NEWS: BOTSWANA’S RELATIONSHIP WITH INDEPTH: TRUST, SCIENCE, AND OPENNESS PAGE 2 MEDIA IMPROVING - US REPORT PAGE 10 WILL BE CENTRAL TO THE NEW NORMAL May 3 - 9, 2020 EXCELLENCE IS STANDARD PRACTICE PRICE: P12.50 www.sundaystandard.info @SunStd_bw COVID-19 infected nurse case in court n Nurses union sues state after colleague is infected while on duty n Confidential details to be aired in court n Infected nurse cannot depose an affidavit KHONANI ONTEBETSE by not providing elementary personal protective clothing like disposal gowns estricted details on how and protective eyewear. the Botswana nurse who He states that the government has recently serviced Parlia- endangered health and safety of the ment was infected by the family members of each health of the coronavirus are expected workers who are exposed to coronavi- to be brought to light in a rus by not putting measures in place to case in which Botswana Nurses Union ensure that when they have worked the R(BONU) is suing government for ex- day in vulnerable environments, they posing its members to the deadly virus. are provided with isolated accommo- In crude poetic justice, after the dation for a period of at least 14 days nurse tested positive to coronavirus, after their final shift. President Mokgweetsi Masisi, his ex- He said that initially in a letter dated ecutive, legislators and a number of 31 March addressed to BONU’s erst- senior government officials had to be while attorneys, the government had quarantined for 14 days because the made an undertaking to take all the nurse worked from parliament the day measure that are reasonably necessary before her results came out. and in line with the guidelines of the In their court records, BONU ar- World Health Organization and to en- gues that Botswana’s alleged failure sure that health and safety of all the to adhere to guidelines of the World nurses and other health professionals Health Organization (WHO) in respect in the workplace. to Covid-19 among them provision of Philip said the government had also personal protective equipment (PPE) made an undertaking that the frontline resulted in the nurse contracting the health professionals will be accommo- virus. dated in isolation from their families In his replying affidavit, the Di- and members of the community. They rector of Health Service Dr. Malaki would further be quarantined for 14 Tshipayagae said the allegations that days after their final shift or last inter- the nurse could have contracted the vi- face with suspects or quarantined indi- rus due to lack of personal protective viduals. equipment are “dangerously specula- Phillip said the government has ei- tive.” ther “fully failed to perform in terms In their papers before Justice God- of its undertaking in some areas whilst frey Radijeng, scores of nurses who in some areas it has partly or insuffi- have disposed a string of affidavits ac- ciently performed.” cuse the government of failing in its Some nurses said the government duty by not providing them and other had either failed or refused to pro- health workers with personal protective vide isolate accommodation as under- equipment (PPE). taken for health workers involved in In his founding affidavit, Botswana screening people arriving in Botswana Nurses Union (BONU) Secretary Gen- through Tlokweng Border Post from eral, Lebogang Philip states that “this South Africa which is already an af- lack of protective clothing has actually fected country with high numbers of led to the first case of a health worker, positive cases. Other nurses stationed the nurse who tested positive leading to at Ramatlabama and other border posts the quarantine exercise on the Mem- also alleged that they were not provided bers of Parliament on 19th April 2020.” Parliament in session with PPE while other nurses at Block The names of the nurse in question 8 and Kanye said they were not pro- are known to this publication. impossible for the Applicant to obtain their lives and those of their families in professionals in the workplace. measures commensurate to levels of after their final shift or last interface vided with protective gear despite the Philip said “unfortunately due to a confirmatory affidavit from him.” the process. They also demand that the gov- exposures to danger. with suspects of quarantined individu- fact that they were testing coronavirus the fact that the said nurse has now In separate affidavits nurses state Therefore, nurses demand that the ernment should provide them and all They also want government to als. suspects. been subjected to mandatory quaran- that while scores of Batswana are con- government take all the measures in other health professionals involved provide them with accommodation in Philip said that the Government Replying, the Director of Health tine at Sir Ketumile Masire Hospital fined to their homes during the lock- line with the guidelines of the World in screening for Covid-19 with all the isolation from their