Following the recent outbreak and consequent spread of the COVID-19 Virus in Southern Africa, it has become clear that there is a need for Botswana to be at its best to both prevent the transmission of the virus into the country and responsive to the outbreak should it reach our shores. The country’s preparedness is therefore dependent on active participation by all stakeholders in the country to ensure fighting off the potential scourge. This is especially important when taking into consideration the prevailing levels of poverty and unemployment which may make individual self-management very difficult to enforce should there be need. NGOs providing services to diverse constituents in and across the country recently met to reflect on the COVID-19 scourge in Botswana to prevent an outbreak and respond to the outbreak in such an eventuality. To that end:
- We recognize and applaud the Government of Botswana on its actions and intervention measures to date, including building our internal capability to test for the virus.
- We profusely thank our Health Care Workforce as the front line officials in all our interventions and further encourage them to continue with all efforts to ensure the safety of all persons in the country. The whole nation is dependent on their selfless efforts and professional dedication.
- We appreciate the commitment of the Minister of Health and Wellness, Hon. Lemogang Kwape to realizing the need to consider closure of schools as a prevention measure for the COVID-19 Virus.
- We welcome the alleged announcement that all schools shall be closed on Friday 20 March 2020. This was allegedly announced by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Basic Education on the 18 March 2020. We are however, concerned that:
- children often pass viruses to others easily because of their general limitation in the practice of personal hygiene due to their developmental stage and need for constant supervision. This necessary supervision in schools is not guaranteed and therefore poses a very high risk of transmitting infection in schools and to homes;
- without enhanced sanitary measures in all public schools across the country to ensure sanitization of all toilets and door handles, as well as a constant supply of water;
- without hand sanitisers available in all classrooms across the country ensuring that children are able to sanitize themselves when they arrive in the morning, during tea and lunch breaks, and before they leave school; and
- without assurance of thorough segregation of classrooms and children from different classes; no interaction between children from different classes during tea and lunch breaks, including not changing classrooms for lessons,
there is the potential for a catastrophe resulting from any infection in our schools without the above duly in place, even before their closure on the 20th of March 2020.
We, therefore, call for the immediate closure of all schools. THERE CAN NOT BE A MORE IMPORTANT IMPERATIVE THAN ENSURING SAFETY OF OUR CHILDREN IN SCHOOLS! We also call for the closure of all colleges and universities.
- We encourage the government to expeditiously roll out the free flu vaccination plan which is currently under consideration, as per the update of Hon. Kwape.
- We appreciate the hard work done by our government to enable a WHO – approved national testing capability through the National Laboratory. We, therefore, recommend that there be continuous proactive testing of our front line officials, namely, health care workers, law enforcement officers, and related service providers, to ensure their continued safety.
- We request our government to ensure clear information dissemination about all issues pertaining to COVID-19 in order to avoid the prevalence of fake news which may, in the long run be a danger to the entire society. The information provided needs to be clear and non- contradictory. To that end, we recommend that the government delegates a National Spokesperson on all issues related to COVID-19, for public assurance of valid official information from the government. Related to communication, we encourage the government not to emphasize the numbers of persons as they relate to social gatherings, as more and more citizens seem to measure vulnerability and exposure by the number of people per gathering. For example, there is an assumption that there is less risk of contracting the virus in a social gathering of 90 people because it is below the government guideline of 100 people, as per the Public Notice of 16 March 2020. We, therefore, encourage our government to emphasize more, the personal responsibility in social distancing as opposed to the number of people for every social gathering.
- We duly recognize the need for Water Utilities Corporation (WUC) to recover outstanding bills from customers across the country. However, in light of the emphasis on personal hygiene for everyone, we request that the WUC immediately halts cutting water supplies of customers until the virus has been contained. We further call upon WUC to prioritize the supply of water to all areas, especially those which have had challenges of receiving water.
- We recognize the anxiety and potential psycho-social harm which our citizens currently in Wuhan, China may be experiencing. We call on the government to ensure, by all means necessary, the safety of these citizens. The primary duty of care for citizens in such situations, lies with the Government.
- We recognize the potential impact of the scourge on the national economy, as is the case with the rest of the world. The tourism sector, which has been one of our key drivers of the economy is, according to reports, already being affected. We call on the government to seriously consider and put in place, measures to protect the economy during this period. The same should be communicated to the public especially as it relates to potential job losses and loss of earnings by the public. We call on the government to move towards ensuring minimal impact, to the extent possible, of the livelihoods of our people due to the pandemic.
- We call on the private sector, by all means necessary, to engage in ethical business practices to ensure continued supply of necessities to fight the COVID-19, including consideration of its self-regulation to ensure equitable availability of supplies. We specifically call on businesses to not be driven by the need to maximize profit due to high demand levels amidst scarcity, and in the process to make some of the crucial supplies unaffordable for most citizens. In the same manner, we call on members of the public to consider that we are ‘all in this together’. We need to recognize that our own safety may be dependent on the safety of the next person. We need to refrain from stockpiling more safety and sanitary supplies than we may need in order not to cause shortages in the market.
- As authors of this communication, we undertake to do all in our power to spread the COVID-19 safety message to our constituents and encourage the entire NGO Sector to do the same, while ensuring the safety of our work environments.
- We, the below stated NGOs, commit to support the government in whichever way possible in line with international human rights standards and best practices, to fight the global pandemic in Botswana and shall act appropriately as may be required by the government.
Botswana Centre for Public Integrity (BCPI), Botswana Gender-Based Violence Prevention and Support Centre (BGBVC), Botswana Labour Migrants Association (BoLAMA), Botswana Substance Abuse Network (BOSASNET), CHILDLINE Botswana, DITSHWANELO – The Botswana Centre for Human Rights, Friends of Diversity, Inclusive Directions Botswana, Save Widows and Orphans Botswana, Southern African Alcohol Policy Alliance Botswana (SAAPA Botswana), Skillshare International Botswana and Youth Alliance for Leadership and Development in Africa (YALDA). For more information regarding this communication, please contact, on behalf of the undersigned organizations, Mr. Machete at 72300902.
18 March 2020
Gaborone