03 Apr 2024

Botswana Defence Force (BDF) has been commended for effectively executing its mandate of preserving peace and stability both domestically and internationally.

Officially opening the BDF 19th Strategic Conference at Glen Valley,Gaborone yesterday, President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi said that was why in 2021 government was confident to deploy members of BDF to Mozambique, under the Southern African Military Intervention in Mozambique (SAMIM), a mission that had been successful thus far.

He applauded BDF for a sterling job in dislodging terrorists, disrupting their lines of communication and logistics, forcing their leaders into isolation and completely taking away their freedom of action throughout the deployment period.

Dr Masisi said BDF troops had displayed resilience and the highest level of professionalism at SAMIM, which earned them respect and recognition among their peers and other militaries.

“This is despite some isolated unfortunate incidents of misconduct and loss of lives, which have the potential to tarnish the good name BDF has made over the years,” he said.

Therefore, he urged BDF to jealously guard against such incidents and be proactive in mitigating such occurrences.

Also, President Masisi said gender-based violence (GBV) and crime were an eye-sore, which needed deliberate and decisive action. He reminded BDF senior officers that the military played a critical role in the preservation of democratic ideals.

On the upcoming general elections,  he said ‘our Constitution makes it imperative that we hold general elections every five years without fail. You have the responsibility to jealously guard our democracy by ensuring that order and the rule of law prevail during this very important period’.

Dr Masisi said it was the right of every eligible Motswana to vote in a free and fair election process. “You also have to exercise your right. I, therefore, encourage you all to go and vote,” he said.

Emphasising the importance of mindset change, the President urged the BDF senior officers to inspire their subordinates and influence their positive behavioural change. “Forego old habits that do not add value and adopt new habits that make a difference,” he said.

“Let us all remember that in the military, leadership paves the path for unit cohesion, they serve as a compass for the entire force to follow,” he said.

Dr Masisi said some of the commitments that he made in the past were in relation to the welfare of the military personnel, which included improvement of BDF pensions, general conditions of service and infrastructure development.

“I also gave strategic guidance on capability development in order for BDF to attain desired combat capability and operational efficiency,” he said.

The President said most of the promises had been realised including salary restructuring, code-named ‘Ntlole’ as well as issuance of a Directive on March 11, 2024 for the BDF pension denominator to be improved from n/600 to n/375.

He said the issue of pensions had been an outstanding issue since 1998 when government improved pensions for the Public Service. “I have no doubt that it will have a much broader impact in the lives of and families of men and women who diligently served this nation in the past,” he said.

President Masisi said he had further requested the Minister of Defence and Security to reduce the long-standing accommodation deficit from the current levels of around 16 per cent to below 10 per cent during the Transitional National Development Plan.

He said his intention was to completely eliminate shortage of accommodation within the BDF during National Development Plan 12 and make it a thing of the past. “I encourage you to partner with government by coming up with innovative ways to address accommodation shortage within the BDF,” said Dr Masisi. ends