31 Jan 2021

Botswana and Namibia will collaborate in the procurement of COVID-19 vaccines to save the lives of their citizens, says President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi.

He said this  during a joint media briefing with Namibian President, Dr Hage Geingob following his one-day official visit to Namibia on Friday.

Dr Masisi said the two countries would assist each other in conducting  tests, research, storage facilities for the vaccines as well as other activities which could help curb the spread of the virus.   

However, President Masisi said post COVID-19 developing countries needed to start investing in development of intellectual capital and create content in order to stop overdependence and spending too much on bigger economies.

Elaborating on the collaboration efforts, Minister of Health and Wellness Dr Edwin Dikoloti, who had accompanied the President, revealed that Botswana was at 45 per cent in terms of preparations for procurement of the COVID-19 vaccine. 

 The 45 per cent translated into the development of research facilities and testing centres, he said.

He said Botswana would assist Namibia in conducting COVID-19 tests since the country had developed world class testing centres while Namibia would provide cold storage facilities for the vaccine.

Dr Dikoloti said the two countries would procure and transport the vaccine together since it was much cheaper to bargain as a unit. 

Both countries would vaccinate each other’s citizens residing in their territories, he said.

Minister Dikoloti said the countries had committed to reach a target of 80 to 85 per cent in terms of roll out.

On other issues, President Masisi expressed heartfelt condolences to the families of the three Namibians and one Zambian shot in a Botswana Defence Force (BDF) operation in Chobe last year. 

He said Botswana regretted the loss of life and wished that something could have been done to prevent the tragedy.

President Masisi stated that Botswana was known for its human rights record which extended beyond its citizens adding that the country had no shoot to kill policy.

He explained that when lives were lost through tragedies such as the one in question, there were processes to be followed including  further investigation.

The President said the report on the incident had been shared with the Namibian government though its details could not be made public as the matter was to go through an adjudication process. 

Dr Masisi urged the people of Chobe in Botswana and those of Zambezi in Namibia to reach out to avert similar incidents in the future.

His counterpart, Dr Geingob, assured Botswana that there would never be war between the two countries as a result of the Chobe shooting incident.

Dr Geingob said Botswana must be allowed to follow its processes warning those with ulterior motives  to stop using the incident to instigate people for their own interests.

Meanwhile Botswana and Namibia have signed an agreement to elevate the joint commission of cooperation to bi-national status. 

This comes ahead of the 6th session of the Botswana-Namibia permanent joint commission of cooperation to be held virtually.

 The bi-national commission will be hosted on a rotational basis and chaired by both presidents.

Other ministers who accompanied the President were Dr Lemogang Kwape, Ms Peggy Serame, Ms Philda Kereng and Mr Dumizweni Mthimkhulu. ends