12 Jul 2022

The Ministry of Environment and Tourism continues to provide technical assistance to Mapanda, MOLEMA and MASEGO Trusts in Bobirwa in an effort to address the COVID-19 impacts on their operations.

Acting Minister of Environment and Tourism, Mr Setlhabelo Modukanele said although COVID-19 affected revenue  which resulted in job losses in some areas of the tourism sector, some of the operations survived the pandemic. 

“The Mapanda Trust is operating the Lepokole Nature Reserve in partnership with Botswana Tourism Organisation and during the height of COVID-19, it too realised no tourism due to the movement restrictions. I am, however, pleased to inform you that, unlike most of the tourism operations, the Lepokole Nature Reserve managed to maintain all its employees,” he said.

He noted that the MASEGO Trust was in the process of acquiring land for tourism development through the Bobirwa technical advisory committee assistance while the MOLEMA Trust suffered a blow when it could not earn income from their leased game farm.

Consequently, Mr Modukanele noted that the ministry was making strides in resuscitating the economic activity in the three community trusts through technical assistance. 

He said apart from the two hunting quotas which accumulated more than P2million for the trusts between 2019 and 2022, the ministry conducted training on governance and financial management for the operations.

“Furthermore, in order to ensure that the funds accrued is being utilised properly, training on governance and financial management has been undertaken through the support of SPEDU and the Botswana Tourism Organisation. These institutions assist the trusts on project development through proposal writing. In this case MOLEMA Trust has been funded to construct a craft centre through the National Environmental Fund and is expected to be completed and operational by end of December 2022. 

The craft centre will also include a cultural performance arena which will provide an opportunity for the communities to sell their crafts to tourists traversing the area,” he said.

The acting minister also noted that the ministry, in partnership with the Bobirwa technical advisory team, was facilitating the MOLEMA Trust to identify an investor towards development and utilisation of their game farm, the process of which was expected to be completed by August end.

The ministry had further reserved a tourism site at the Thune Dam and intended to facilitate the trust to partner with a private investor for the development and operations of the activities at the site, he said.

“This is in line with the Community Based Natural Resources Management Policy, which is geared towards communities playing a part in the tourism sector to benefit from the natural resources in their areas, thus encouraging them to participate in the conservation of same,” he noted.

In addition, Mr Modukanele said that the Bobirwa technical advisory committee and SPEDU were planning a benchmarking excursion to the Chobe Enclave Conservation Trust to facilitate skills development and knowledge sharing for the three trusts. 

The benchmarking exercise is expected to sensitise them on the possible value chain projects for the trusts in order to create more income apart from the main revenue streams in their operations.

The Member of Parliament for Bobonong, Mr Taolo Lucas had sought to establish the extent to which COVID-19 had affected the operations of trusts in Bobirwa, namely Mapanda, MOLEMA and MASEGO. 

The MP had also asked about the technical or other assistance that the Botswana Tourism Organisation (BTO), SPEDU and the ministry intended to provide to the trusts to address the impact of COVID-19 on their operations. 

Additionally, he wanted to establish the extent to which these institutions assisted the trusts in finding partnerships and accessing markets for their products and the success rate, if any. Ends