families and other has failed to provide safe working con- Service Dr. Malaki Tshipayagae said the whereat he is not supposed to make down, thousands of health workers are Health Organisation to ensure their necessary protective gear as per the ap- members of the community during ditions to the health workers directly any contact with any person it has been at the forefront against the virus risking health and safety and all other health plicable laws and regulations as well as their shifts and for 14 days quarantine involved in the fight against Covid-19 CONTINUES ON PG 2 British billionaire sells FTSE 100 company to save his Botswana tourism business SUNDAY STANDARD REPORTER company in a bid to save his Botswana Hargreaves, to support other invest- Lansdown in an accelerated offering by Botswana Development Corpora- Mashatu Nature Reserve controls Rho- tswana started in 2007 when he became business which has been badly affected ments among them the Botswana tour- through Barclays Plc. tion. Mashatu Nature Reserve operates desdrift Investments (Pty) Ltd, Kanda a shareholder in Tuli Safari Lodge. One of Botswana’s biggest tourism by the Coronavirus. ism business. The Guernsey based Pula Property Mashatu Game Reserve, which com- (Pty) Ltd and Limpopo Valley Access Lansdown is believed to be a close investors and former President Lt Lansdown sold part of his stake Pula Property Holdings, the Holdings owns a 50% stake in Mashatu promises 40% of the Northern Tuli (Pty) Ltd. associate of former President Lt Gen Gen Ian Khama’s associate, British bil- in Hargreaves Lansdown Plc, the Guernsey-based company that Lans- Investment. Mashatu Investments con- Game Reserve and offers game drives, Pula Properties also controls Tha- Ian Khama. The pair serve in Tuli Con- lionaire Stephen Lansdown has been FTSE100 financial firm he co-found- down controls sold 160 million pounds trols 70% of Mashatu Nature Reserve horse-back safaris, cycling, walks in malakane River lodge and Croc B (Pty) servation Trust where Lansdown is a forced to sell part of his FTSE100 ed with fellow British billionaire Peter ($202 million) of shares of Hargreaves (Pty) Ltd and the remaining 30% is held the wild and luxury accommodation. Ltd. Lansdown’s involvement in Bo- trustee and Khama is the patron. WEATHER WEATHER SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY SUNDAY STANDARD IS A MEMBER OF THE PHYSICAL ADDRESS: PHYSICAL ADDRESS FORECAST Max: 28°C Max: 27°C Max: 26°C BOTSWANA PRESS COUNCIL AND SUBSCRIBES Commerce Park, Plot 104, Rowland, Ngilichi House (Meriting Spar) Unit 6, Francistown GABORONE Min: 10°C Min: 09°C Min: 09°C TO THE BOTSWANA MEDIA CODE OF ETHICS Unit 21. Gaborone TEL: 3188784 FAX: 3188795 TEL: 2412319 FAX: 2412310 & INFO Source: www.weather.com 2 Behind the News May 3 - 9, 2020 Botswana’s relationship GCC field- workers with media improving - US report working with- out portable toilets during lockdown While it had promised to ensure that its fieldworkers are “catered for” with sanitational facilities during the lockdown, the Gaborone City Council (GCC) has yet to make good on that promise. GCC, as indeed all other local governments in Botswana, has an unusual problem that has been allowed to go Sir Seretse Khama unresolved for decades. Its fieldworkers in the Departments of Environmental Health, Parks and Recreation, Roads and Electrical Engineering don’t bring along Botswana’s portable toilets when they leave their offices in the morning. The result is that last surviving when nature calls, they ask to use the toilet in the nearest house in the areas that they would be working in. 1967 sedition These employees have formally complained to GCC management over the years about this situation but their trialist passes concerns were never addressed. One such complaint was tabled as an action item at away quietly a Local Works Committee meeting but the intervention that the employees sought Even among some Botswana National (that they be provided with portable Front members and Kopong residents, the toilets) was never effected. However, name Pretty Molefe doesn’t ring a bell but President Masisi addressing the media the coronavirus situation presents a new decades ago, it set off all national-security challenge. With the disease spreading like alarm bells and was on the charge sheet of SUNDAY STANDARD REPORTER The report further states that, complained they were sometimes sition parties challenged some of the school at the center, and interna- wildfire around the world, residents are no Botswana’s first sedition trial. “government dominated domes- subject to government pressure to election results in court. tional observers expressed concern longer willing to allow GCC fieldworkers In the immediate post-Independence elations between the Bo- tic broadcasting. The government portray the government and country It emerges from the report that some children were separated from inside their houses and use their toilets.