By Khonani Ontebetse & Kabelo Seitshiro

Despite a Court or-der prohibiting such a move, a planned strike action by South Africa’s truck drivers

threatens to throw Botswana’s fuel woes deeper into the abyss.

Before a late Monday night court order, South Africa truckers

had threatened to blockade fuel supplies from that country des-tined to neighbouring countries Botswana included.

Irate drivers have alleged be-ing stigmatized and treated like criminals while in Botswana, cited detention by government.

This comes at a time when Botswana continues to plunge into a fuel crisis amid reports that South Africa is also facing similar

challenges. Responding to The Telegraph

queries, the Minister of Transport and Communications Thulagano Segoko admitted that should the South African truck drivers carry out their threats “Botswana will not cope as a lot of imports to Botswana comes through South Africa.” He said the Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry can provide details on the impact

to trade.Segoko said fuel to Botswana

is delivered by road and rail. “If truck drivers are prevented from entering or leaving South Africa, then we will depend on fuel de-livered by rail from either South Africa or Mozambique via Zim-babwe. In addition we receive fuel from Namibia by road. Minis-try of Mineral Resources, Green Technology and Energy Security

should be contacted for more in-formation,” he said.

Segokgo said: “The testing and Police escorts are not done by way of punishment to the South African drivers but as part of the strategies employed to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Bo-tswana drivers are also tested and escorted.”

By Khonani Ontebetse

Botswana Pension Officers Pen-sion Fund (BPOPF) Chief Ex-ecutive Officer Boitumelo Molefe and former Bona Life’s found-ing Chief Executive Officer Re-gina Vaka are expected to testify against Capital Management Bo-tswana (CMB) former Directors.

This is contained in papers before the High Court in which CMB director Tim Marsland and another director Rapula Okaile are

facing a litany of criminal charges ranging from theft to money laun-dering. Both Bona Life and CMB have been liquidated.

The Directorate on Cor-ruption and Economic Crime (DCEC) investigating officer Kentse Setaboshane denied claims by Marsland that the duo made a complaint to DCEC pertaining to investigations on him and Okaile.

“The duo (Molefe and Vaka) are only state witnesses in the matter by virtue of their positions at BPOPF and Bona Life respec-

tively. The allegations that I’m in-

vestigating against the applicant (Marsland) reveal that he commit-ted the offence together with his co-accused persons,” states Seta-boshane.

Bona Life is 100 percent owned by Foudello (Pty) Ltd which in turn is owned Botswana Opportunity Partnership (BOP) (with 40 percent shareholding) which is a partnership between BPOPF and Viltry (100 percent owned by BPOPF), 25 percent

is Capital Management Botswana (in liquidation), 25 percent Regina Vaka and 10 percent is staff share scheme.

A few years back under Vaka’s leadership, Bona Life reported fraud and criminality by Capital Management Botswana (CMB) to the Regulator NBFIRA for action and also fought against attempts by the CMB to fire her ostensibly to steal the pension funds in Bona Life.

The company further made headlines on the reported matters

to DCEC the directors of CMB Tim Marsland who is in jail in South Africa and Rapula Okaile awaiting trial with others

According to the DCEC in-

Wednesday July 8, 2020 | Volume 12 / Issue 14 | Price: P6.00

INSIGHT: A BELLOWING CALL TO DEFEND DEMOCRACY DURING COVID-19 - P6

This past week, the Bot-swana Football Association (BFA) electoral committee postponed the release of names of candidates who will stand for the associa-tion’s National Executive Committee (NEC) positions.

NEWS

BUSINESS

SPORTS

EXPOSED: How truckers put Botswana at risk of imported CoronavirusSome local cross-border transporters especially ferrying goods to and from South Africa may be putting Botswana at even a higher risk of import-ing Coronavirus despite police escorts.

Page 2

Q1:2020 GDP Data - the economy cools down

Botswana’s economy con-tinues to grow slowly as effects of the Covid-19 out-break start to become more pronounced as shown by of-ficial figures.

Page 11

Is BFA Electoral Committee playing delaying tactics to name NEC con-tenders?

Page 16

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SA truckers strike may render Botswana

a “Jerry Can” economy

Vaka, Molefe to testify against former CBM directors

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Vaka, Molefe to testify against

from page 1

By Edgar Tsimane

Some local cross-bor-der transporters espe-cially ferrying goods to and from South Africa may be putting

Botswana at even a higher risk of importing Coronavirus de-spite police escorts.

We expose how one com-pany, RMC Logistics, owned by one Romeo Munoro late last month simply evaded a police escort and went on to deliver a consignment of maize grain from South Africa through Ra-matlabama Border Post passing through Gaborone, Dibete to finally reach Serowe.

The company had engaged the services of a part-time trucker to ferry goods from South Africa and failed not only to pay the driver his dues but contravened protocols on COVID-19 – The company lied about the destination of goods which came from South Africa traversing COVID-19 zones at ease from South Africa to Se-rowe uninterrupted.

The company on 28 June called a truck driver job-seeker *Mokgweetsi Mothusi to its of-fices to run them an errand in South Africa.

His mission was to deliver a load of coal at Lichtenburg -

a town situated in North West Province of South Africa.The not-so-sweet-deal would have seen Mothusi paid P2000 plus an extra 50 thebe per kilometere travelled for the odd job. Moth-usi duly delivered the coal con-signment at Sephaku Cement in Lichtenburg after spending a night at Ramatlabama border post but his handler decided he could only pay him P400.

The RMC company owner was alerted to this alleged seri-ous Covid-19 protocol breach. He was telephoned and asked to give his version of events but resorted to delaying tactics. First, he claimed he was in an urgent meeting and promised to come back to us after an hour or so. When he was called for the second time, he berated this reporter before his phone rang unanswered after three at-tempts.

There may be some truth in Mothusis’s version about hav-ing travelled to South Africa on an assignment he claims would have temporarily relieved him of the heavy burden of being unemployed.

A letter that purported that he was an essential worker at RCM logistics authored by none other than Romeo Munoro, a copy seen by this publication, bears testimony to this. Further,

WhatsApp communication messages between him and his temporary employer while he was in South Africa also bear testimony including entries on his passport and other docu-ments that show he entered South Africa and went to the places where he off-loaded and loaded.

After delivering the coal consignment, he proceeded to a farming town of Parys – 120 km south-west of Johannes-burg - to load a consignment of maize grain. He spent another night in Lichtenburg en-route to Botswana. He spent yet an-other night at Ramatlabama border with a load destined to Serowe whereupon he was es-corted together with a fellow driver by police to Block three at the company’s depot where a false claim was made by RMC owner(s) that the consignment was to be delivered in Gabo-rone at Block 3.

“We were told to lie to po-lice that we are going to park at Block 3. They [police] left. From there I was asked to de-liver the consignment at Foods Botswana in Serowe. Upon leav-ing Serowe, he was instructed to proceeded to offload a load of maize bran at Shield Vet Feeds in Gaborone which he did not.

“I had not been paid my

piece job money of P2000 plus the extra money for the kilome-tres I covered as verbally agreed I told him (Romeo) that I had a bereavement and he promised to pay. So, I left the bran load with him. When I enquired a day later, the receptionist told me that she was instructed to give me P400 for the three-day trip duration between two countries. Now Romeo doesn’t pick up his phone when I ring him. He thinks he can hide be-hind the fact that we never had a written agreement,” said Mo-thusi.

The truck which Mothusi drove to South Africa bears the one appearing in the picture of Munoro supplied – a Volvo with registration number plates B 330 BME which last crossed at Ramatlabama Border Post on 2 July.

Asked if he knew that it was an offence not to disclose one’s travel destinations and that his South Africa sojourn posed a risk, Mothusi said he was pro-ceeding to report the matter to the police. He claimed this is the modus operandi of several transporters in Gaborone.

*Not his real name. His true identity is known to this pub-lication.

By Reuben Pitse

Gaborone Private Hospital(GPH) suffered mini-mal disruptions when a criminal cyber syndicate hacked its In-formation Technology back-up hub in South Africa during CO-VID-19 lockdown.

The giant health care or-ganisation managed to restore its IT system in both countries after two months. The GPH is part of the Life Healthcare Group in Southern Africa.

General manager Mpho Gabonewe confirmed to The Telegraph this week that the pri-vate hospital’s IT system was hacked in early June in South Africa but was restored earlier this month and things are back to normal.

“Our IT system has since been restored from the begin-ning of July,” he said.

Gabonewe explained that

in Botswana there were some slight information processing and patient registration delays experienced at the beginning.

He said alternative business continuity plan processes were activated for patient services to run smoothly.

“Delays associated with re-verting to manual system were

mitigated through redeploy-ing more officers to support a timely admission process during peak times,” he said.

About the revenue loss, Gabonewe indicated that GPH has not been affected by the IT system downtime.

The South African media quoted the acting CEO of the

healthcare group Pieter Van der Westhuizen as saying that “First and foremost, we wish to assure all the communities within which we operate, that this criminal attack on our sys-tems will not affect the quality care and clinical excellence we aim to provide.”

The Acting CEO reportedly added that patient care remains their key priority.

“We are deeply disappoint-ed and saddened that criminals would attack our facilities dur-ing such a time, when we are all working tirelessly and col-lectively to fight the COVID-19 pandemic,” he said.

He further indicated his institution will not be distracted, and will continue to place o its patients first.

Life Healthcare group is the is the second-largest private hospital operator in South Af-rica.

By Khonani Ontebetse

United Kingdom charity organisation has set up an emergency fund as the mysterious death of elephants in the Okavango panhandle escalates.

The objective is to raise vital funds to identify the mystery surrounding the death of elephants in Botswana.

Founder of How Many Ele-phants, Holly Budge, said without pre-ventive action and funding elephants will continue to die.

She said with the total remaining el-ephant population on the African con-tinent at an estimated 400 000 and with Botswana home to the largest popula-

tion of 130 000 elephants, this could spell disaster for the already dwindling population of the African elephant.

“The future of the African El-ephant is at a tipping point, having already been dealt a blow by the col-lapse of ecotourism due to Covid-19. Elephants are a keystone species; They play an indispensable role in the healthy functioning of the larger ecosystem.”

How Many Elephants is described as “one of the UK’s most accom-plished female adventurers.”

Budge said: “Losing these impor-tant ecosystem engineers is of extreme detriment to the environment and be-yond. This is a horrific and serious sto-ry affecting not only biodiversity but potentially public health too.”

Regional Wildlife Coordinator, Di-makatso Ntshebe told The Telegraph in a previous interview in which she said the death of elephants were a cause for concern as the country relies on tour-ism as another source of revenue and appealed for help from individuals and companies.

Acting Deputy Permanent Secre-tary in the Ministry of Environment, Natural Resources Conservation and Tourism, Kelebaone Maselele said fol-lowing the mysterious deaths of el-ephants in the areas around Seronga since March 2020 to date, 275 elephant carcasses have been verified against the 356 reported cases. Furthermore, in-vestigations regarding the unexplained deaths of elephants are still ongoing. Maselesele said tusks are being re-moved from the dead elephants and carcasses within proximity to human settlements continue to be destroyed.

“The ongoing investigations, into the deaths of the elephants, have re-vealed no evidence of poaching so far,” she said.

EXPOSED: How truckers put Botswana at risk of imported Coronavirus

• Under the very nose of police escorts

British NGO goes cap in hand to save Botswana

elephants

GPH’s IT-backed hub in SA suffers cyber attack

He said the Ministry has not contacted its South African counterpart about the escalating fuel crisis and threats by that country’s truck drivers.

“The issue of xenophobic attacks is not new and as such the SADC Cross Border Regulatory Forum is addressing it. The procedure is if the Forum is unable to resolve the issue, it is escalated to SADC Ministers. The Forum is chaired by South Africa and its membership is from all SADC member states. The Forum has identi-fied that there are a number of Non-Tariffs Barriers (NTB), and this is one of them, that are normally preceded by member states and has since estab-lished a Non-Tariff Barriers Commit-tee to holistically address the NTBs,” said Segoko.

He said his Ministry is in con-sultation with the Ministry of Lands Managements, Water and Sanitation Services to identify pieces of land at the borders where semi-permanent facilities with toilets and ablutions will be provided. This is in realisation that there is urgent need to improve on what has already been provided, he said.

Reports also indicate that some truck drivers from logistics compa-nies have been quarantined and they are currently running at 60 percent of their productivity and this could have contributed to the shortage of supply in the country.

“We are not in a position to state as to how many drivers have been quar-antined because the number changes every day as and when results of the tests are released. The truck operators shall have the most recent statistics in this regard. The question of Unitrans running at 60% can be confirmed with the organization (operator),” the min-ister said.

vestigator, unlike Okaile, Marsland has never personally availed himself to “me” and the DCEC team of inves-tigators save for several sets of docu-ments that I received from his attor-neys and from the co-accused.”

“We admit that Rapula Okaile was interviewed under warn and caution but he declined to provide a written statement. The investigation that I’m conducting has revealed that the appli-cant and his co-accused persons have committed the alleged offences,” said Setaboshane.

He said DCEC has the authority to investigate matters relating to BPOPF as provided for in the section 6 of the Corruption and Economic Crime Act, cap 08:05.

He denied claims by Marsland that the criminal investigations were insti-tuted to reinforce civil proceedings by BPOPF against CMB.

“The criminal investigations were as a matter of fact instituted because of the fraudulent activities committed by the applicant and his co-accused persons,” said Setaboshane.

He added that “we need not high-light that the warrant of arrest was is-sued in respect of the criminal allega-tions of obtaining by false pretenses and money laundering committed by the and not by virtue of the civil pro-ceedings or dispute between CMB and BPOPF. Furthermore, the criminal charges relate to the applicant both in his official capacity as director of CMB and in his personal capacity.”

He said the BPOPF was or is minded to enforce its constitutional obligations against CMB, it is well en-titled to do so, similarly the state is also entitled to institute any criminal pro-ceedings from any offences committed flowing from the dealings between the two parties.

Marsland was arrested on 12th July 2019, pursuant to a request for his ex-tradition to Botswana by the Director-ate of Public Prosecution.

SA truckers strike may render Botswana

from page 1

Gaborone Private Hospital

“The future of the African Elephant is at a tipping point, having already been dealt a blow by the collapse of ecotourism due to

Covid-19. Elephants are a keystone species; They play an indispensable

role in the healthy functioning of the larger

ecosystem.”

Trucks being escorted by police

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Following days of national fury over fuel shortages, the Botswana Energy Regulatory Authority (BERA) has expressed its concern over shortages at loading points following disrupted supply.

The BERA chief executive officer (CEO) Rose Seretse said on Friday that the authority is actively on the ground to try and curb not only illegal smuggling but also illicit activities.

She added BERA has thus formed collaborative teams with law enforcement agencies such as the Botswana Unified Revenue Services (BURS) and the Botswana Police Service (BPS) to conduct operations to avert illicit activities.

“When there are crowds at areas where handling of petroleum products happens, generally the risk of unsafe practices increases,” said Seretse.

She said fuel filling stations are usually designed to handle only a certain number of customers at a time. When there is a crowd the situation may become uncontrollable because even the attendants may not have a view of all the people at the filling station at the time she said.

Seretse revealed the authority is doing spot checks to address this adding that they also appreciate the assistance of the Police in managing traffic congestions at numerous filling stations.

“As the regulator, we are concerned that customers are not getting fuel to the quantities they want. However, the key stakeholders being BERA, MMGE, Botswana Oil, Department of Energy and the Oil Industry are working round the clock to address the situation and bring it back to normality,” said Seretse.

She also observed that customers have been buying fuel at retail prices only to resell it much more than legal retail prices. Seretse added that such activities are illegal and warned, when caught, perpetrators can face charges

in accordance with section 34 of the BERA Act. She said they discourage the public from engaging in such activities which could also endanger their lives and those of others.

Another industry player, Puma Energy Botswana Managing Director (MD) Mahube Mpugwa says since the start of fuel shortages, especially in the greater Gaborone region, increasing number of motorists have been rushing to the pump to fill up their vehicles.

Mpugwa is of the view that the situation presents a number of challenges mainly centering on safety adding that this starts with motorists chasing delivering vehicles up to filling stations. He is of the view that this impacts of following the appropriate fuel delivery procedures which are intended to prevent harm to customers and staff or damage to property. He said the crowding at petrol stations evidenced during the fuel supply challenge present a recipe for a major safety incident. He observed that delivery trucks are not able to access the service station and if they do, they the delivery point blocked.

“People are crowding around the fuel delivery point as fuel is being pumped into the underground tanks. It would take a spark to ignite the fuel leading to an explosion. It has been noted that if such an incident was to occur the congestion would prevent the emergency response teams being the ambulances or the fire department would not be able to access the filling station,” he said.

He spoke of another risk presented by the use of containers to ferry fuel noting that there are specific containers will it is permitted for such use and that a safe way is to have the contact on the ground to earth the container in case of static.

“Containers can also lead to contamination if there is cross use for example if used for water,” said Mpugwa.

