12 Jan 2021

Some Batswana are not taking heed to government’s call to observe health protocols.

BOPA went out to get some Batswana’s sentiments on practical ways of assisting government to curb the spread and effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Speaking in an interview, the citizens acknowledged the risks posed by the pandemic and demonstrated great appreciation towards efforts taken by government in reducing anticipated predicaments.

A vendor in Gaborone, Mr Mmoloki Motone, said street vendors should be empowered with all prerequisites necessary for sanitizing, registry, and temperature recording.

Additionally, he highlighted budgetary constraints to afford the aforementioned as factors that limitted vendors from being fully compliant to the set protocols.

Moreover, he cited that it was important to be accorded authority to report customers who failed to obey set protocols.

Furthermore, Mr Motone said dependence on neighbouring countries for food made it extremely difficult to close borders in times of need, therefore government should consider endowing citizens with ploughing sites for robust agricultural produce.

He stated that with the right capacity development interventions geared towards empowering farmers, the country could reduce its import bill and reliance on neighboring countries.

On a different note, Ms Juliet Bonolo Lekhutlile, a private sector employee highlighted concerns about private employers contravening set measures for reducing spread of the virus hence, her plea to have the government enforcing strict regulations and charges for non-compliant companies.

For her part Ms Moeti Lesole a business lady in Gaborone also encouraged leaders in government to exemplify ways of being compliant to the general public; citing that youth shall follow suit based on the precedence set.

Young people; Ms Whisper Moshapa and Tebogo Ncube voiced their concerns emanating from interventions taken by the government in addressing the pandemic.

Meanwhile, Presidential COVID-19 Task Force coordinator, Dr Kereng Masupu, said Batswana should bear in mind that government was fighting a pandemic, which did not give timelines as such immediate responses to curb the spread of the virus will be an ongoing thing.

Moreover, he emphasised that as the task team and the government majority of their roles centered around doing thorough research on prevailing circumstances, and all their recommendation and set protocols were based on findings met. Dr Masupu spoke of the issue of alcohol ban citing that it was through illicit behavior posed by most Batswana that the government was left with no choice but to close down liquor use as a way of addressing the spread of the virus. BOPA