02 Jul 2025

Promoting a culture of workplace safety and emergency preparedness requires building a resilient first response programme, particularly in high risk environments like mines.

Speaking at the 2025 Jwaneng Mine Inter-Departmental First Aid competition on Saturday, Member of Parliament for Jwaneng/Mabutsane, Mr Omphemetse Kwapa said building capacity to respond to emergencies should not only confine to the work environments but instead be developed into a safety culture everywhere.

He underscored the importance of First Aid competitions in strengthening skills as well as improving emergency response times. 

He noted that this year’s theme: Building Capacity to Respond, Recover and Lead-Safely and Effectively, called for empowering workers to enhance their responsiveness even beyond the workplace.

“Building capacity speaks to investment in people, training, equipping and empowering individuals and teams with the knowledge, skills and confidence needed to act swiftly not only in emergencies but also embedding it in our culture,” he said.

He said that effective speed, accuracy and coordination were key factors in saving lives in high risk environments. However, the MP further underscored the need to capacitate people on the recovery phase of such incidents.

“In any safety related scenario, responding is only the first step. The theme also highlights post-incident care which is the recovery phase; physical, emotional and operational recovery. It means helping injured individuals heal, supporting teams affected by trauma and restoring safe operations efficiently,” he noted.

Jwaneng Mine assistant general manager, Mr Thabani Moyo noted that ensuring the highest level of safety was part of the company’s diamond story and values. He said the competition was part of their commitment to promote a safe and sustainable environment for all their stakeholders.

“As Jwaneng Mine leadership, we take safety as a value and a key priority to the sustainability of our business. We ensure that our facilities, activities, processes, environment and services provide assurance to employees, business partners and visitors that they will return home safely each day. This is a core part of our diamond story,” he said.

He noted that the growing intensity of the annual competition was instrumental in improving First Aid practices at Jwaneng Mine and ultimately across the whole mining sector. 

He said they were optimistic that skills acquired during the competition would become handy both at work and home.

 “We must practically prove that we put safety first in our daily work activities, it is our personal responsibility to ensure that we always adhere to the highest safety standards,” he said.

Meanwhile, Blesbok team, made up of project management office and Jwaneng underground departments, and Eagles (Ore Processing and Fixed Plants), will represent Jwaneng Mine at this year’s Botswana Chamber of Mines Inter-Mine First Aid competitions scheduled for September. The two teams triumphed over three others with an overall of 178.5 and 170.5 points respectively.

Moleofi Balekanye from Blesbok was named Best Player while Eshuler Ngwako walked away with the Best Newcomer award. ENDS