BERA’s rosy Seretse weighs in on fuel fury frustrations

By Cedric Swanka While motorists scamper to find petrol in the city, as fuel pumps run dry now and then, filling stations are smiling all the way to the bank.

This week The Telegraph spoke to different fuel pump station managers to get their views on sporadic supply of petrol.

Total Fuel and pump station Manager in Gaborone Emmanuel Mashaba shared that their sales have been good.

He said however the challenges they have experienced are large crowds of people with Jerri cans that come to their business seeking fuel.

He said: “We are selling more than we have been doing before the situation happened how it has. We sold around 64000 litres in a day when counting all the products in the pump stations. We are selling more than the norm even when the petrol comes late, our sales go up as we selling more than 10 000 litres. We however do not like it when people are overcrowding with their jerry cans breaking COVID 19 safety measures and protocols.”

Mashaba`s pump station has a capacity of four 46 000 litres of fuel and one 23 000 litres of diesel. He further highlighted: “Our petrol comes and goes as it is sold out as soon as it has been delivered. We have received over 26000 to 30000 litres. We have had petrol over the past week and we were only without on Sunday.

“We have been calling our suppliers to confirm its [fuel] availability to place orders as customer demand has put pressure on us to supply. On Sunday we had fuel and today (Monday) since morning we do not have anything at moment.”

Meanwhile on the other hand Shell fuel pump station manager Kerebotse Moraladi said when petrol supply is insufficient life can be put on hold, as people depend on petrol during their daily lives especially for travelling.

He said: “We do not have petrol due to the high shortage. When tankers deliver it is finished immediately. When it is delivered, we get around 17000 to 18000 litres. On a normal day we have about 44000 to 60000 litres. We have three fuel pump stations and on a normal day has about 17000 litres to 18000 litres of fuel. The product that we have in our station is just diesel, with no fuel save or V-power. What we normal give out to people is fuel save.”

Petrol availability in their station has been sold out and available again after three days. As for employees in their pump stations Moraladi shared: “Our employees come to work as we have more products that we supply than just fuel at our pump stations. Basically, we provide a service as we have oil products, battery coolants and food that we sell in our shops. Our employees are content at work there are no problems with their focus or moral. We do have our weekly staff meetings during which we have addressed the situation and everything is just fine.”

Meanwhile government has cautioned unlicensed service providers under section 34 of Botswana Energy Regulatory Authority (BERA) Act to desist from unlawful trade, as it carries a fine of P30 000, imprisonment not exceeding 5 years or both.

Sporadic fuel supplies put

smiles on filling stations

By Portia Nkani

It will take some time, probably into 2021, for foreign tourists to travel to other countries for leisure in significant numbers.

Tourism operators in Botswana fear there will be zero international business for the rest of 2020.

While that remains the case, economies of places such as Maun and Kasane will be adversely affected as hotels, restaurants and other tourism-related economic activities will remain closed or operating at very low levels of capacity utilisation.

The Covid19 impact has the potential to lead to a mass migration as people look for jobs elsewhere in the country, and need support from social welfare programmes.

As a possibility to exploit the potential of Botswana in a post-COVID-19 world, the governments’ 2020-2023 Economic Recovery and Transformation Plan (ERTP) considers to allow only international tourists with Covid19 negative status to boost the country’s tourism sector.

Minister Dr Thapelo Matsheka’s recovery plan document from the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning suggests that, as a large, sparsely populated

country, Botswana is well suited to the new environment, reinforced by her success so far at keeping COVID-19 largely at bay.

“The sector could look at bringing tourists with negative COVID-19 status from, say Europe or North America on direct flights into Maun or Kasane, taking them directly out to bush camps, and keeping them in a “bubble” with minimal interaction with other visitors and social distancing with respect to staff.”

Millions of jobs in the global tourism industry could be lost due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has impacted travel like no other event in history and caused 96 percent of all worldwide destinations to introduce restrictions in response to the outbreak, the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) said in April this year.

The UNWTO called on all governments to continuously review travel restrictions and ease or lift them as soon as it is safe to do so.

The ERTP is also aiming to target potential areas of encouraging Batswana to utilise their farms for agro-tourism as this will help facilitate the diversification of incomes and the rural economy. Regarding the number of regulatory

barriers that have been discouraging Batswana to go into agro-tourism, the Finance Ministry has requested for these to be relaxed so as to make entry into agro-tourism easy for farmers. Similarly, “regulatory barriers to the introduction of game birds and animals onto farms should be removed,” reads the ERTP document.

Promotion of local tourism to sustain the sector and help preserve some of the jobs that have been lost due to international travel restrictions. In addition, if residents travel domestically rather than externally, this will have a foreign exchange benefit that may offset a part of the losses from reduced international visitors.

Tourism companies pay substantial levies, which is six of their turnover payable to the Department of Tourism. While the industry is essentially closed and in a loss-making position, the Ministry suggests that the waiver of levies currently payable should be considered, to relieve cashflow pressures on the sector and support the continuation of employment. The extension of the three-month wage subsidy scheme to tourism companies for a longer period should also be considered, suggests the ERTP.

By The Telegraph Reporter

Botswana, the world’s top diamond-producing country by value, is to seek financial help from the International

Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank to deal with the consequences of COVID-19.

The country is in economic crisis, even though the virus has claimed just one life, on 31 March, and as of today there are just 277

active cases.At least 181 confirmed cases

have been transferred out of Botswana since they are foreign nationals.

Botswana depends heavily on its diamond wealth, boasting two

of the world’s biggest diamond mines - Jwaneng and Orapa - and hosting the De Beers Sights in its capital Gabarone.

It has become one of Africa’s richest countries but is suffering badly as global demand slumps

Botswana Seeks $3.4bn COVID Aid from IMF and World Bankbecause of COVID-19.

The country’s ministry of finance and economic development, together with the Bank of Botswana say it will need $3.4bn over the next 30 months to revive the ailing economy and cover expected budget deficits.

“In a conversation with the Bank of Botswana and treasury, I indicated that we should approach and speak to the IMF and World Bank,” said finance and economic development minister Thapelo Matsheka said on Wednesday.

Botswana’s economy continues to grow slowly as effects of the Covid-19 outbreak start to become more pronounced as shown by official figures. However, the damage could be even bigger as the data is still lagging behind what could be the country’s worst recession.

Statistics Botswana on Monday released the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) data for the first quarter of the year, which showed that economic activity amounted to P50.7 billion in the first three months of the year, putting growth at 2.5 percent. In real GDP terms, the economy grew by 2.6 percent to P25 billion.

(Extra Reporting by IDEX Online)

Botswana mulls welcoming Covid-19 negative tourists

Thapelo Matsheka

Tourists

Wednesday July 8, 2020| NEWS |4

By Arnold Letsholo

Birdlife Botswana (BLB) has commis-sioned a two- year capacity building project to improve

livelihood projects in Makga-dikgadi and Tutume areas.

Titled: ‘Capacity development, monitoring and mentorship support for the GEF-Small Grants Funded projects in the operational Phase 6 landscape of Makgadikgadi wet-land system, Botswana’ the project is aimed at providing capacity building to communities so that they bear fruits in Global Envi-ronment Facility-Small Grants Programme (GEF-SGP) spon-sored projects.

There are 32 villages in Makgadikgadi area and 12 Community Based Organiza-tions (CBOs), out of which seven have accessed funding. The training is expected to em-power those who have benefit-ted and those who are yet to benefit from GEF-SGP grants. Some of the projects spon-sored by the GEF/SGP include environment friendly toilets at Nata Bird Sanctuary and con-struction of Cultural Village at Xere village. The training proj-ect has been funded to the tune of P400 000. BLB Director, Motshereganyi Virat Kootsosi-tse said in an interview that in this capacity building initiative they will be looking at four is-sues. Firstly the Governance of Community Based Oganiza-tions (CBOs); where BLB will be supported by Technical Ad-visory Committees (TACs).

“Secondly we are going to capacitate Trusts’ leadership

to monitor biodiversity, mostly birds. Thirdly we are going to train them in effective financial management and book keeping. And finally we are going to train them on community projects management,” explained Koot-sositse.

He further highlighted that coming up with the initiative was informed by the fact that projects funded by GEF-SGP were delayed, owing to lack of capacity. The TAC- a commit-tee comprising government employees with specific gov-ernance expertise like District Commissioners/Officers, Land

boards officials and Depart-ment Wildlife Life and Na-tional Parks (DWNP) officers could not efficiently empower communities as they had other commitments. The GEF-SGP office therefore floated an ad-vert so that NGOs with the po-tential could assist. That is how BLB came in.

He pointed out the fact that as BLB they had interest on the project because Makga-dikgadi is an ‘Important Bird Area (IBA)’. The area has got 330 birds species out of the 600 species the whole country. It is habitat for tourists attract-

ing Flamingos and other canine birds. Furthermore, BLB has passion for empowering com-munities to sustainably live with wildlife. If sufficiently empow-ered, he said communities have the potential to partake in bio-diversity conservation.

“We have to start training soon. Then we will proceed to the next level which is monitor-ing beneficiaries to ensure they have gained the required skills. Money already spent by GEF-SGP in sponsoring community livelihood empowerment proj-ects is P2, 140.00,” said Koot-sositse.

By The Telegraph Reporter

A fresh report entitled: The 2020 Global Nutrition Report Action on equity to end mal-nutrition says Botswana will not be able to meet any of the eight 2025 global nutri-tion targets. The targets are achieving a 50% reduction of anaemia in women of reproductive age; achieve a 40% reduc-tion in the number of children under-5 who are stunted; achieve a 30% reduc-tion in low birth weight; ensure that there is no increase in childhood over-weight; increase the rate of exclusive breastfeeding in the first 6 months up to at least 50%; reduce and maintain child-hood wasting to less than 5%, childhood overweight, adult obesity and adult dia-betes.

The report also details which coun-tries are on track (i.e. on course) to meet either none, or at least one, two, three or four of the targets; four is the maximum number of targets any country is on track to meet. The report says Botswana will not meet one of the targets. How-ever Kenya is the only African country on track to meet four targets.

Just two years ago, the 2018 Global Nutrition Report placed Botswana in a category where rates of stunting, anae-mia and overweight are severe. The 2018 report also highlighted that Botswana has significant multiple forms of mal-nutrition and is categorised in the ‘bur-dened’ category which is the worst cat-

egory.As for obesity, the 2020 Global Nu-

trition report also says more women than men are obese in Botswana. “Large sex gaps in obesity are found in countries in the same regions, most notably Botswa-na (women 29.3%, men 8.1%, difference 21.2) and South Africa (women 39.6%, men 15.4%, difference 24.2%),” says the report.

Countries where 20 percent or more of the adult population are obese (equivalent to the global median preva-lence for that indicator) are considered to be facing a public health threat related to obesity. Obesity or overweight is a condition whereby a person has abnor-mal or excessive fat accumulation which poses a risk to the health and well-being of that person. Adults over 20 years of age are considered obese when their body mass index (BMI) is greater than or equal to 30. BMI equals body weight in kilograms divided by height in metres squared. The overweight and obese im-pose economic costs on society directly through increased health care spending and indirectly through reduced econom-ic productivity.

“In 2017, regions with the highest prevalence of stunting were primarily throughout much of sub-Saharan Af-rica,” says the report, adding that ”in Africa, areas with estimated overweight prevalence greater than 15% were con-centrated in North Africa….. and in parts of Botswana and Zambia.”

By Arnold Letsholo

A local company, Multi Waste Water and Energy has in store products that can be solutions to problems hovering over Batswana during this Covid-19 era of high water and energy bills, as well as soaring unemployment.

Equipped with qualified personnel and the right technology, Multi Waste Water and Energy has the potential to provide backup solar energy during peak hours. Grey water from bathing tubs and showers and kitchen sinks can also be recycled and reused in gardens or car wash.

Says Simon Mahosi, general manager of Multi Waste and Water and Managing Director of Waste Energy: “Botswana Power Corporation is unable to provide sufficient energy to consumers. It therefore imports power and during these peak hours the corporation has to pay maybe more than double the normal tariff. The power utility provider is over burdened.”

He highlighted that there was dire need for partnership of BPC and private power suppliers to try and alleviate this situation.

To prove the point that power back-up is possible the company has mounted 60 solar panels on its roof. They supply the company building and the neighboring office block with back up energy.

The company’s Solar Technician, Tumelo Mahosi explained that for the company to install the back-up for domestic consumption they first visit the residential area for assessment.

“The quantity of supply is determined by the customer’s consumption. We therefore assess your electricity consumption using electricity monitoring logger,” said Mahosi.

As for grey and black water recycling, Multi Waste Water and Energy has technology that can drastically reduce water bills as a long-term solution.

The General Manager does not want to go into details on the black water recycling, cautioning that discussing it without having taught the society of the possibility and safety and cleanliness of such recycled water will not go down well on the society. Black water is water from the toilets. But they have the right technology and equipment ready for work.

Fabio Radikgageng, the technician who ensures Batswana get services for grey water recycling explained that grey water from water tubs, showers and kitchen sinks is collected through pipes, deposited into a special ‘grey water tank’ equipped with processing valves and leaves the processing tank clean. The processed water can be used to water gardens or wash cars.

Mahosi the General Manager expressed the importance of conserving water as a water scarce country.

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Wednesday July 8, 2020 5

Progressive democratic institutions like International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance

(IDEA) have been intensifying calls for the defence of democracy during the Covid-19 pandemic.

On June 25th, 2020 IDEA issue a document titled: “A Call to Defend Democracy” in which it outlined that the pandemic threatens more than just the lives and livelihoods of people throughout the world but also “a political crisis that threatens the future of liberal democracies”.

IDEA acknowledged that authoritarian regimes, not surprisingly, are using the crisis to silence and tighten their political grip. Worrisomely, some democratically elected governments are fighting the pandemic by amassing emergency powers that restrict human rights and enhance state surveillance without regard to legal constraints, parliamentary oversight, or time frames for the restoration of constitutional order.

In its “A Call to Defend Democracy”, communiqué, IDEA laments that “parliaments are being side-lined, journalists are being arrested and harassed, minorities are being scape-goated, and the most vulnerable sectors of the economy face alarming new dangers as the economic lock downs ravage the very fabric of societies everywhere”,

In the same vein, IDEA is worried that repression will not help to control the pandemic. Silencing free speech, jaili9ng peaceful dissenters, suppressing legislative oversight, and indefinitely elections all do nothing to protect public health.  

On the contrary, these assaults on freedom, transparency, and democracy will make it more difficult for societies to respond quickly and effectively to the crisis through both government and civic action.

IDEA buttresses that “democracy is not just a cherished ideal. It is the system of government best suited to addressing a crisis of the magnitude of Covid-19. In contrast to the self-serving claims of authoritarian propaganda, credible

and free flow of information, fact-based debate about policy options, the voluntary self-organization of civil society, and open engagement between government and society are all vital assets in combating the pandemic. And they are all key of elements of liberal democracy”.

It is also emphasized by IDEA that it is only through democracy that societies can build trust that enables them to persevere in a crisis, maintain national resilience in the face of hardship, heal deep societal divisions through inclusive participation and dialogue, and retain confidence that sacrifice will be shared and the rights of all citizens respected.

“It is only through democracy that independent civil society, including women and young people, can be empowered to partner with public institutions, to assist in the delivery of goods

and services, to help citizens stay informed and engaged, and to bo0lster social morale and a sense of common purpose. It is only through democracy that free media can play their role of informing people so that they can make sound personal and family decisions, scrutinize government and public institutions, and counter disinformation that seeks to tear societies apart”, advises IDEA.

IDEA also makes a critical observation that “it is only in democracies that government data on the scope and impact of the pandemic can be believed” adding that “democracy does not however guarantee competent leadership and effective governance. While democracies predominate among the countries that have acted most effectively to contain the virus, other democracies have functioned poorly in responding to the

pandemic and have paid a very high price in human life and economic security. Democracies that perform poorly further weaken society and create openings for authoritarians”.

In the call to defend democracy communiqué, IDEA also acknowledges that “the Covid-19 crisis is an alarming wake up call, an urgent warning that the freedoms we cherish are at risk and that we must not take them for granted. Through democracy, citizens and their elected leaders can learn and grow. Never has it been more important for them to do that. The current pandemic represents a formidable global challenge to democracy. Authoritarians around the world see the Coviod-19 crisis as a new political battleground in their fight to stigmatize democracy as feeble and reverse its gains of the past few decades. Democracy is under threat, and people who care

about it must summon the will, the discipline, and the solidarity to defend it. At stake are the freedom, health and dignity of people everywhere”.

Like most countries, Botswana used its constitution to impose a State of Emergency (SoE) to allow itself the legally sanctioned latitude to deal with the pandemic effectively. Although the opposition political parties in general were against the six month SOE preferring a rather shorter period, the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) government used its numerical to get the six months it wanted.

