing the disease with all that they could even though it meant that some of the National Development Plan 11 projects would be shelved in order to give way for the COVID-19 ones.

Kgosi Tsiane said challenging times called for challenging decisions which many did not like.

He said the travel and tourism industry had been hard hit, as tourists could no long travel to their favourite destinations and neither could they leave their homelands.

However, he said things had now eased up even though it meant those who travelled had to be tested in an effort to control the spread of the virus.

Kgosi Tsiane said he was worried over complacency as some were beginning to lose their guard not knowing that the virus had not been defeated, especially that some countries were experiencing new waves of the virus, killing thousands of people.

He, therefore, advised Batswana to be cautious as it was easy to be infected if protocols were not followed, especially during the festive holidays, where family gathered to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ.

He pleaded with party lovers and entertainers to make sure that they obeyed the laid down regulations to avoid negative and undesired outcomes that could lead to loss of lives.

Kgosi Tsiane said compliance remained critical in safe guarding the lives.

He said some of the residents of Takatokwane were neglecting compliance and warned that such a behaviour could be detrimental to the campaign to end the COVID-19.

He further cautioned those who did not comply that they would face the wrath of the law, more so that the police would be engaging in patrols during the festive holidays. ends