31 Mar 2021

Vice President Slumber Tsogwane yesterday asked Parliament to extend the state of emergency for another six months from today until September 30.

Tabling the request, Mr Tsogwane said the sole aim was minimizing the impact of the coronavirus and safeguard the lives of Batswana.

Noting Public Health Act shortcomings, he said it did not sufficiently endow health services director with authority to deal with an emergency of the scale and magnitude of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The director, he said, could only declare an emergency if it was not practicable for the President to do so.

In addition, the director was not empowered to curtail movement of persons except under a declaration of health emergency, said the vice president.

The motion follows President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi’s briefing to Parliament Tuesday on achievements made since the declaration of the first state of emergency last May.

President Masisi emphasised the need for the extension as the challenges to combat the COVID-19 pandemic remained.

“The State of Emergency was the strongest legal tool availed in our laws to provide sufficient legal leverage in disease containment and control,” he said.

President Masisi said the Public Health Act was inadequate to enforce regulations introduced during the state of emergency.

He explained that during the period, he had the power to lockdown the whole country and to impose curfews.

Urging MPs to put political differences aside and act as a collective unit to help the nation through the pandemic, he said it would be premature and remiss for any responsible government to abandon strategies that had so far saved the nation from peril.

Outlining achievements, President Masisi said the state of emergency prohibited retrenchments where businesses were unable to pay salaries.

Mandatory testing at all points of entry was introduced and people were required to wear face masks and have inter-zonal movement permits, he said.

Furthermore, he said the state of emergency provided for the suspension of transport permits and limitation of trading hours, restriction of the number of people at social gatherings and the banning of activities such as workshops.

President Masisi said government was able to fast track construction of ablution facilities in all public schools, strengthen and expand COVID-19 testing to include high output laboratory based Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) testing at six strategic locations.

“Government has also deployed point of entry rapid antigen testing at clinic level, and we are able to conduct our own COVID-19 genomic surveillance to better understand the variants that keep emerging,” he said.

The President said Botswana had been able to secure COVID-19 vaccines which he said “do not prevent against contracting the virus”.

He said acceptance of the vaccines was based on their safety, quality and efficacy.

Dr Masisi however said the country continued to face challenges as at March 26 there were 37 452 COVID-19 cases and 568 deaths recorded.

The loss of lives, he said, should not be perceived as a sign of ineptitude and inefficiencies by government.

Dr Masisi said the emergence of highly transmissible COVID-19 variants remained of grave concern for Botswana as they made prevention more complicated and unpredictable.

He pleaded with the nation to minimize travel especially during the upcoming Easter holidays.

The President said it was unfortunate that some people continued to defy health protocols with others spreading false information about the pandemic.

At the time of going to press Parliament was still debating the  motion. Ends