A political commentator who preferred to remain anonymous until after the end of SOE because there may be developments in the remaining period commends the government for being at least considerate by not trampling over

people’s rights so far.“We are not saying the

government is not blameless. There are so many reported corruption allegations which cannot be just swept under the carpet especially that the opposition was wary over a plot by the BDP regime to loot the national coffers. It ought to be recalled that when the Leader of Opposition Dumelang Saleshando raised the allegations in parliament, he was called upon to substantiate his claims. He did so by handing over all the documents he had in his possession to the Speaker of the National Assembly. We await to see how the issue will be handled in the coming session parliament”, said the political commentator.

In yet another policy paper on Emergency Powers (EP), IDEA underscores that emergency provisions help prevent a constitutional rupture as the constitution is not suspended: at all times, and in both modes, it remains in effect. Its operative content changes, but it continues to regulate citizens’ rights and the distribution of public power.

It is acknowledged further the outbreak of an epidemic disease may likewise call for the application of strict quarantine regulations that limit freedom of movement, even though these measures would violate rights that would normally be constitutionally guaranteed.

IDEA warns that arrangements that give legislatures such broad discretions over how to regulate emergency provisions may be acceptable where there is a strong tradition of constitutionalism and deeply rooted democratic values.

However, where legislatures and judiciaries are weak, or where human rights and democratic values are more fragile, this approach could be very perilous. In most contemporary constitution-building processes, there is a strong case for directly regulating states of emergency powers in the constitution.

“Since constitutions are supposed to provide procedural certainty, especially in times of a crisis, it is prudent to be precise on these points. Moreover, rules on emergency powers are inherently constitutional in nature, since they affect citizens’ rights and can influence a political system’s entire balance of power.

IDEA also argues that specifying grounds on which a state of emergency can be declared in the constitution may help to ensure that emergency powers are not used inappropriately. Such provisions can shape the norms and public expectations according to which the person declaring the emergency is required to act.

In some cases, such provisions might even enable the judicial review of any inappropriate declaration of a state of emergency, thereby introducing and additional check against the misuse of these powers.

Another interesting point of note raised by IDEA is that as an additional safeguard, in parliamentary systems that have a designated leader of opposition, could be to require his or her consent to any motion to approve or extend a state of emergency. This would act like supermajority rule, in broadening the requirement for political consensus, but would apply even in situations where (owing to a disproportional electoral system, for example) the opposition is numerically small.

The leader of the opposition might also be invited to receive confidential high-level briefings on the management of the emergency response in order to build informal cross-party support for intended courses of action. Although such briefings to the leader of the opposition are usually only a matter of courtesy and convention, it is possible to imagine an obligation to keep the leader of the opposition informed being written into the constitutional text.

Wednesday July 8, 2020 | INSIGHT |6

A bellowing call to defend democracy during Covid-19

Botswana is currently mid-way its six months legally sanctioned State of Emergency (SoE) which is due to come to an end in September. Save for corruption allegations pertaining to the awarding of tenders during this turbulent Covid-19 period, it does not appear, at least at face value, that the current administration has been

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Wednesday July 8, 2020 | INSIGHT | 7

The stronghold for Africa’s elephants is under certain threat

As we now know, Botswana is home to a third of Africa’s declining elephant population. But, over the last two months, 350 elephant carcasses have been spotted in the Okavango Delta since the start of May, Writes Chris Diaz

It is a serious worry that over 350 elephants have died with no clear

reason and indeed a conservation disaster.

The world looks at this mysterious deaths and needs to know the real cause of the mass loss of elephants, and what should be done to stop this unnatural disaster, one thing the deaths are unrelated to drought.

Elephants are loving magnificent animals and indeed, one of the men’s best friends, and a big tourism earner, creating development in the Africa continent.

Dr. McCann, of the UK-based charity National Park Rescue, however, has a theory that speculates the possibility of the deaths being caused by poachers as hardly an option. And that it was only Elephants that have been dying in such an alarming manner which is quite bizarre.

He, therefore, went on further to say that, they have been unable to rule out poisoning or disease and the way the animals appear to be dying many, dropping on their faces and sightings of other elephants walking in circles points to something potentially attacking their neurological

systems. Besides, local witnesses reported seeing some elephants walking around in circles, which is an indication of neurological impairment, these are opinions.

“ Scientists and conservations are concerned as elephants are endangered species and a big contributor to biodiversity and tourism revenue for the continent. A solution needs to be looked into as the world

remains concerned about the mass death of Elephants too “. Diaz like most conservationists is requesting urgent action and has written several articles on the Botswana and Africa wildlife situations.

On the other hand, the Botswana government is yet to test samples and draw conclusions. We look forward to more information from the authorities.

In the meantime, there is hardly any information on what is causing the deaths or whether they could pose a risk to human health.

There is, however, a developing possibility that the true number of deaths is likely to be even higher because carcasses can be difficult to spot. According to research, there are about 15,000 elephants in the delta, 10% of the country’s total.

Eco-tourism however, contributes between 10-12% of Botswana’s GDP, second only to diamonds.

This confirms that this whole ordeal is such a conservation disaster.

And in my opinion as passionate as I am about the wildlife and especially the elephants, there should be a real urgency to investigate

the deaths, it is in my suggestion that the tusks on the elephants be recorded and stored.

I would request H.E Mokgweetsi Masisi the President of Botswana to burn all the ivory collected, as to stop the trade, as done by, HE Uhuru Kenyatta Kenya President, who burnt down hundreds of tonnes of Ivory, to stop the poaching and cut out the ivory trade. Many nations including China have banned the ivory trade in their countries.

The future of Elephants is in the hands of everyone. Let us support the protection of the innocent and amazing wildlife, for future generations to enjoy seeing these animals in the wild.

Chris Diaz is a  Business Leader & Conservationist.

Wednesday July 8, 2020 | OPINION & ANALYSIS |8

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Editorial

This week’s cartoon

GUEST COLUMN

THUSO MPHELA

Coronavirus has dealt a deadly blow to Botswana’s tourism sector.

Getting the sector back to life will require imagina-tion and fortitude. Domes-tic tourism has to be at the center of all attempts to bring the sector back to life.

And reviving tourism has to be at the center of all of economic revival. Those expecting a “bounce back” will with time find that they were too optimistic.

The return of the sector will be slow and painful.

Summer and the Christ-mas Holidays are crucial for Botswana’s tourism cal-endar. Losing out on those would mean a whole year has been lost. It would be foolhardy to expect Euro-pean and American tourists to travel to Africa given the state of the pandemic in their countries. Many coun-

tries are still to emerge from extreme lockdowns.

These lockdowns have made people economically fragile. And travelling across the world has dropped too far below the latter in terms of priority rankings.

And fear still suppresses travel. The calendar year is fast moving into an area where if not salvaged it might mean that an entire year is lost. This is because tourism requires planning, booking and confirmations.

Visits from overseas are certainly going to be near zero.

This is because Botswa-na remains out of bounds for travelers from outside.

There are still no com-mercial flights coming in in or out of the country.

And nobody wakes up one morning in California and jumps into a plane to

the Okavango Delta. That requires onerous planning and coordination including by trip planners and coordi-nators.

The importance of tourism to the economy of Botswana cannot be over-emphasized. Tourism con-tributes handsomely to the GDP. And it also directly employs a significant num-ber of people. This is not to say there were no issues before the meltdown. There is a need for structural re-organisation.

This will include ensur-ing that capital stays in Bot-swana to allow for further investments. And also en-suring that citizens become legitimate players in the sec-tor.

Several months with no revenue will weaken the sec-tor, but also government which is currently financing

a wage relief for the sector and others in general.

Botswana Tourism Or-ganisation, obviously assist-ed by government should move with speed to put in place an ambitious plan for the sector. Campaigns by BTO especially for external tourism have to be more tar-geted. Government has to give BTO a significant ad-vertising budget. But BTO has to be smarter in how they expend the money, or there will be not much to show for it in the end.

Botswana is yet to get full results of its Visa upon arrival arrangement with China. Where countries are open to it, Botswana Gov-ernment should extend the arrangement to other coun-tries. We are moving into a situation where recovering lost revenue might become an impossible task.

But it is important to secure the future for the sector. That would include ensuring that many of the businesses that were alive before covid-19 are able to come from it alive.

A failure to bring those businesses back to opera-tional existence could prove catastrophic for Botswana – but more for tourism en-claves like Maun, Okavango, Kasane, Tuli-Block and Kgalagadi.

In the cities and major villages many businesses and households had ac-cessed credit to develop Bed and Breakfast small lodges.

Even if they were to open today many of these businesses have to contend with Covid-19 protocols like social distancing which for small businesses are an operational cost and also a handicap.

By Victor Kgomoeswana

Wise people say no crisis should be wasted, and that is exactly what we are doing with Covid-19 in Africa.

Last week’s version of this was the fuel shortage in Botswana. Queues of motorists and patrons with jerrycans overwhelmed pet-rol stations in Botswana be-cause of congestion at the South Africa-Botswana bor-der. Why?

Botswana’s screening and testing regime is stricter than that of South Africa. Trucks ferrying fuel there take longer to be processed at the border. What kind of African neighbours cannot share fuel in hard times?

The lack of consistency among member states of the Southern African Develop-

ment Community (SADC) in containing the outbreak renders certain regional routes more popular than others. This raises the strain on road infrastructure.

Less stringent measures elsewhere have diverted road traffic away from Botswa-na to Beit Bridge between South Africa and Zimbabwe.

Last month, Zimbabwe Standard reported delays at the Zimbabwe-South Africa border amounting to more than 30 laden stationary trucks on the double-lane fa-cility of the 540m bridge. A maximum of five trucks at a time is recommended.

PR manager of the Zimbabwe National Roads Agency, Tendai Mugabe, attributed this logjam to in-creased vigilance at other regional border posts, espe-

cially in Botswana.Instead of the daily aver-

age of 600 trucks crossing the Beit Bridge, the diver-sion of traffic increased traf-fic flow to 1000 trucks. Oth-er gridlocks were reported since April between Lesotho and South Africa.

This led to protest action at some border posts and to Lesotho citizens resorting to dangerous methods to cross the border back home as the lockdown in South Africa left them without work.

The SADC is supposed to be a regional economic bloc with protocols that fa-cilitate unfettered movement between its member coun-tries.

The misaligned systems in screening for Covid-19 reflect a deeper problem: African countries talk intra-

Africa trade and regional integration without practical measures to make it work. If the SADC struggles, what about the AU?

Unsurprisingly, the im-plementation of the Afri-can Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) on July 1 was postponed - ostensibly due to Covid-19. We missed the train that was supposed to help us create the world’s largest free trade area - a market of 1.3 billion people in a regional economy that is estimated at $3.4 trillion (R57.6 trillion).

Covid-19 should be a reason to accelerate the Af-CFTA. What better chance is there going to be to manu-facture masks, sanitisers, gloves and other anti-Covid ammunition for more than a billion people?

When are we going to get a shot at strengthening the movement of goods among African states and ramping up industrialisation or manufacturing other than the present when interna-tional travel is restricted or closed?

Instead, we are import-ing more than 80% of our personal protective equip-ment from China and else-where - the easiest consum-ables to make - diverting our Solidarity Fund and other borrowed money to non-Af-rican economies. That is the bigger crisis than Covid-19; our blindness to Africa’s worth.

* Victor Kgomoeswana is author of Africa is Open for Business, media com-mentator and public speaker on African business affairs.

Imagination and ambition can rescue the tourism sector

The current administration will go into the history books as the first to take the bold step by enacting a law governing citi-zen economic empowerment. After this announcement was made, Batswana threw in their opinions. Most of them wel-comed the development, but soon the excitement died as the old questions started popping up. What has changed? What are we going to do differently this time? Even though details about this law are still sketchy, these questions remain valid. In May, the Ministry of Invest-ment, Trade and Industry put before the nation the Industrial Development Regulations un-der the Industrial Development Act, which among other things, purpose to reserve certain busi-ness undertakings for citizens and ease doing business. May I remind you that efforts to em-power citizens have a long his-tory. Botswana has invested sig-nificantly in this since the days of FAP. Different interventions have been put in place includ-ing the establishment of insti-tutions like CEDA and NDB, and policies like ‘use of locally manufactured goods’, EDD, to name but a few. Some of these programs were not entirely aimed at citizens but had a few elements in that regard. The re-ality is that with so much effort, little progress has been made, not just in empowering citizens but generally in stimulating lo-cal activity and diversifying the economy. Unfortunately, this has left us with high unemploy-ment rates and the youth are the hardest hit.

As a country we have no shortage of interventions to empower our own people. I am happy government has ex-pressed commitment to ease of doing business in the country. This is an enabler. What both-ers me, however, is whether we will achieve different results by enacting a law on citizen eco-nomic empowerment. Even more, why do we need it? Be-fore you throw stones at me, let me confess that I am not entirely against having a citizen empowerment law. Let’s con-sider this for a moment. His-torically, countries that sought to indigenise economies were those that felt that their citizens or certain groups of their citi-zenry were disadvantaged. Take our neighbour South Africa for example. They emerged out of a very painful apartheid regime that tormented and stole from the blacks, leaving them very poor. Therefore, they went for the Black Economic Empow-erment (BEE) as a restoration effort. Further west, America moved for blacks and Hispan-ics empowerment programs considering the slavery and racial ills they suffered. These programs have since changed in one form or another, with so many variations. However, the picture in both countries has not changed. In fact, these countries remain some of the most unequal societies globally. I am not saying this to discour-age our efforts – I am simply cautioning and calling attention to the cases that already exist. In short, we have to interrogate the real reason behind this law. What are we trying to correct?

Have we come to the realisation that citizens are alienated in their own country? How bad is the situation? Answers to these questions are critical because they guide our thoughts, ef-forts and investment decisions. We have to know the extent of the damage and the desired correction, failing which, just like other past efforts, it may not bear fruit. Even worse, we might succeed in just transfer-ring wealth from the minority non-citizens to a few citizens. Yes, wealth will be in the hands of citizens, but what good is it if it only serves to increase the distance between the citizens. This is what happened in South Africa. Alternatively, we might see fronting that happened in America, which is not remote considering our past experi-ences in some sectors.

In my view, we need a broad-based approach to this issue. Further, we need to clearly define what it means in our context. I am glad that the government is giving the antici-pated legal instrument a wide scope that covers land owner-ship and shareholding among other things. The work of Ab-dalla Gergis, who was a Senior Research Fellow at BIDPA ti-tled ‘Citizen economic empow-erment in Botswana: concepts & principles’, authored in 1999 is timely. Gergis emphasises the need for empowerment that comes from within as opposed to one driven by a force from outside. The author outlines 3 factors that are involved in the motivational dimension of em-powerment; (i) people will not be empowered if they do not want to be; (ii) empowerment is about creating the condi-tions conducive to enhancing motivation to perform; (iii) em-powerment entails providing the individual with the ability to perform. Going through these three factors, a lot of uncom-fortable questions came to my mind. These questions deserve to be attended to with sober minds. How motivated are our people to get empowered? I have heard of cases of people who sold off their rights to a mineral prospecting license or sub-contracted others just be-cause they didn’t want to do the hard work and would rather have some quick cash. They set-tled for crumbs. Perception on corruption is worsening, youth unemployment is high, inequal-ities are growing, a lot of peo-ple are about to lose hope and become more dependent on government. One of the big-gest boosters of productivity is the realisation that efforts are rewarded accordingly; that with one’s diligence, the sky is the limit. We have to demonstrate that merit supersedes favour. Let’s talk about the state of ed-ucation. Can we confidently say our education creates oppor-tunities for our citizens? Why are they roaming the streets? Are they fit to establish and run sustainable businesses if they wanted to?

Thuso Mphela is a senior lecturer in business at the University of Botswa-na and currently a PhD candidate at the University of Pécs in Hungary. He writes in his personal capacity.

Do we Need a Citizen Eco-nomic Empowerment Law?

Covid-19 should be a reason to accelerate the AfCFTA, not press the brakes on it

Wednesday July 8, 2020 | OPINION & ANALYSIS | 9

Opinion / AnalysisTHE

LINGUIST CHAIR

PROF. THAPELO OTLOGETSWE

The Israelites had just reached the western Si-nai desert, just between Elim and Mount Sinai, two months after leaving Egypt, the land of unimaginable slavery, torture, and murder. They were in desert territo-ry. The heat was unbearable and punishing. Food and water were scarce. The Is-raelites began to complain, and it was not for the first time. Their complaints were directed to their leaders: Moses and Aaron. That is the cross of leadership that every leader of every gener-ation must bear. They said, “It would have been better if the Lord had just kiLLed us in the Land of egypt. at Least there we had pLenty to eat. we had aLL the food we needed. But now you have Brought us out here into this desert to make us aLL die from hunger.” here were free men and women who over two months had forgot-ten the sweet taste of freedom and were missing the sLave food of egypt. the good Book teLLs an amazing story of unim-aginaBLe grace. Because of the peopLe’s compLaint, the Lord said to mo-ses, “i wiLL cause food to faLL from the sky. this food wiLL Be for you to eat. every day the peopLe shouLd go out and gather the food they need that day. i wiLL do this to see if they wiLL do what i teLL them.”

