02 Oct 2022

As Botswana is still reeling from the impact of COVID-19 and challenges presented by the Russia/Ukraine conflict, the weekend’s 56th independence anniversary celebrations have been viewed as signifying  hope. 

While many gathered at their respective dikgotla for the celebrations, President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi joined greater Gaborone residents at the National Stadium to partake in the festivities that had been absent for the past two years owing to COVID-19 pandemic. Largely resembling those of the past years, the festivities were characterised by Botswana Defense Force (BDF), Botswana Police Service and Botswana Prisons Service parades, artistic cultural performances, parachute display as well as calisthenics.

In a breathtaking display,  BDF marched past in slow and quick time with white horses.

Another parade was of the defence command logistics  officers who marched while holding BDF and Botswana flags as well as a third one, which stayed folded until the President’s arrival.

 In his independence message, for the past two years only aired over Radio Botswana and Btv, Dr Masisi observed that the jubilation that accompanied Botswana Day in the past had now been replaced by the grim COVID-19 events.

He said the events were still fresh in people’s minds, especially the July-September 2021 period, when the country lost many citizens to the pandemic.

Many, especially women in the hospitality sector and youth in the service sector, were the hardest hit economically. 

“The unprecedented nature of the pandemic and the necessary measures deployed to mitigate its impact were not helped by the global energy crisis that followed the immediate outbreak of the Russia/Ukraine conflict,” said Dr Masisi.

He said the war consequently impacted the business sector, which had been recovering and re-hiring to reverse the trend of unemployment and loss of incomes.

The business sector was crippled by operational costs due to, among others, high fuel costs and associated supply constraints, said Dr Masisi.

 However, the President said he took solace in the knowledge that Batswana possessed an abundant spirit to bear each other’s burden in times of crises. 

He therefore urged them to keep up the selfless and timeless spirit that was ingrained in society through practices such as molaletsa, dikgafela and letsema.

 President Masisi also urged the nation to reflect on the significance of the moment.

 “This introspection will afford us the opportunity to understand and appreciate who we are as a nation, and most importantly, to deliberately choose not to be shaped by horrific and worst miscalculation of our mindset.

In so doing, we might just remind ourselves that despite the heavy weight of the challenges that for most part of the last two years restricted our movement, there are still some things worth celebrating,” said Dr Masisi. Ends