In the evening they got meat to eat, and in the morning, they got bread. The Lord said to moses, 12 “I have heard the complaints of the Israelites. So tell them, ‘Tonight you will eat meat. And in the morning, you will have all the bread you want. Then you will know you can trust the Lord, your god.”

the story continues that, that evening, fLocks of quaiL came and fiLLed the camp, and in the morn-ing dew Lay on the ground aLL around it. After the dew was gone, something like thin flakes of frost was on the ground. 1When the Israelites saw it, they asked each other, “What is that?” because they did not know what it was. So Moses told them, “This is the food the Lord is giving you to eat. 16 The Lord says, ‘each of you shouLd gather what you need, a Basket

of manna for everyone in your family.’”

Some people gathered a large amount, some people gathered a little. But when they measured what they had gathered, there was no shortage and there was none left over. Everyone gathered just what they needed. Every morning the people gathered as much food as they could eat, but by noon the food melted and was gone.

It is a biblical story of leadership. Leaders rarely attract praise while they

are on the job. They attract much ridicule and diminu-tion. Their efforts are ha-bitually reduced to nothing by their critics. A leader’s reward is complaints and criticisms. Leaders are ap-preciated long after they have bowed out of the arena. A bespectacled president speaks from the other side of the pond. His words reverberate through the rolling mountains and valleys of time. His mes-sage is clear: “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them bet-ter. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives val-iantly; who errs and comes short again and again; be-cause there is not effort without error and short-comings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devo-tion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achieve-ment and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither vic-tory nor defeat.” Theodore Roosevelt is right. The crit-ics and the hired journalists think they count, but in the larger scheme of things, they do not. Their schemes are pure malice. Batswana and Botswana come first. The President is in the arena; His face is marred by dust, sweat, and blood. He strives valiantly for this country. Yes, He may err sometimes, because to err is human. But we know very well that, there is no effort without error and short-comings. We are not una-ware of the His great en-thusiasm, devotion, and his worthy causes which will ul-timately lead to the triumph of high achievement. A lit-tle Kipling has never hurt anybody: “If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you; If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, But make allowance for their doubt-ing too; If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies, Or being hated, don’t give way to hating, And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise… If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue, Or walk with Kings – nor lose the com-mon touch, If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you, If all men count with you, but none too much; If you can fill the unfor-giving minute With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run, Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it, And - which is more - you’ll be a Man, my son!”

The Honourable Minister Dr Thapelo Matsheka made a startling revelation at the Budget Speech 2020. He informed the nation that P4.9 billion is wasted every year through inefficiencies at the State-Owned Enter-prises (SOEs) or ‘parastatals’. Whilst this calls for immedi-ate and concerted corrective action we should also proac-tively guard against making it worse. The Botswana Forum for Action and Reform (B-FAR) believes that the recent-ly formed Special Economic Zones Authority (SEZA), whilst well intended, is on a sure footing to make the cur-rent alarming rate of wastage look like child’s play. We also perceive the continuation of institutional stumbling blocks to the nation’s desired trans-formation journey within the SOEs existing under the Min-istry of Investment, Trade & Industry (MITI).

SEZA is an institution that should be like no other with regard to transforma-tion, but appears to be started on horribly shaky grounds. It should serve as an instru-ment of transformation, as it should not only instigate, facilitate and drive large scale development, but should also inherently have the means to influence development policy, interrogate relevant legisla-ture and advocate for struc-tural change and thus fuel and propel transformation, but it seems to have gone astray from its birth and destined for a gloomy and wasteful ex-istence.

Some years ago there was a man called Nico Cypionka engaged by the government on advisory capacity under the then Botswana Economic Advisory Council (BEAC). In 2003 Mr Cypionka came up with a list of eight (8) recom-mendations or interventions for stimulating economic growth. He recommended that they be considered for implementation at Panda-matenga, Tuli Block, Francis-town, Selibi Pikwe, Palapye, Fairgrounds, SSKI Airport and Lobatse. This was in 2003, and the recommenda-tions were meant for that time. We should also note that at that time the Local Enterprise Authority (LEA) and the Botswana Innovation Hub (BIH) did not exist and SPEDU was more of a policy administrative structure than the economic free zone it is today. The recommendations were made under this back-ground.

Eight (8) years later, in 2011, someone copy-pasted Mr Cypionka’s recommenda-tions into a Special Economic Zones (SEZ) Policy. Conse-quently, the SEZ Policy stipu-lated the number of SEZs (zones), where they should be, and the economic areas they should cover, just as they were stated by Mr Cypionka. A normal SEZ Policy should only lay down the criteria for selecting a SEZ and should never stipulate their num-ber, their locations and their economic areas as these are dependent on changing tech-nologies, market conditions and economic factors. What Mr Cypionka intended as recommendations for 2003 had ill-advisedly become the SEZ Policy for Botswana 8 years later in 2011. It is very surprising that this grave mis-take escaped the sharp eyes, checks and balances of the Ministry leadership. It gets

worse.During the period from

2003 to 2011, LEA had come into existence and was man-dated, among others, to ‘fa-cilitate market access’ and had policy focus on a number of fields including agricul-ture. This LEA mandate of facilitating agriculture is ex-actly what Mr Cypionka had intended for Pandamatenga and Tuli Block. The SEZ Policy overlooked the fact that these two areas were therefore covered by LEA. There was absolutely no need to take Mr Cypionka’s recom-mendation regarding these two places and put them in the SEZ Policy in 2011. They were fulfilled by LEA. It gets worse. The Botswana Inno-vation Hub (BIH) had also come into existence and had covered SSKI Airport.

We hasten to observe that BIH is not at MITI but it does affect the work of MITI. In fact, as a useful aside in this analysis BIH should ideally not exist in the form of a parastatal directly under any Ministry. It is not a Science & Technology (S&T) Park as it likes to make us believe and even if it was, it should ide-ally be attached to a bigger institution like a University or a Research Organization or even a Municipality (City Council). Fortunately it was never intended to be an S&T Park. But it gets worse there too. BIH is not even what it was intended to be – it is not an Innovation Hub. If gov-ernment has not heard this in as clear terms as we are using here, it has now and B-FAR is available to elucidate. Go-ing back to MITI, it can be said to be fortunate that BIH functions and behaves like a Special Economic Zone, a SEZ, thus fulfilling Mr Cypi-onka’s recommendation for SSKI Airport area. This is to be expected because Mr Cypionka had a hand in the way BIH was conceptual-ized in 2006 - intentionally moving it away from a S&T Park model. Yet, once again, whoever copy-pasted these recommendations into a SEZ Policy failed to realize that SSKI Airport was already covered by BIH. The 2011 Policy recommends that a SEZ be created at SSKI Air-port. A SEZ is recommended to be developed where a SEZ already exists. It gets worse.

During the period be-tween 2003 and 2011, the SPEDU also became a Free Zone, a form of a Special Economic Zone, yet the pol-icy includes Selibi Pikwe as an area earmarked for a SEZ. This means another SEZ on top of an existing SEZ. It gets worse and even more perplexing when we move on to Gaborone Fairgrounds. In 2003 when Mr Cypionka recommended Fairgrounds for financial services imter-vention, the Fairgrounds area had the most number of companies in financial servic-es and had empty space to ac-commodate an intervention. Today there is no such space and the target fintech com-panies exist elsewhere, such as at Finance Park and CBD. Even Mr Cypionka will him-self take Fairgrounds out of the list if he was here today. In pursuit of a mirage, SEZA has drawn a map over exist-ing companies and entities at Fairgrounds such as Bot-swana Accountancy College, BancABC, BDC, LEA, BIHL and several private companies

that did not exist in 2003, all the way up to and including Riverwalk Mall. Poor souls, they just have to have a map of an intended SEZ even if it goes over existing private and public entities just be-cause their policy says so. At B-FAR, we can not visualize a SEZ at Pandamatenga or Tuli Block by any stretch of imag-ination, but Fairgrounds is ut-terly and shockingly strange. Imprudence within SOEs can cause immense harm to an economy, and failure to step in by accounting Ministries is worrisome. SEZA is busy consulting neighbourhoods on futile Impact Studies re-lated to Fairgrounds SEZ and MITI is aware of these wind-chasing activities but remains silent and unperturbed. It gets worse.

Things proceeded in this extremely imprudent manner from the 2011 SEZ Policy into the 2015 SEZ Act. The Policy became law, almost word for word. Four years after the Policy and twelve (12) years after Mr Cypionka’s recommendations, the mis-takes were solidified into law. It gets worse. SEZA was es-tablished in 2017 and typically one would expect that the ex-perts were hired and would pick the mistakes and start SEZA off by first correcting the foundational instruments - the Policy and the Act. This did not happen and as we speak today, in 2020, 17 years since the recommendations were made by Mr Cypionka for interventions to be car-ried out at that time in 2003, this is how this nation stands to lose:

• Two SEZ zones (Panda-matenga and Tuli Block) are planned in areas where it is inconceivable to have a SEZ, to ad-dress economic areas unusual for SEZs and problems already man-dated to LEA;

• Two SEZ zones (Selibi Phikwe and SSKI Air-port) are planned on top of existing SEZs, money is being spent trying to design and create what is already in existence;

• One SEZ zone (Fair-grounds) is planned on top of existing business-es and entities, money is being spent trying to realise an impossible and impractical dream;

• A big SEZA headquar-ters is planned at SSKI Airport, where already exists a big headquarters of another SEZ. The existing SEZ does not even know it is a SEZ and duplication is under-way;

The above analysis tells us that out of the eight SEZs speci-fied in the SEZ Policy, five of them are irrelevant and un-workable. This is because Mr Cypionka’s recommendations have been fulfilled or things have changed considerably since 2003. Pandamatenga, Tuli Block, Selibi Pikwe and Fairgrounds should not have been included in the SEZ Policy and Act and SSKI Air-port SEZ should only exist as an expansion of the already existing SEZ that is wrongly labeled BIH. Only Palapye, Francistown and Lobatse can be justified under today’s cir-cumstances. There is obvious duplication and irrelevance – the very same problems that Hon Dr Matsheka lamented

on when he delivered the 2020 Budget Speech. B-FAR alerts the nation to the realization that SEZA has the capability to more than double the loss stated by Dr Matsheka if it is not checked. We also recall that it took 10 years to develop BIH at well over P2billion spent (build-ing and staff) and SEZA proposes an 8-fold under-taking compared to BIH. A country the size of Botswana should only grapple with 2 or 3 SEZs. Dr Matsheka as-sured us that it can not be ‘business as usual’ at govern-ment, and that was before the debilitating COVID-19 came upon us. Belt-tightening is critical now more than ever before. Government has the responsibility to pull SEZA back to the drawing board before it goes out of hand. We understand that MITI has employed a new SEZA CEO during the lockdown period. We understand that the new CEO was a key player in the formulation of the erroneous SEZ Policy and SEZ Act. It is a challenge for anyone to correct himself, moreso if his mistakes were perceived by MITI as strengths and not weaknesses, but we look up to MITI to come up with solutions, sooner rather than later and we recommend that the following be done:

a. The amendment of the SEZ Policy and Act. We have to step out of 2003 and have foun-dational instruments that allow for changing times, technologies, mar-kets and national needs. We should unlock the SEZ potential from that distant past and bring it to the current. The amendment is necessary and urgent.

b. Proceeding with Lobat-se, Palapye and Fran-cistown in the interim;

c. Termination of all cur-rent plans for Fair-grounds zone; it does not make sense now and it will never make sense.

d. Termination of Selibi Pikwe zone and hando-ver of plans to SPEDU;

e. Transfer of Panda-matenga and Tuli Block zones to LEA for mar-ket access facilitation;

f. Taking appropriate measures to incorporate BIH into SEZA or al-ternatively into BITRI or BIUST where it will then serve as a proper S&T Park.

g. Proceeding with SSKI Airport as expansions, but removing plans for new SEZA Headquar-ters at SSKI Airport to avoid obvious future du-plication.

There are several things we should expect from SEZA once it has been retooled as above suggested. It should begin to lead interrogation of useful structural reforms in Botswana. To elucidate on this expectation we would like to pick a number of issues of great concern for the nation. These are:a) Unemployment: We

need to know exactly how SEZA is going to contribute to the crea-tion of jobs, how many are possible, over how long and how exactly they will be created;

b) Citizen Empower-ment: We need to know

specific measures that SEZA policies will take to empower Batswana and promote local and domestic enterprise;

c) Comparative Ad-vantage: Large multi-national companies (MNCs) in the tyre in-dustry like Dunlop, Fire-stone, etc are attracted to Thailand because of its comparative advan-tage in rubber and not because of low taxes and rebates. Thailand grew rubber trees and there-by created comparative advantage. This is how nowadays true Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is attracted to a country. We need to know what SEZA intends to do for Botswana in this regard;

d) Structural Change: B-FAR believes that had the SEZ Policy and Law not unwittingly been cast in stone as they were, SEZA would have had the flexibility to investi-gate high yield economic areas and follow them instead. We need to be told how this will be ad-dressed going forward;

e) Medicinal and High Value Plants: B-FAR believes that with the flexibility mentioned above, SEZA might have picked the need to investigate the economic benefits of medicinal marijuana and indus-trial hemp well before they became political, and would have led our economy the right way, especially that SEZA inherently can influence policy and law. We do not expect a SEZ in hor-ticulture but one in high value medicinal crops in-stead, and we have many such crops. We need to understand why such areas are ignored and what SEZA intends to do about this;

f) Global Value Chains (GVCs): Planning flex-ibility allowed for by policy and law will en-able SEZA to effectively respond to new areas of high economic value in-cluding participation in GVCs as recommended by World Bank and IMF. We need to know how SEZA intends to lead the country in this re-gard, including as it re-lates to the automotive industry, a known source of GVC opportunities. We can not accept that the ‘electric car’ remains an impossible political gimmick; we demand that SEZA awakens to take it up and informs us how the transformation will unfold.

B-FAR does not derive joy from fault-finding but advises in good faith and calls for ac-tion on matters in desperate need for change. No-one is going to come from another side of the world to point out our mistakes as a country. It is Batswana who will do that and Government agencies should reflect on such advice and act for the good of our country. We trust that MITI will respond and act accord-ingly. It can not be business as usual. Let this be a decade of change. Remove obstacles to transformation.

FATSHE LENO, LA RONA!

Masisi’s hour has come

Media Release

B-FAR Calls SEZA and BIH Back to the Drawing Board and MITI to Act

Wednesday July 8, 202010

TO ADVERTISE PLEASE CALL: 3190905 OR FAX: 3190870

02nd July 2020

MEDIA RELEASEPRECAUTIONS ON THE HANDLING

AND USE OF PETROLEUM PRODUCTSAmid the current fuel supply situation facing the country, the Botswana Energy Regulatory Authority (BERA) wishes to warn the public of the dangers and illicit practices emanating from the handling and use of petroleum products.

The Authority warns that due to shortages being experienced, there is likelihood of mishandling and unsafe practices, and illicit trading of fuel and would like to inform the public to take the following precautions when dealing with petroleum products:

1. Petroleum products are highly inflammable;2. Smoking is not allowed at the filling stations;3. Use of cellphones is prohibited at filling stations;4. Do not use your mouth to siphon fuel;5. Avoid any leaks and exposure of fuel to the atmosphere;6. Engines must be switched off when refueling;7. Only prescribed containers (jerry cans) may be used to transport and store fuel;8. No one is allowed to sell petroleum products without authorization by BERA; and9. No one is allowed to sell petroleum products at a price above the regulated retail pump price

specified for a particular location.

The Authority also advises the general public to avoid stock piling of fuel as this may cause exposure to safety risks.

Any person found selling fuel without a license or above the regulated price will be liable to a fine in terms of section 34 of the BERA Act. For further information, kindly contact BERA office at 5330932 or info@bera.co.bw

____________________Ms. Julia A. MooketsiFor/Chief Executive Officer

Wednesday July 8, 2020

By The Telegraph Reporter

Botswana’s economy continues to grow slowly as effects of the Covid-19 out-break start to be-

come more pronounced as shown by official figures. However, the damage could be even bigger as the data is still lagging behind what could be the country’s worst reces-sion.

Statistics Botswana on Monday released the country’s gross domes-

tic product (GDP) data for the first quarter of the year, which showed that economic activity amounted to P50.7 billion in the first three months of the year, putting growth at 2.5 percent. In real GDP terms, the economy grew by 2.6 percent to P25 billion.

The economic growth rate was much lower than 2019’s first quar-ter GDP rate of 4.2 percent. The sluggish growth this year has been tied down to the disruptions caused by the coronavirus outbreak, which saw containment measures affecting

business activities and causing eco-nomic downturns across the world.

Sectors of the economy experi-enced challenges, managing to grow slightly but at rates lower than they did in the previous period. Much of the growth in the economy was attributed to water and electricity sector which grew by 13.4 percent. Though the industry recorded the highest growth, its contribution to the economy still remains the low-est.

Finance and Business Services industry was up by 7 percent, while

Trade, Hotels and Restaurants real value added went up by 4.4 percent, Transport and Communications value added increased by 2.6 per-cent.

Agriculture was the blight spot in the economy as the sector con-tinues to weaken every passing year. The industry registered a negative growth of 0.6 percent. Mining was also hit, with real value added of mining decreasing by 6.1 percent, mainly influenced by diamond and Soda. Diamond production went down by 5.7 percent while Soda

Ash production in tonnes decreased by 11.4 percent.

“Diamonds are luxury goods and therefore are bound to fluctu-ate due to the appetite of reliable customers as the world is highly affected by the outbreak of coro-navirus pandemic. There is a signifi-cant drop in the global markets for diamonds demand,” said Malebogo Kerekang, the acting statistician general.

Botswana’s economy is ex-pected to take a heavy knock this year, with the country’s minister

of finance Dr. Thapelo Matsheka projecting the economy to contract by 13 percent this year, down from the earlier forecasted growth of 4.4 percent.

Though Botswana has been able to contain the spread of coronavi-rus, its diamond dependent econ-omy will not remain unscathed. The government has recently un-veiled plans to jumpstart economic growth through the ambitious Eco-nomic Recovery and Transforma-tion Plan (ERTP), which will cost the state P40 billion to implement.

By Bonnie Modiakgotla

Botswana’s exports fell by over 90 percent during the lockdown period, adding to the woes of an already one-sided trade pattern where the country’s trade deficits have been on the rise.

Statistics Botswana’s recently released International Merchan-dise Trade Statistics shows that Botswana exported P142.8 million of goods, a massive 96.8 percent drop when compared to the pre-vious month’s exports worth P4.4 billion. The significant decrease in exports was down to government’s strict measures to curb the spread of coronavirus, which included a lockdown that restricted move-ments and business activities.

Top diamond mining giant De Beers, which is in partnership with the Botswana government, cancelled and postponed planned diamond sales in Gaborone, a de-velopment that affected the sale of diamonds. Since the country attained independence, diamond exports have anchored Botswana’s

economy, contributing to much of the government’s revenues.

With no diamonds sold, the P142.8 million exports in April were largely due to gold, repre-senting 35.6 percent of exports, and followed by salt and soda ash, which contributed 28.8 percent, while copper and nickel exports came third with 2.5 percent of to-tal exports for the month.

Imports also fell in April, drop-ping by 78.8 percent to P1.4 billion. Statistics Botswana says all com-modity groups recorded negative growth during the period under review, citing border closures as the main impediment. Food, bev-erages and tobacco were the most imported commodities, represent-ing 38.2 percent of total imports. There was increased demand for pharmaceutical products, with the country’s health officials import-ing the required health products to battle the Covid-19 scare.

With the country currently fac-ing fuel shortages which began in the end of June, the trade data for April shows that the fuel crisis was

By The Telegraph Reporter

The mining sector was constrained in the first quarter of the year, with major commodities markets af-fected by the Covid-19 pandemic which affected global trade.

Botswana’s index of mining production declined by 5.6 percent in the first quarter of the year com-pared to 2019’s corresponding pe-riod. The main cause of the decline has been the economy’s main en-gine, diamonds, whose production fell by 5.7 percent due to commis-sioning of new plant infrastructure and maintenance, while production at Jwaneng reduced by 4 percent due to planned lower grade.

The diamond industry is antici-pated to struggle this year after Co-vid-19 containment measures re-sulted in most diamond sales being cancelled, with cutting and polish-ing factories closed for some time with workers placed under strict lockdowns. Experts say this has created a glut in the supply chain, which means companies will have high inventories that will constrain them from buying rough diamonds from top producers like Botswana.

On the other hand, gold pro-duction increased by 7.2 percent

during the first quarter of 2020, af-ter declining for the four consecu-tive quarters of 2019. The positive growth was as a result of higher than expected gold recoveries from the ore which came at a time where gold prices were showing some im-provement.

Salt production increased by 2.5 percent during the first quarter, making a comeback after declining during the previous two quarters. The increase was in response to high demand of the commodity by the regional markets.

Coal production increased by 4.9 percent compared to the same quarter in 2019. The increase was a result of the efforts made to meet both the international and domestic demand, particularly that Morupule A power plant has start-ed operating in order to augment electricity produced by Morupule B power plant which has resumed remedial works on the boilers.

Soda Ash production declined for the third consecutive quarter, decreasing by 12.8 percent first quarter compared to the same quarter of the previous year. The decrease in production has been at-tributed to the inefficiency of the plants to operate at full capacity.

Q1:2020 GDP Data - the economy cools down

Botswana’s exports down by over 90%

Botswana’s mining activity slows

long in the making. It appears the import of fuel took a nosedive, with value of imported fuel fall-ing by 80.7 percent, from March’s P1.1 billion to April’s P208.4 mil-lion.

With both imports and ex-ports falling drastically, the coun-try registered a P1.2 billion trade shortfall, extending the troubling records of deficits, where the country is importing more than

it selling to outside markets. The first quarter ended with a P3.6 billion deficit, much bigger than the previous year’s first quarter, a worrying sign that this year might even be worse than what was con-sidered a bad year of deficits.

Botswana ended 2019 with a cumulative trade balance deficit of P14.2 billion, the highest since 2012’s trade deficit of P16.3 bil-lion.

J o u r n a l i s m o f c o u r a g eWednesday July 8, 2020 Markets | Companies | Mining | World Business

Critical habits that children must develop for financial success in future: Part 1…. Pg 12One of the most common reasons why parents seem reluctant to teach their kids about money is not knowing where or how to start. As we discussed in our last article, “The right time to start money discussions with your kids is earlier than you may think”, children are ready to learn money concepts by the age of 2 to 3. However, it is important that we understand which money lessons are appropriate for their age.

Statistics Botswana

Wednesday July 8, 202012

One of the most common r e a s o n s why par-

ents seem reluctant to teach their kids about money is not knowing where or how to start. As we discussed in our last article, “The right time to start money dis-cussions with your kids

is earlier than you may think”, children are ready to learn money concepts by the age of 2 to 3. However, it is important that we understand which money lessons are appro-priate for their age.

It is also important to remember that chil-dren learn best through play, observation and experiment. Therefore, children tend to develop habits around what they see us say and do. This means that in order for parents to model the right behaviour and make money lessons effective, certain habits have to be cultivated at an early age. Certainly, instilling good habits should be the starting point for par-ents because it will make money lessons easier, fun ad effective.

In this article we will focus on the first habit which is delayed or dif-fered gratification. The Oxford Dictionary of Marketing defines de-layed gratification as “the psychological con-dition which enables the individual to wait patiently for future ben-efits instead of demand-ing something that they desire instantly and act-ing accordingly.” This is an essential life skill that may be challenging, espe-cially for children, but it can be learned. Children are not good at being patient, when they want something, they want it now! To teach your chil-dren to be patient, you have to start with every-day activities by taking advantage of teachable moments. For example,

you can teach your chil-dren to wait for everyone to sit down at the dinner table every time you have dinner so that you all eat together. For younger children you can encour-age them to take turns when playing so that they all have fun. These are simple teachable mo-ments that we may take for granted but the ben-efits are immense.

The classic Marsh-mallow Test by Psycholo-gist Walter Mischel and a team of researchers at Stanford University in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s laid a solid foun-dation on the impact of developing a habit of delaying gratification at an early age. The test was carried out with a group children aged 3 to 5 years who were presented

with a marshmallow and told that they can either eat a marshmallow now, or wait 15 minutes and receive two marshmal-lows. As you might guess, only a few managed to wait the full 15 minutes to receive the reward of a second marshmal-low. Interestingly, over the years the researchers found that children who passed the marshmallow test had better emotional coping skills, higher rates of educational attain-ment, lower body mass index, lower divorce rates and lower rates of addition. The research-ers therefore concluded that “pre-schoolers were likely to wait longer when they were given effec-tive strategies”. This is because children who passed the test had to

devise strategies to dis-tract themselves from the marshmallow for a greater reward. Once children learn to distract themselves, either by fo-cusing on something else, like playing, or avoid-ing the temptation alto-gether, they are likely to carry this good habit into adulthood.

According to re-search, delay of grati-fication is considered to be among the top predictors of financial success. In their study titled “Good Things for Those Who Wait: Predic-tive Modeling Highlights Importance of Delay Discounting for Income Attainment”, Hampton, Asadi and Olson (2018) used machine learning algorithms to model the relationship between in-

dividuals’ tendency for delay discounting and other self-reported vari-ables, and found that de-lay discounting was more predictive of income than age, ethnicity, race, and height. In this context, delay discounting refers to the tendency to place less value on rewards that are delayed in time. It is therefore evident that the ability to resist the temp-tation of an immediate reward in preference for a later reward is a strong predictor of one’s earn-ing potential. Training our children to be better at delaying gratification is therefore essential for their financial future, par-ticularly when it comes to saving, managing expens-es, investing or running a business.

Without the disci-

pline of delaying gratifi-cation, it is easier to fall into marketers’ tactics and indulge in impulsive buying. Staying out of debt, especially bad debt, also becomes a challenge. Above all, our children are living in a world of in-stant gratification where everything is easily acces-sible, thanks to technol-ogy. This is why I chal-lenge parents to take it upon themselves to help their children develop the habit of waiting for a bet-ter reward, the earlier you start the better. The best way to do that is to use teachable moments in your everyday lives.

Otisitswe Tawana-Madziba is the founder of Fin-Edu. For comments and enquiries kindly send email to otisitswe@fin-edubw.com or visit www.fin-edubw.com.

Critical habits that children must develop for financial success in future: Part 1

GUEST COLUMN

OTISITSWE TAWANA-MADZIBA

By Portia Nkani

The Botswana Market-ing Board (BAMB) has urged Batswana to till the soil to augment a shortfall of some 90 metric tonnes of maize yield.

The call comes amid fears the impact of the coronavirus on trade may soon bite a signifi-cant chunk off food im-ports.

BAMB projects grain output of between 20 000 and 30 000 met-ric tonnes (mt) of maize – a significant shortfall considering the annual consumption of 120 000mt.

Chief executive officer (CEO) Leon-ard Morakaladi says: “Though we are expect-ing a historic crop yield on maize at 30 metric tonnes, the country con-sumes 120 000 metric tonnes annually.”

“What we are able to mop up from our small farmers is enough to service our walk-in trade and small-scale millers. Our big mill-ers currently supply be-tween 80 000 and 100 000 metric tonnes. So there ex-ists an op-portunity, for Batswana to go into crop production.”

The CEO says BAMB ran out of maize and beans normal-ly supplied to government programmes and consum-ers which gave the organisation a negative output of about seven percent.

BAMB, which still awaits its 2019 financial results undergoing audit, has experienced phe-nomenal double-digit growth over the last two years.

Morakaladi indicated that cumulatively BAMB is sitting at 49 percent growth.

“This is due to how we have been doing our business. We consolidat-ed production from our farmers, strengthened

relationships, contracted millers and improved the value chain. The value chain was previ-ously fragmented result-ing in losses. Some grain went through the bor-ders even when we had grain such as sorghum. Our grain stayed longer in our silos. Today, the country has produced a historic crop output in terms of size. We are looking at 60mt of sorghum that is coming out.”

“ R e l a t i o n s h i p management is key to BAMB, in the absence of that anybody can go to the farm gate and that will not necessarily ascertain the quality of crop and pricing,” says Morakaladi.

BAMB has seen growth in payout to farmers. Last year alone, the marketing board paid over P160 million cumulative to farmers. BAMB says this year the crop farmers especially have been blessed with a good harvest. BAM

projects to pay farmers P398 million for a variety of grains.

L a s t p l o u g h i n g season only 2000mt of maize was realised, and this low pro-duction was due to the drought expe-rienced.

For this latest har-vest season ( 2 0 1 9 / 2 0 ) BAMB sur-passed a P15 million mark paid out to

farmers in procuring grain.

During the 2017/2018 harvesting season, a total of 26,430 mt of grains were pur-chased. The Board pur-chased 18,182mt of sorghum from farmers compared to 31,226mt of the previous year.

“We need to crop up the food that is being grown to put it in our silos because we are not sure for how long the borders will be closed due to the current Cov-id19 pandemic,” he said.

By Bonnie Modiakgotla

There has been a surge in power imports as Bo-tswana Power Corpo-ration (BPC) struggles to meet local power demand, adding to the costs which have seen the power utility hiking its prices recently.

The volume of elec-tricity generated in the first quarter of the year was 481,984 MW, a 37.9

percent decrease from the corresponding peri-od last year, and still 13.4 percent lower than the preceding quarter. The generated electricity was below the country’s av-erage maximum demand of 610 MW or the peak demand of 702 MW.

BPC’s owned power plants, the 600 MW Morupule B and the 132 MW Morupule A, have failed to meet local de-

mand due to operational inefficiencies. Morupule B is currently undergo-ing remediation process at the contractor’s ex-pense. The coal powered plant was commissioned in 2012, gobbling nearly P10 billion, but has nev-er been fully functional, with only half of the four units functioning most at a time.

The shortage in lo-cal power production

was met through im-ports, which have now grown large in size and cost. In the first quarter of the year, the country imported 529, 352 MW of power, a 180 percent increase compared with 2019’s first quarter.

“Botswana imported 52.3 percent of total electricity distributed during the first quar-ter of 2020. Eskom was the main source

of imported electricity at 55.9 percent of to-tal electricity imports. The Southern African Power Pool (SAPP) sup-plied 23.0 percent while 16.6 percent and 4.5 percent were sourced from, Nampower and Cross-border markets respectively,” revealed Statistics Botswana’s Electricity Generation and Distribution report for the first quarter of

2020. Last year BPC im-

ported 28 percent of the required electricity at a cost of P861 million. The struggling power utility in April finally succeeded in convincing the Botswana Energy Regulatory Authority to approve the 22 percent hike in electricity tariffs, arguing that they badly need to raise tariffs to meet operational costs.

Botswana imports half of its electricity Botswana has grain shortages

Morupule B

Wednesday July 8, 2020

Arts & SocietyBy Lucia Tshepo

Mi n i s t e r P e g g y S e r a m e and her team aren’t

giving answers as to what informs the continued restrictions on bars even as other sectors like transport have opened up without observing social distancing regulations.

The alcohol industry like many other industries has been severely affected by the coronavirus pandemic and the national lockdown which dragged for almost two full months.

The harsh effects, it has become apparent, are not felt the same way in the chain of distribution within the alcohol industry. The top suppliers (wholesalers) on the chain seem to be better off than the bottom (bars and club).

Business at bar and club level has been heavily affected by the new regulations and owners calling for the government to intervene. The latest alcohol consumption regulations, Molepolole based bar owner Kealeboga Bogatsu has said, only benefit liquor

restaurants and wholesalers. The new regulations permit allows customers to drink within the premises at restaurants while in the case of bars and clubs, alcohol is only sold on a takeaway basis.

Bogatsu’s main concern is that they have observed how this kind of arrangement has negatively impacted sales at bars. The nature of a regular bar is such that they provide chilled alcohol beverages for sit-in customers so by taking away the sit-in part, customers turn to restaurants instead which offer that service.

The 39-year-old bar owner also laments the tight competition they face with bottle stores which usually sell at cheaper prices. He says nowadays bottle stores enjoy a larger share of the customer base because they also offer chilled beer which is normally the duty of bars and clubs.

“You find that now even bottle stores sell chilled

beverages hence individual customers go there to buy alcohol for immediate consumption instead of going to buy those at bars.” This kind of arrangement, Bogatsu says, makes bottle stores no different from bars.

Given the difference in price range and same ‘no sit-in’ conditions customers will always prefer bottle stores over bars. Similarly, even local beer manufacturers and wholesalers are failing bar owners by allowing individuals to buy alcohol beverages directly from them.

“It is sad that as a business owner you can be in the same queue to purchase alcohol with the very same customer you wish to sell to. Everyone is allowed to purchase alcohol at wholesalers,” he complains.

The new working hours put in place for alcohol retailers, particularly bars, Bogatsu says, have rendered

running a bar meaningless. He says customers would not walk into a bar at 10am in a winter morning to buy alcohol and go home. Similarly, the 7pm curfew is not convenient for customers and has since led to a drop in the number of customers who walk into bars. Bogatsu says when the lockdown was lifted, he has experienced a shocking drop in daily income as compared to before.

He says the first day he opened, he made about P1300.00 which was way too little compared to what he is used to make under normal conditions. He says on a really bad day he can make as little as P437.00. He

has since decided to close his bar. Other bars around Molepolole, Bogatsu says, have also stopped operating because the conditions getting worse. Confirming his words, two more bar owners, one in Gabane and the other in Gaborone, said that they experience similar losses.

They have also closed their lounges because they were not making any profit. Mr Godiraone Ramontsho, a bar owner in Gabane, said that he finds himself using stock money to pay for rent and his employees and is now facing a negative cash flow. He says that if the curfew could be pushed to 10pm, they could get more customers. “The 7pm curfew is not working for anybody because even if a customer wished to pass by the bar to buy, they will be stuck on traffic and by the time they arrive, they will find us closed,” he suggested.

On the other hand, Bogatsu points a finger at the Botswana Alcohol Industry Association (BAIA) which he says is not playing an adequate role in helping bar owners because it is made up of mainly representatives from top companies in the alcohol supply chain.

Bogatsu says government intervention is needed to help them survive.

“The association is

doing nothing towards our problems and we have recently told them that we feel they are not representing us well.” Bogatsu’s worry is that the association is made up of members from big alcohol companies hence they barely cater for the needs of

the smaller retailers of alcohol. Commenting on this,

the chairperson of the BAIA Mothusi Molokomme says bars and clubs are not direct members of the association. He says whereas they can speak for businesses who are involved in their chain of distribution of alcohol, they do not have the obligation to do so for smaller alcohol retail outlets who are not direct members of the association.

The Ministry of Trade and Industry have said the current situation of Coronavirus hinders them from altering some regulations.

They said the regulations are meant to prevent any possible spread of the virus among people rather than meant to disadvantage anybody. The State of Emergency (SOE) also, they say, does not allow for much to be done at this point. They encourage the alcohol industry to write to them as a whole instead of individual factions who come singularly to argue their case.

“You find that most of them come for individual complaints. Some as bar owners while some as depot owners.” This, the Ministry said, makes it difficult for them to keep explaining the same points to different people yet within the same industry.

SATURDAY 11TH JULY 20209.00am

Duly instructed by our client, WESBANK, we shall sell the following REPOSESSED VEHICLES:

LOT 1047 2014 NISSAN SENTRA 1.6 LOT 1137 2017 VOLKSWAGEN POLO VIVO GP 1.4I TRENDLINE

LOT 1085 2015 NISSAN NAVARA 2.5DCI LE 4X4 LOT 1139 2017 NISSAN NP3002.4 HI-RIDER D/C P/U

LOT 1089 2015 ISUZU KB300 CREW CAB 4X4 LOT 1140 2019 VOLKSWAGEN POLO 1.0 TSI

LOT 1090 2016 MERCEDES BENZ GLE 350D 4MATIC LOT 1141 2016 TOYOTA FORTUNER 2.7 A/T R/B

LOT 1095 2018 NISSAN ALMERA 1.5 LOT 1143 2014 TOYOTA ETIOS 1.5 XS 5 DR

LOT 1099 2014 KIA SPORTAGE 2.0 LOT 1145 2012 VOLKSWAGEN JETTA 1.4TSI HIGHLINE

LOT 1103 2018 VOLKSWAGEN POLO 1.4 TRENDLINE 5DR LOT 1148 2015 NISSAN NP300 2.5D 4X4

LOT 1107 2018 NISSAN MICRA 900T ACENTA PLUS LOT 1149 2014 ADUI A4 1.8T

LOT 1111 2016 TOYOTA COROLLA 1.6 QUEST LOT 1150 2018 TOYOTA COROLLA QUEST 1.6

LOT 1112 2017 FIAT FULLBACK 2.4 4X4 A/T D/C LOT 1151 2011 VOLKSWAGEN GOLF GTI

LOT 1114 2014 NISSAN X-TRAIL 2.0 XE LOT 1152 2018 NISSAN NP300 HARDBODY D-CAB

LOT 1121 2011 VOLVO XC60 D3 GEARTRONIC ELITE S/W LOT 1153 2014 TOYOTA COROLLA QUEST 1.6 PLUS

LOT 1122 2015 VOLKSWAGEN POLO VIVO GP 1.4 TRENDLINE LOT 1154 2015 ADUI Q3 2.0T FSI

LOT 1124 2016 VOLKSWAGEN POLO VIVO 1.4 LOT 1155 2014 MERCEDES BENZ A200 (A)

LOT 1128 2015 BMW 320I AUTO LOT 1156 2014 FORD RANGER 3.2 WILDTRACK 4X4

LOT 1134 2017 NISSAN NP300 2.0NLWB P/U LOT 1157 2011 TOYOTA LANDCRUISER 4.0 V6 VX

LOT 1135 2018 VOLKSWAGEN AMAROK 3.0TDI HIGHLINE 4MOTION LOT 1158 2018 TOYOTA LANDCRUISER 4.2D S/C

FULL GOVERNMENT COMPLIANCE PERTAINING TO COVID-19 REGULATIONS MUST BE ADHERED TO

ENTRY PERMITTED TO REGISTERD CARD HOLDERS ONLY

PICTURES AND DETAILS CAN BE VIEWD AT www.auctioneersbotswana.co.bw

VIEWING & VENUE: Wesbank repossession center, BLOCK 3 – between SEFALANA and AFROX. View from Monday 6th July 2020 to Friday 10th July 2020 from 8.30am until 4.30pm (closed for lunch 1pm – 2pm). (Friday viewing closes at 3.00PM)

REGISTRATION: P5 000.00 deposit PER VEHICLE– refundable P10 000 deposit PER TRUCK / TRAILER / BUS / EARTH MOVING EQUIPMENT PAYMENT: Balance of payment to paid by CLOSE OF BUSINESS, WEDNESDAY 15th JULY 2020, by means of

Direct Deposit, ETF or cleared Bank Cheque. All bank charges for the account of the Buyer. NO CASH ON SITE. Failure to comply will result in forfeiture of deposit paid and goods purchased.

REMOVAL: Vehicles may ONLY be removed from MONDAY 13th July. All Vehicles purchased must be removed UPON FULL PAYMENT

PLEASE NOTE: Attendance – the auctions will be open to the public with the exception of Wesbank and FNB employees and their immediate families.

BUYERS COMMISSION & VAT applicableFailure to comply with the above Conditions shall result in loss of goods purchased and deposits paid

ALL DETAILS ABOVE ARE SUBJECT TO ALTERATION OR CANCELLATION WITHOUT NOTICEFor additional information, please contact Lenah Pheto 3902895 / 390 6565, Phillips 392 6318 / 71303235

aucbots@auctioneersb.co.bw www.auctioneersbotswana.co.bw

Serame’s hard and fast liquor rules give bar owners heavy hangover

More than 62 per cent of US consumers would prefer to buy diamond jewellery at a physical store over buying online, as long as the environment is considered safe, according to new research published today by De Beers Group in the second of its Diamond Insight ‘Flash’ Reports, which seek to highlight the evolving consumer perspective in light of COVID-19.

Despite the pandemic, and the consequent growth in online diamond jewellery sales, consumers still prefer to shop in-store where they can receive expert advice and personal attention. This was the case even among digital-savvy Millennial and Gen-Z consumers, with 59 per cent preferring the in-store experience.

The research, based on a survey of 500 adult Americans, also highlighted that safety in relation to health and hygiene is critical to ensuring consumers feel comfortable shopping in-store. Department stores were seen as the most trusted channel for ensuring appropriate safety measures by 39 per cent of consumers, while independent jewellers were considered the second most trusted, at 21 per cent.

When it came to specific safety measures, the three most important considerations for consumers were limiting the number of customers in the store (68%), providing hand

sanitiser (66%) and ensuring staff wear face masks and gloves at all times (64%). Further down the list of priorities were cleaning each piece of jewellery after being handled (53%), requiring customers to wear face masks (48%) and having screens to separate customers and sales associates (42%). Only four per cent of consumers said they would feel comfortable shopping with no safety measures in place.

The report also includes a focus on retailer insights based on one-on-one interviews with jewellery retailers across the United States. This research highlighted a clear sense of optimism for the fourth quarter sales season; however, caution remained with regards to potential new outbreaks and the impact to consumer confidence as economic stimulus is wound up. It also highlighted that those retailers that have reopened following lockdown have

experienced pent-up demand from consumers, driven by strong engagement ring sales, jewellery gifts being upgraded as an alternative to summer travel, and a stronger season than normal for graduation gifting.

Bruce Cleaver, CEO, De Beers Group, said: “While consumers increasingly desire a diamond acquisition journey that blends the digital and physical, when it comes to making purchases, they still prefer the personalisation of the in-store experience, despite the pandemic. Those retailers that are able to provide a safe and welcoming in-store environment for consumers in what is a strange and unsettling time will be best placed to benefit in the weeks and months ahead. It is heartening to hear initial reports of positive demand for diamond jewellery as consumers emerge from lockdown and the industry starts preparing for the important end of year sales season.”

US consumers prefer to buy diamonds in-store than online

De Beers Group’s second Diamond Insight ‘Flash’ Report also highlights a sense of

optimism among diamond jewellery retailers for the fourth quarter

By Arnold Letsholo

Amidst the global C O V I D - 1 9 pandemic, some are seeking to focus on

positives in an attempt to preserve sanity in a world that is drastically changing day by day.

One such is Jane Horgan of Engagement and Coordinator of Cheetah Conservation (CCB). She believes with restrictions on previous lifestyles grind to a halt, so does the natural environment which is being granted a temporary reprieve from the intense impact that we as a species have on it.

“Areas in lockdown are seeing wildlife returning, such as the dolphins in the ports of Sardinia, wild bores in northern Italy and wild, giant Capybaras in Buenos Aires,” said Horgan.

She said that China and northern Italy have seen dramatic reductions in nitrogen levels, a pollution marker, and thus improvement in air quality. And the waters in the canals of Venice have cleared since boats have stopped polluting and churning up the waters.

“The stories are coming in thick and fast as to how the practices of “physical distancing”, “stay at home” and ultimately “lockdowns” are leading to positive effects for wildlife and the environment. Nature appears to be “doing a hard reset” as one Twitter user @b8taFPS, put it,” she wrote in an article.

Here in Botswana, she highlighted, the pandemic and

subsequent effects are already being felt on the economy, especially in those areas and households most dependent on tourism.

“But it will likely have its own positive effects on our wildlife and environment. Tourism has all but entirely ceased in the country, leaving wildlife peacefully undisturbed in tourist-heavy areas for the foreseeable future. Crackdowns on permeable borders and increased surveillance of border fences mean that transient poachers and wildlife traffickers will have more resistance moving in and out of Botswana.”

She further cautioned that reducing the numbers of active border posts and increasing security at those that remain open will make it harder for these individuals to move illegal

wildlife (and other) products such as rhino horn, ivory and even live cheetah cubs. In a region that has been decimated by increases in commercial poaching in the last year, this may just help ease the bloodbath.

“This outbreak is a reminder that despite our ability as humans to generally feel superior in every way to the natural world, we are in fact merely cogs in a multi-faceted machine turning with an intricacy even our modern science still can’t comprehend,” she said.

The biodiversity that exists on this planet, she emphasized, is so complex and the interactions between individual elements is so elaborate that it shouldn’t surprise us that we are now at the mercy of a natural disease.

For years, she observed people have been under the impression that the human race can take what we want from our natural world with little thought for the future and little consequences.

“While people are in lockdown all over the world, we hope that they take time to consider our mistakes as humankind and learn from them. Watch how the world is healing itself in our absence. See how we as humans are connected inextricably with the natural world. And learn how we are all able to collectively and considerably change our behaviours when the motivation is strong enough. Of all the silver linings we can gleam from this tragedy, the wakeup call for humanity and a sense of humility may be the most brilliant ones.”

Wednesday July 8, 202014 | ARTS & SOCIETY|

The Companies and Intellectual Property Authority (CIPA), is a parastatal established by an Act of Parliament, the Companies and Intellectual Property Authority Act of 2011, to promote and enable the full protection of the rights of investors and right holders obtained under the Companies Act, Registration of Business Names Act, Industrial Property Act, and the Copyright and Neighbouring Rights Act.

CIPA invites reputable Human Resource Consultancy companies registered with PPADB for;

TENDER NO: CIPA 06-19/20 REVIEW OF ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE FOR COMPANIES AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY AUTHORITY (CIPA)

All interested bidders must be registered with PPADB under the following code: PPADB registration: • Code 315 Human Resource Services • Sub code 01 Organization Design and Change Management

Full details on requirements and specifications are provided in the Tender documents obtainable at a non-refundable fee of P500.00 from the address below;

THE TENDER SECRETARYP O BOX 102BLOCK A, PLOT 54358, PRIME PLAZA, CBDGABORONEEnquiries: kmhate@cipa.co.bwTender Closing date: 04 March 2019 at 1000hrs.

Position title: Database Administrator Location: Gaborone

Main purpose of the jobTo install, configure, and maintain all relational database instances across development, staging, and production environments.

Qualifications, experience and knowledge required• Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science or related field• At least five (5) years in the computing field with

two (3) years of developing and administering relational database management systems and related technologies

• Knowledge and application of Windows and UNIX operating system, Relational Database Management Systems and a wide range of programming languages and development tools are a requirement.

• Experience in Microsoft SQL server and Oracle Database administration in production environment.

• Hands-on experience in capacity planning, performance tuning, database server backups and restore strategies.

• Certification in Microsoft SQL Server and Oracle database.

Key responsibilitiesInstall, configure, migrate, upgrade and maintain multiple databases required for development, testing and production.

• Disaster Recovery and Back-up Management.• Server Management – installation, configuration and

security management.Enterprise reporting – Consolidation of multiple data sources into a common report and development and publishing of real time dash boards reports in a multiple output formats according to user requirement.

Application of adopted database management standards, policies, procedures and processes.

Key competencies• Drive• Demonstrable ability in execution and delivery• Possession of good communication and interpersonal

skills • Demonstrable knowledge and application of Project

Management principles• Innovation and creativity are a necessity• Accuracy and attention to detail

Position title: Receptionist

Location: CIPA seeks three (3) Receptionists based in Serowe, Maun and Francistown respectively.

Main purpose of the jobTo provide reception, administrative support and secretarial services, to efficiently operate multi-line switchboard, and receive and direct CIPA’s visitors and documents promoting a positive image of CIPA.

Qualifications, experience and knowledge required• Certificate/Diploma in Secretarial or Administration

studies • 2 years’ experience in a customer facing environment• Basic computer literacy, Operational knowledge of

switchboards would be an added advantage

Key responsibilities• Provision on reception services Management of Front Office (switchboard operation and

customer management) Provision of Secretarial services including diary/

appointments management and documents management (typing, scanning, photocopying and filing)

Directing internal and external clients to relevant service points

Operate multi-line switchboard and maintain accuracy of messages

• Dealing with customers’ enquiries • Ensure that reception area is clean, tidy and adequately

resourced with information for customers.

Key competencies• Demonstrate Customer focus and team work• Speed and accuracy• Time management • Possession of good communication skills and computer literacy are a necessity• Demonstrate organisational skills

Position title: Driver Location: CIPA seeks two (2) Drivers based in Serowe and Maun respectively.

Main purpose of the jobTo provide logistical and messenger services to enable the Authority to carry out its activities effectively, to transport CIPA’s documents and personnel to enhance the delivery of services.

Qualifications, experience and knowledge required• High School Certificate. Valid Light Duty Vehicle license• At least Five (5) years proven driving experience of a light

duty vehicle• Operational knowledge of messenger services

Key responsibilities• Provision of driving services • Provide efficient administrative services (banking,

documents management and mail management)• Maintenance of the Authority’s vehicles • Maintenance of log book and other records• Punctuality and prompt collection and delivery of mail,

passengers, etc• Adherence to schedule for picking up staff and/or the

Authority’s visitors• Adherence to road traffic rules and regulations• Ensure road worthiness and cleanliness of the Authority’s

vehicles

Key competencies• Demonstrate customer service and team work• Possession of good communication skills and

interpersonal skills • Planning and organising skills are a necessity

Position title: Accounts Clerk Location: Maun

Main purpose of the jobTo accurately process, enter and reconcile accounting documents and information and maintain accounts strictly in accordance with laid down accounting procedures, standards and accounting deadlines to ensure the accurate and timely record of financial transactions to facilitate the timely preparation of financial statements and reports.

Qualifications, experience and knowledge required• A minimum of a Diploma in Accounting and Business

Studies (DABS), AAT or equivalent.• 2 years’ experience in a financial management and

accounting environment

Key responsibilities• Responsible for the Authority’s basic book keeping

through recording, classifying and summarising transactions according to IFRS and company Chart of Accounts

• Revenue collection, receipting and reconciliation• Responsible for carrying out daily duties through the use

of the basic modules of the Financial System using mid-range features

• Petty cash management and administration • Ensuring timely execution and delivery of tasks assigned

tasks• Assisting with the Billing and Collection process by

generating of client invoices per delivered products and services and invoicing process

• Accurately capturing of invoices• Financial Analysis through the use of financial concepts,

ratios and devices such as the financial calculator

Key competencies• Attention to detail and Accuracy

• Integrity• Organisational skills• Target oriented• Analytical skills• Time management• Demonstrate customer service and team work

Position title: Internal Audit Manager

Main purpose of the jobTo plan, organise and coordinate CIPA’s audit function to ensure the Authority is provided with an independent and objective assurance service designed to add value and improve the Authority’s operations

Qualifications, experience and knowledge required• Bachelors degree in Accounting/Finance or equivalent AND

Associate membership of a recognised accounting body (ACCA, CIMA, CA, CIA)

• Eight years’ experience in an internal audit environment, of which three should have been served in a managerial position

• Expert knowledge of audit planning, corporate governance, risk management. Demonstrated knowledge of the latest developments in international financial/accounting/internal audit management practices and standards

Key responsibilities• Performing operational audits by evaluate weaknesses and

risks in client business processes; • Develop, Implement and monitor divisional annual plan, and

align the divisional goals to the overall corporate objectives. • Evaluate weaknesses and risks in systems, assess macro

effect of audit findings on operating processes and company performance.

• Responsible for the monthly and quarterly tactical planning and monitoring of main operations within the organisation.

• Manage execution and on-time delivery by setting priorities and milestones, translating initiatives into plans and schedules, and coordinating activities.

• Monitoring demands on a process or operation and matching resources to ensure business continuity.

• Acquiring and ensuring optimal utilisation of resources by taking into account constraints, peaks and troughs.

• Developing and implementing monitoring, measurement and tracking processes and/or systems

• Application of a complete range of auditing tools as methodology

• Examines the accuracy and completeness of records and procedures for internal control to safeguard CIPA’s assets and ensures different areas of the Authority are in compliance with policies, procedures, regulations and laws

• Reduction in non-compliance arising out of internal interventions.

• Minimise external audit queries (including a reduction in audit fees).

• Reports audit findings and makes recommendations to mitigate risk directly to the Authority’s Finance and Audit Committee

Key competencies• Ability to deliver on target and on time, efficiently• Integrity• Risk management • Financial management• Coaching and developing • Ability to lead teams• Excellent communication skills both orally and in writing• Good interpersonal skills• Drive

Only applicants who meet the requirements need to apply highlighting their qualifications, experience and names of at least two (2) traceable referees. Certified copies of relevant certificates and a detailed CV must accompany applications addressed to:

Human Resource ManagerCompanies and Intellectual Property AuthorityP O Box 102Gaborone OR Email: recruitment@cipa.co.bw

Closing Date: 15 August 2017

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Plot 181, Kgale Mews Gaborone P.O Box 102, Gaborone Botswana +267 3673700 +267 3188754

Public Notice

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• aliquas idere reptiam as dolorion porerciis enis erspero moloreh enimaximi, officiusam ipsa poremos andebit rehent doloreres dolo moluptatis conse cus abo. Itaspisqui dolenitate veni-hicatia doluptaecto dolore nosteni unt.

• Aris sant experit atiumquia dolorero berestia sit re veliquae veliam hit eos ident inum ea sit, sae. Et aut et quias debissitate volor remquos nullabo. Nam labori tempore volorio. Ut et eatur as dolorun tiisseq uaturehent.

• Agnimil laborum comnihi ciminusciet hicte natis delest, aut voluptatur alitia sentem resenditae

Dunt alique quo eatur seque pel magnatem lacero volorit el ma ipsandiore quam, nobitat ibusaeces mo dit lab incte nus apientio. Nequi repelectio. Lit, omniatem quiae nonsequas aliquas idere reptiam as dolorion porerciis enis erspero moloreh enimaximi, officiusam ipsa poremos andebit rehent doloreres dolo moluptatis conse cus abo. Itaspisqui dolenitate venihicatia dolup

Plot 181, Kgale Mews Gaborone P.O Box 102, Gaborone Botswana +267 3673700 +267 3188754

Public NoticeVACANCIES

The Companies and Intellectual Property Authority (CIPA), is a newly established autonomous body that has been established in terms of the Companies and Intellectual Property Authority Act no 14 of 2011. The Authority is charged with the responsibility of implementing four different acts, namely: The Companies Act, Registration of Business Names Act, Industrial Property Act and the Copyright and Neighbouring Rights Act.

The Authority is positioning itself for the advancement of its mandate and is searching for some dynamic individuals to take up the following positions:

Position title: Database Administrator Location: Gaborone

Main purpose of the jobTo install, configure, and maintain all relational database instances across development, staging, and production environments.

Qualifications, experience and knowledge required• Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science or related field• At least five (5) years in the computing field with

two (3) years of developing and administering relational database management systems and related technologies

• Knowledge and application of Windows and UNIX operating system, Relational Database Management Systems and a wide range of programming languages and development tools are a requirement.

• Experience in Microsoft SQL server and Oracle Database administration in production environment.

• Hands-on experience in capacity planning, performance tuning, database server backups and restore strategies.

• Certification in Microsoft SQL Server and Oracle database.

Key responsibilitiesInstall, configure, migrate, upgrade and maintain multiple databases required for development, testing and production.

• Disaster Recovery and Back-up Management.• Server Management – installation, configuration and

security management.Enterprise reporting – Consolidation of multiple data sources into a common report and development and publishing of real time dash boards reports in a multiple output formats according to user requirement.

Application of adopted database management standards, policies, procedures and processes.

Key competencies• Drive• Demonstrable ability in execution and delivery• Possession of good communication and interpersonal

skills • Demonstrable knowledge and application of Project

Management principles• Innovation and creativity are a necessity• Accuracy and attention to detail

Position title: Receptionist

Location: CIPA seeks three (3) Receptionists based in Serowe, Maun and Francistown respectively.

Main purpose of the jobTo provide reception, administrative support and secretarial services, to efficiently operate multi-line switchboard, and receive and direct CIPA’s visitors and documents promoting a positive image of CIPA.

Qualifications, experience and knowledge required• Certificate/Diploma in Secretarial or Administration

studies • 2 years’ experience in a customer facing environment• Basic computer literacy, Operational knowledge of

switchboards would be an added advantage

Key responsibilities• Provision on reception services Management of Front Office (switchboard operation and

customer management) Provision of Secretarial services including diary/

appointments management and documents management (typing, scanning, photocopying and filing)

Directing internal and external clients to relevant service points

Operate multi-line switchboard and maintain accuracy of messages

• Dealing with customers’ enquiries • Ensure that reception area is clean, tidy and adequately

resourced with information for customers.

Key competencies• Demonstrate Customer focus and team work• Speed and accuracy• Time management • Possession of good communication skills and computer literacy are a necessity• Demonstrate organisational skills

Position title: Driver Location: CIPA seeks two (2) Drivers based in Serowe and Maun respectively.

Main purpose of the jobTo provide logistical and messenger services to enable the Authority to carry out its activities effectively, to transport CIPA’s documents and personnel to enhance the delivery of services.

Qualifications, experience and knowledge required• High School Certificate. Valid Light Duty Vehicle license• At least Five (5) years proven driving experience of a light

duty vehicle• Operational knowledge of messenger services

Key responsibilities• Provision of driving services • Provide efficient administrative services (banking,

documents management and mail management)• Maintenance of the Authority’s vehicles • Maintenance of log book and other records• Punctuality and prompt collection and delivery of mail,

passengers, etc• Adherence to schedule for picking up staff and/or the

Authority’s visitors• Adherence to road traffic rules and regulations• Ensure road worthiness and cleanliness of the Authority’s

vehicles

Key competencies• Demonstrate customer service and team work• Possession of good communication skills and

interpersonal skills • Planning and organising skills are a necessity

Position title: Accounts Clerk Location: Maun

Main purpose of the jobTo accurately process, enter and reconcile accounting documents and information and maintain accounts strictly in accordance with laid down accounting procedures, standards and accounting deadlines to ensure the accurate and timely record of financial transactions to facilitate the timely preparation of financial statements and reports.

Qualifications, experience and knowledge required• A minimum of a Diploma in Accounting and Business

Studies (DABS), AAT or equivalent.• 2 years’ experience in a financial management and

accounting environment

Key responsibilities• Responsible for the Authority’s basic book keeping

through recording, classifying and summarising transactions according to IFRS and company Chart of Accounts

• Revenue collection, receipting and reconciliation• Responsible for carrying out daily duties through the use

of the basic modules of the Financial System using mid-range features

• Petty cash management and administration • Ensuring timely execution and delivery of tasks assigned

tasks• Assisting with the Billing and Collection process by

generating of client invoices per delivered products and services and invoicing process

• Accurately capturing of invoices• Financial Analysis through the use of financial concepts,

ratios and devices such as the financial calculator

Key competencies• Attention to detail and Accuracy

• Integrity• Organisational skills• Target oriented• Analytical skills• Time management• Demonstrate customer service and team work

Position title: Internal Audit Manager

Main purpose of the jobTo plan, organise and coordinate CIPA’s audit function to ensure the Authority is provided with an independent and objective assurance service designed to add value and improve the Authority’s operations

Qualifications, experience and knowledge required• Bachelors degree in Accounting/Finance or equivalent AND

Associate membership of a recognised accounting body (ACCA, CIMA, CA, CIA)

• Eight years’ experience in an internal audit environment, of which three should have been served in a managerial position

• Expert knowledge of audit planning, corporate governance, risk management. Demonstrated knowledge of the latest developments in international financial/accounting/internal audit management practices and standards

Key responsibilities• Performing operational audits by evaluate weaknesses and

risks in client business processes; • Develop, Implement and monitor divisional annual plan, and

align the divisional goals to the overall corporate objectives. • Evaluate weaknesses and risks in systems, assess macro

effect of audit findings on operating processes and company performance.

• Responsible for the monthly and quarterly tactical planning and monitoring of main operations within the organisation.

• Manage execution and on-time delivery by setting priorities and milestones, translating initiatives into plans and schedules, and coordinating activities.

• Monitoring demands on a process or operation and matching resources to ensure business continuity.

• Acquiring and ensuring optimal utilisation of resources by taking into account constraints, peaks and troughs.

• Developing and implementing monitoring, measurement and tracking processes and/or systems

• Application of a complete range of auditing tools as methodology

• Examines the accuracy and completeness of records and procedures for internal control to safeguard CIPA’s assets and ensures different areas of the Authority are in compliance with policies, procedures, regulations and laws

• Reduction in non-compliance arising out of internal interventions.

• Minimise external audit queries (including a reduction in audit fees).

• Reports audit findings and makes recommendations to mitigate risk directly to the Authority’s Finance and Audit Committee

Key competencies• Ability to deliver on target and on time, efficiently• Integrity• Risk management • Financial management• Coaching and developing • Ability to lead teams• Excellent communication skills both orally and in writing• Good interpersonal skills• Drive

Only applicants who meet the requirements need to apply highlighting their qualifications, experience and names of at least two (2) traceable referees. Certified copies of relevant certificates and a detailed CV must accompany applications addressed to:

Human Resource ManagerCompanies and Intellectual Property AuthorityP O Box 102Gaborone OR Email: recruitment@cipa.co.bw

Closing Date: 15 August 2017

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• Dunt alique quo eatur seque pel magnatem lacero volorit el ma ipsandiore quam, nobitat ibusaeces mo dit lab incte nus apientio. Nequi repelectio. Lit, omniatem quiae nonsequas

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• Aris sant experit atiumquia dolorero berestia sit re veliquae veliam hit eos ident inum ea sit, sae. Et aut et quias debissitate volor remquos nullabo. Nam labori tempore volorio. Ut et eatur as dolorun tiisseq uaturehent.

• Agnimil laborum comnihi ciminusciet hicte natis delest, aut voluptatur alitia sentem resenditae

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Plot 181, Kgale Mews Gaborone P.O Box 102, Gaborone Botswana +267 3673700 +267 3188754

Public Notice

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• Dunt alique quo eatur seque pel magnatem lacero volorit el ma ipsandiore quam, nobitat ibusaeces mo dit lab incte nus apientio. Nequi repelectio. Lit, omniatem quiae nonsequas

• aliquas idere reptiam as dolorion porerciis enis erspero moloreh enimaximi, officiusam ipsa poremos andebit rehent doloreres dolo moluptatis conse cus abo. Itaspisqui dolenitate veni-hicatia doluptaecto dolore nosteni unt.

• Aris sant experit atiumquia dolorero berestia sit re veliquae veliam hit eos ident inum ea sit, sae. Et aut et quias debissitate volor remquos nullabo. Nam labori tempore volorio. Ut et eatur as dolorun tiisseq uaturehent.

• Agnimil laborum comnihi ciminusciet hicte natis delest, aut voluptatur alitia sentem resenditae

Dunt alique quo eatur seque pel magnatem lacero volorit el ma ipsandiore quam, nobitat ibusaeces mo dit lab incte nus apientio. Nequi repelectio. Lit, omniatem quiae nonsequas aliquas idere reptiam as dolorion porerciis enis erspero moloreh enimaximi, officiusam ipsa poremos andebit rehent doloreres dolo moluptatis conse cus abo. Itaspisqui dolenitate venihicatia dolup

Plot 181, Kgale Mews Gaborone P.O Box 102, Gaborone Botswana +267 3673700 +267 3188754

Public NoticeVACANCIES

The Companies and Intellectual Property Authority (CIPA), is a newly established autonomous body that has been established in terms of the Companies and Intellectual Property Authority Act no 14 of 2011. The Authority is charged with the responsibility of implementing four different acts, namely: The Companies Act, Registration of Business Names Act, Industrial Property Act and the Copyright and Neighbouring Rights Act.

The Authority is positioning itself for the advancement of its mandate and is searching for some dynamic individuals to take up the following positions:

PUBLIC NOTICE

The Companies and Intellectual Property Authority (CIPA), is a parastatal established by an Act of Parliament, the Companies and Intellectual Property Authority Act of 2011, to promote and enable the full protection of the rights of investors and right holders obtained under the Companies Act, Registration of Business Names Act, Industrial Property Act, and the Copyright and Neighbouring Rights Act.

CIPA invites reputable companies for Cleaning Services registered with PPADB for.

TENDER NO: CIPA 02-20/21 PROVISION OF CLEANING SERVICES FOR COMPANIES AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY AUTHORITY (CIPA) OFFICES

All interested bidders must be registered with PPADB under the following code: PPADB registration: • Code 132 (Cleaning Services)• Sub-code 01 (Building cleaning services-including windows, carpets,

and others)

Full details on requirements and specifications are provided in the Tender documents obtainable at a non-refundable fee of P500.00 from the address below.

THE TENDER SECRETARYP O BOX 102BLOCK A, PLOT 54358, PRIME PLAZA, CBDGABORONEEnquiries: lmosekiemang@cipa.co.bw

Tender Closing date: 05 August 2020 at 1000hrs.

By Myriam Toua EXPRESS

The arrangement means that neither Prince Harry, nor his wife, Meghan Markle, can carry out duties on behalf of the Queen, until the measures are reviewed in twelve months’ time. Additionally, they are seeking financial independence and have decided to split their time between the UK and North America, where they are currently staying.

The beginning of the summer season means the couple can no longer use the word ‘Royal’ n Sussex Royal – undoubtedly a sad day for Prince Harry who has carried the title since birth.

A spokesman for the couple said it was agreed that the word “royal” could no longer be used due to UK Government rules.

Applications to trademark the Sussex Royal brand name, which is the name of their Instagram account, were also withdrawn.

A statement on the couple’s Sussex Royal website says that “given the specific UK government rules surrounding use of the word ‘Royal’, it has been therefore agreed that their non-profit organization will not utilize the name ‘Sussex Royal’ or any other iteration of ‘Royal.’”

Royal writer Robert Hardman told Radio 4 that the decision around the brand name was a “setback” for the couple.

He said: “They have spent a great deal of money registering the trademarks.”

A spokeswoman for the Sussexes said: “While the Duke and Duchess are focused on plans to establish a new non-profit organization, given the specific UK Government rules surrounding the use of the word royal, it has been therefore agreed that their non-profit organization will not

be named Sussex Royal Foundation.

“The Duke and Duchess of Sussex do not intend to use ‘Sussex Royal’ in any territory post-spring 2020.” The couple’s non-profit organization has been named Archewell in the absence of Sussex Royal.

Meanwhile, one of Prince Harry’s favorite royal projects has been transferred away from the Royal Foundation, it has been announced.

The Endeavour Fund, which Prince Harry set up to award grants to wounded, injured and sick former service personnel, has been transferred to another one of his projects, the Invictus Games.

The Games is a multi-sport event for injured former service men and women, and its event in March was one of the last engagements the Duke and Duchess attended as royals.

The Prince hinted at changes to the Endeavour Fund when he gave his speech in March’s awards ceremony.

He said: “I firmly believe that there is an even greater future ahead for the Endeavour Fund.

“Our ambition is to build on what has been achieved – to expand the Endeavour Fund further so that its impact can be felt around the world.”

Jack Knauf, chief executive of The Royal Foundation added:

“The Endeavour Fund has played an important role in ensuring that those injured in service have the opportunity to rediscover their self-belief and fighting spirit through physical challenges over the years.

“The Royal Foundation is proud of its role in creating both Endeavour Fund and the Invictus Games, and the impact that both have had on the WIS community. We look forward to seeing their continued success, together.”

Prince Harry’s armed forces background influenced much of his work as a senior royal, and is likely to continue doing so in his private life.

Several of his final engagements revolved around his military work.

David Wiseman, who competed in the Invictus Games in London 2014 said: “The whole world has changed in recent months, but the spirit of Invictus and the Endeavour Fund has always emanated from overcoming adversity and fostering post-traumatic growth.

“The Endeavour Fund will evolve in its new home and in the post COVID environment, but what will not change is our support to recovery, rehabilitation and growth through the power of sport and adventurous challenging.” Source- www.express.co.uk

Health expert concerned by chronic underinvestment in mental healthConservationist sees silver

lining as Covid-19 impact cleanses biodiversity

Prince Harry heartbreak: How Duke has lost big part of himself

MEGHAN MARKLE and Prince Harry announced their decision to step down as senior members of the Royal Family in January - and the Duke lost a big part of him as the summer season began.

Arts & Society Reporter

As calls grow for Botswana to increase support for mental health services, a public health expert, Thabang Kgosi says the country must learn the early warning signs of diminished mental health and the steps needed to protect its citizens. In his assessment and warning to authorities, he says mental health issues such as anxiety and depression will be severe and prolonged in the coming months because of the uncertainty created by the coronavirus pandemic.

Mental health data collection in Botswana is patchy since almost two thirds of people with a known mental disorder never seek help from a health professional. This is worsened by the fact that Botswana has generally turned a blind eye to mental health since less funds have been directed to treatment and reversing societal stigmas toward those suffering from mental health.

“Investing in mental health is the most

essential investment Botswana can make now. By investing in people, we will also be saving millions of Pula in direct and indirect health care costs. For each person who suffers from a mental illness, each family and each community suffer as well,” says Kgosi.

Already, the World Health Organisation (WHO) anticipates that in 2020 depression will be the number 2 cause of disability. Amongst other things, Kgosi says Botswana as a country has vastly contributed to the stigma felt by, and imposed upon, those suffering from mental health illness. “The stigma that society inflicts upon those suffering from mental health has compelling consequences that work against addressing mental health,” he says.

There are different kinds of mental illness but the most common in Botswana are depression and anxiety. Overall he says many people have reported rates of mild depression, low mood, despondency

and pessimism as a result of uncertainty created by Covid-19. Kgosi warns that the country will see a lot of new cases of mental health issues and mental illness appearing even in people that previously hadn’t experienced this. He, however, notes that whilst attitudes are slowly changing, public attitudes have yet to catch up with science especially in areas such as substance abuse and addiction.

He went further to warn that exacerbated drinking affects mental health and worsens anxiety. “I’m also calling for a national mental health strategy in response to COVID-19,” he says adding that people with existing mental health problems are more likely to get worse and this also “increases the risk of suicide.”

He ends by saying policymakers must make mental health and substance use treatment an integral part of all of healthcare to avoid mental health becoming the new normal.

“But it will likely have its own positive effects on our wildlife and environment. Tourism has all but entirely ceased in the country, leaving wildlife peacefully undisturbed in tourist-heavy areas for the foreseeable future. Crackdowns on permeable borders and increased surveillance of border fences mean that transient poachers and wildlife traffickers will have more resistance moving in and out of Botswana.”

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry

Wednesday July 8, 2020 15 | SPORTS |

Contact details:

procurement@bomra.co.bw

Tel: +267 373 1732

Invitation to tender

Multiple Tender Notice: Office & Office Supplies.

Botswana Medicines Regulatory Authority (BOMRA) is a statutory body set up by the Government of Botswana under the Ministry of Health and Wellness to protect human and animal health through effective regulation of medicines, medical devices and cosmetics, making sure that patients have access to quality, safe and efficacious products.

TENDER DOCUMENTS:Tender documents containing details of the requirements are available for collection from Monday 06thJuly 2020. All Payment must be made in the form of bank transfer to the following banking details and quoting the Tender Ref No and Bidder Name.

First National BankGaborone industrial BranchBranch Code: 281667Business Cheque Account No: 62747456417

Youth companies shall purchase the tender document at 50% of the fee as per Presidential Directive CAB 14 (B) 2015

Due to the Covid 19 Pandemic and with most organizations working home, proof of payment can beemailed to the email address provided below and tender document will then be sent through email after receipt of payment proof.

Tender Documents can be collected at the following address upon proof of payment:Procurement Section 1st floor Botswana Medicines Regulatory AuthorityPlot 112Gaborone International Finance ParkGaborone

Business hours: 0800hrs to 1700hrs (Monday to Friday)

Queries relating to this tender must be addressed to the following email or telephone

ITEM NO TENDER NOTENDER

CLOSING DATE DESCRIPTION PPADB CODE TENDER PRICE

1

2

3

MRA-ADOC-018.0 – 2020/2021

17th July 2020

17th July 2020

17th July 2020

MRA-ADOC-019.0 – 2020/2021

MRA-IDOC-016.0 – 2020/2021

PROVISION OF OFFICE RENTAL WITHIN GABORONE INTERNATIONAL FINANCE PARK

SUPPLY AND DELIVERY OF OFFICE FURNITURE

SUPPLY AND DELIVERY OF COMPUTERS

Code: 131 – Rental Services Sub Code: 01 – Accommodation (Office, Residential, Commercial & Industrial)

Code: 211 – General SuppliesSub code: 05 -Furniture

Code: 203 – ICT SuppliesSub code: 01 -ICT Equipment

P250.00

P250.00

P250.00

By Patience Lephogole

When Bo-t s w a n a Na t iona l S p o r t C o u n c i l

(BNSC) asked all its affiliates to present their plan beyond the Covid19 pandemic, the Botswana Netball Association (BONA) never struggled.

For a better part of this year, BONA has been busy trying to figure out how to re-invent itself and it already has had an inkling of what they wanted.

BONA president Malebo Raditladi, said it was of great importance for them to un-dertake an impact assessment before they could think of any-thing regarding activities.

“Our comeback will de-pend on the holistic wellbeing of our affiliates, athletes, vol-unteers and stakeholders,” she explained.

“We believe there is need to ensure that the netball com-munity understands the im-pact of the virus and why the government needed to halt all activities and movement, and what it means to netball to en-sure safety for all in the future.”

“Netball is a team sport and based on the rules of a non-contact sport, however there are many contacts that happen within the playing field seeing that a court is filled with fourteen players,” Raditladi opined.

The BONA president add-ed that the use of one ball by close to 30 people in a single game of netball was more rea-son for them to ensure that they came up with a proposal that can mitigate against any fear of infection.

“We halted several national camps, rehabilitation and fol-low ups for medical check-up for injured national players,” she explained.

Raditladi said they had al-ready engaged with their affili-ates and stakeholders to keep them in the loop.

“We started with psycho-logical support plan and have distributed a schedule of meet-ings to our affiliates and stake-

By Oratile Otsetswe

Local champions, Dolphins Basketball club has partnered with Fitness connection to work on a community project for an annual clothing drive for children dubbed “Clothe a child”.

Fitness Connection found-er, Misani Mongwa said the duo is planning a clothing initiative for children from disadvantaged homes across Botswana.

She observed from her previous clothes donations to people that there are parents who need clothes for their children.

Mongwa noted that they will provide the clothes for families around various parts of the country like Gaborone, Ghanzi and Central Kalahari districts.

“The organisers are still to meet and arrange with the families who will benefit from the project. However, their identity will be kept discreet,” she explained.

“We are relying on the community to take part in do-nating clothes and toys which

are still in good condition for the children. People can start with donations anytime, then the team will collect the clothes as they come and will package them and courier them to the identified homes,” Mongwa said.

Mongwa, who is also the Dolphins ladies Coach noted that they are expecting to give out the donations to their first recipients in the next two months.

Fitness connection and Dolphins club will contrib-ute to buy other necessities that will go in hand with the clothes.

She explained that money will come in handy but it is not a priority since funds are not easy to be accounted for if it does not come from an organ-isation.

On his part Dolphins coach Shalosh Matsetse said: “It is important to extend a helping hand to others. even when your cup is not overflow-ing are grateful for everyone ‘s efforts who will participate. We cannot do it without the sup-port of our friends. Families and the community at large.”

A historic moment in the vir-tual cycling world unfolded this weekend as teams geared up for the first ever Virtual Tour de France. Both the men’s and women’s pelotons lined up on Saturday, 4th July, for the first of six stages held over the next three consecu-tive weekends.

The women’s peloton fielded 16 of the top teams with the men’s made up of 23. A maximum of four riders are allowed to enter per team per stage. Of the six races taking place each weekend, men’s teams can select a male rider to compete in a maximum of three races and the women’s team can select a female rider to compete in a maximum of four races.

Jerseys are awarded for GC, K/QOM, Sprint and Young Rider, with the team leading the team classifica-tion having yellow markers on their virtual jerseys.

On Saturday, the women’s peloton was whittled down to a small group that made it to the line with April Ta-

cey (Drops Cycling) sprint-ing over first with Kristen Faulkner (Tibco-Silicon Val-ley Bank) taking second and Chantal Van Den Broek-Blaak (Boels-Dolmans Cy-cling Team) rounding out the podium.

The men’s race on Satur-day saw the peloton split early on and the lead group riding to the line in a fast sprint fin-ish. Ryan Gibbons (NTT Pro Cycling Team) powered up and went hard taking the stage win with Pier-Andre Cote (Rally Cycling) taking second and Nick Schultz (Mitchel-ton-Scott) taking third.

On the second stage of the Virtual Tour de France, the women’s peloton saw a seven rider sprint to the finish line – with Lauren Stephens (Team Tibco-Silicon Valley bank) taking the win.

The men’s race saw a photo finish sprint – with Ju-lien Bernard (Trek-Segafredo) narrowly taking the win over Freddy Ovett (Israel Start-Up Nation).

(www.zwift.com)

BONA shows how it’s done to mitigate coronavirus impact

Basketball club pledges a basket of

goodies for the needy

First Virtual Tour de France rolls out on Zwift

NEW NORMAL …, the annual Tour de France cycling championship has gone virtual as sport adapts to the COVID 19 pandemic

Botswana netball is seeking to reinvent itself in the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic (Pic: Press Photo)

holders,” she said.She says the association

held its first 2 meetings over the last two weekends with the southern and northern zone committees.

“During the same days, we held another meeting with team’s management, coaches and umpire representatives,” she opined.

Raditladi further added that once they are done with the covid19 education process, they will focus on the impact assessment on individuals and groups to ensure a way forward and preparation for the netball facility.

“In our proposal we stated that for us to comply with the new regulations, we need to renovate the BONA facility.”

“Our priority is to put mea-sures in place, welfare for all in sport, rushing to start can bury netball for good, hence the need to put in a good plan for healthy minds and souls than losing all to sport,” she high-lighted.

The BONA president says they have already had good support from various individu-als and stakeholders.

Among those is Dr Donald Ariisa, who is said to have of-fered his medical centre to as-sist with physiotherapy services

for national duties.Others include Dr

Tshepang Tshube who is of-fering them presentations on welfare and Emma July, who has been offering psychologi-cal services in the past 2 years.

In the North, Raditladi said they have Goitseone Oo-keditse who is helping in the northern facilitation, and lastly the Adansonia hotels who have sponsored ‘with accom-modation and meeting venue

of up to P10 000.’“With all the above on

board, I trust and believe other business community will see good in our plan and assist netball accordingly,” Raditladi concluded.

Wednesday July 8, 2020

J o u r n a l i s m o f c o u r a g eWednesday July 8, 2020

BONA shows how it’s done to mitigate coronavirus impact - Pg 15When Botswana National Sport Council (BNSC) asked all its affiliates to present their plan beyond the Covid19 pandemic, the Botswana Netball Association (BONA) never struggled.For a better part of this year, BONA has been busy trying to figure out how to reinvent itself and it already has had an inkling of what they wanted.

By Duncan Kgangkenna

This past week, the Botswana Football Asso-ciation (BFA) electoral com-

mittee postponed the release of names of candidates who will stand for the association’s National Executive Commit-tee (NEC) positions.

As expected, the delay is already causing consterna-tion among some contenders, some of whom doubt the in-dependence of the commit-tee.

Some of the competitors

are feeling hard done by be-cause they are unable to cam-paign before their names are officially released.

“The elections are a month away and we are yet to know our fate. The elec-toral committee is unneces-sarily taking long to vet and release names,” one candidate opined.

The candidate says the delay gives advantage to the sitting committee as it can continue its campaign while competitors are stuck.

“This is not right because we will only be left with lim-ited days to campaign and it

takes time for people to un-derstand your philosophy and pledges,” the candidate con-tinued.

The candidates who talked to this publication for fear of victimisation said the delays only reinforces the belief that the Mochadi Letina led com-mittee is not independent.

It is widely believed the current BFA NEC has a hand in the delayed publicising of names of candidates who have passed the legitimacy test/ vetting.

This thinking is however in stark contrast to the posi-tion postulated by the BFA

NEC and its Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Mfolo Mfolo.

The BFA CEO has on several occasions told sports reporters that the committee is an independent structure devoid of any influence from the association.

“The committee is en-croaching on the laws that they have set and it does not help other contesting teams save for the sitting commit-tee,” the candidate observed.

Article 10 of the electoral code states that: Candidatures shall be sent by recorded post or delivered in exchange for confirmation of receipt top

the general secretariat of the BFA at lease (21) days before the general assembly is held. The potential candidates were given the deadline of 19th of June to have submitted their names.

The candidates are expect-ed to be examined by electoral committee within (10) days of the deadline for their submis-sion according to article 11.1. It further states that the candi-dates shall receive the decision of the electoral committee’s examination within the same period of (10) ten days.

“There has been unneces-sary delay and the other par-

ties are campaigning using the incumbency card because they claim to be officially visiting regions and donate things to arouse support,” another can-didate observed.

“We can’t approach spon-sors to support us because we don’t even know whether they will pass their credibility test. It is going to be difficult to travel around the country canvassing for support,” the candidate further observed.

There are 22 people who have submitted their names for the coming elections. In an interview with Letina he was optimistic that they might fin-

ish the vetting process some-time this week.

“The vetting process took longer than anticipated and we are working on making a final decision. We had to postpone the release of the names which was billed for 30 June because we just can’t do shoddy work without pay-ing due diligence,” said Letina. He added that “we don’t know these candidates, we rely on what they have submitted to check if indeed what they have submitted is correct and is within what is needed for one to qualify to be a candi-date.”

By Godfrey Mowaneng

The Botswana Football As-sociation (BFA) is ready to draw the sword and throw the scabbard as the battle for the control of Lekidi intensifies.

The BFA leadership is al-legedly pulling out all stops to bar the recently reinstat-ed National First Division North (NFDN) committee from casting a vote at the up-coming elective General As-sembly (GA).

With the electoral com-mittee expected to release nominees and delegates to the elective assembly this week, the association is run-ning around the clock to cast aspersions on the FDN’s eli-gibility to vote.

The FDN, which is alleg-edly aligned to the Tebogo Se-bego camp is currently facing accusations of misappropria-tion of the association funds after it had failed to account for the association funds.

With expectation that the NFDN committee will be amongst the delegates in the electoral process, news reaching The Telegraph is that the BFA believes the com-mittee should not be allowed to partake in the proceedings before their pending case is resolved.

Following the commit-tee’s triumph over a case that witnessed their suspension two years ago, the BFA con-tested in an appeal that the matter cannot be determined

on account of delay as the matter dragged for long.

Meanwhile, close sources revealed to The Telegraph that the vetting process has been concluded following nomi-nations that were submitted at the BFA headquarters, the Lekidi Football Centre from 1st June 2020 to 19th June 2020.

Through powers vested in the electoral committee to conduct the election process, a compulsory eligibility form and nomination form had to be completed for delegates to take part in the election pro-cess.

However, the eligibility questionnaire amongst oth-ers included violation of rules of conduct of BFA code of

ethics. The disclosure ques-tion read ‘’have you ever been previously charged or found guilty of any offence corre-sponding to a violation of the rules of conduct of the BFA code of ethics, or arising out of the statutes of the BFA constitution?’’

Furthermore, the ques-tionnaire asked whether one is currently subject to any pending civil, criminal, disci-plinary proceedings or inves-tigations by any independent or legal body that may affect their position in respect of BFA.

With the matter at stake, the NFDN committee case is still pending following the BFA appeal of the ruling against the NFD commit-

Is BFA Electoral Committee playing delaying tactics to name NEC contenders?

Knives out ahead of BFA elections

tee that was acquitted a few weeks ago.

Meanwhile, in an inter-view with The Telegraph, BFA elections committee chairman Moemedi Letina remained ca-gey on how the vetting pro-cess tumbles narrating that they are expecting to con-

clude this coming week. “I cannot divulge any-

thing much at the moment as we are yet to conclude. Vetting is a very sensitive measure that needs to be conducted diligently, I do not even know some of those that are involved personally

and we only depend on how they filled the eligibility forms for now as stated by regula-tions. Vetting is not an easy task and believe we will con-clude the process shortly and we are solely guided by how individuals applied on the forms,” said Letina.

The independence of the BFA Electoral Committee is coming under scrutiny as it delays publishing candidates’ names (File Picture)

The BFA is fighting tooth and nail to bar FDN chairman Mpenzeni Sambandawe and his committee from casting a vote at the upcoming elective General Assembly