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PAGE 9 “Kitso ke maatla” "THE Union is Clutching BPF gEaRS up for aT StrawS" UB Vice future without CHanCEllOR Prof. Norris PAGE 11 founding presidenT PAGE 11 GovtBTU COMESSnubs UNDER Batswana,PRESSURE givesTO SUE GOVT SteveOVER HarveyCOVID-19 DEATHS •• OP Teacher's handpicks Union Harvey investigates to revamp videosMass Media of deliberate COVID-19 •Multimillion BBtransmissions brought identical among proposal students to Masisi in 2019 • COVID-19 Infections rise among 10 to 20-year olds Pula• Botswana clinchesTender vaccine deal with Moderna • DCEC, BURS turn up the Heat on COVID-19 Tenderpreneurs STORIES ON PAGES 2,3,4 & 6 UB VICE CHANCELLOR RUBBISHES UNION PETITION TO stEP DOWN • Says he turned around the institution’s financial stability • Minister promises to intervene swiftly • Former UB SRC Presidents condemn Union petition PAGE 9 Up to Apply for a No Mathata P600,000 loan today. for a Personal Loan. 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PAGE 2 NEWS WEDNESDAY 16 JUNE 2021 THE BOTSWANA GAZEttE Alarm follows videos of deliberate COVID transmission among students • Consternation grips parents • Quarantine centre aide says students don’t want to leave • Teachers’ union to investigate SESUPO RANTSIMAKO Marapong,” said the aide who can- BTU COMES UNDER not be identified. “What is more udio recordings circulating on perturbing is that they are uncon- WhatsApp groups have revealed PRESSURE TO SUE GOV’T Ahow parents are perturbed that trollable in quarantine and seem to students may be spreading COVID-19 be happy to be here.” among themselves on purpose so that More disturbing is the revelation OVER COVID DEATHS schools may be ordered closed, The Bo- that the reluctance of students to tswana Gazette has established. leave the quarantine centre after Nxakato Junior Secondary being cleared of infection. “They • More than 45 teachers have died from COVID School in Sowa Town, Masunga feign more weakness when they • Union prepares to sue govt Senior Secondary School in Ma- are due to leave,” the aide said in sunga and schools in Marapong an audio. “Some of them don’t are among sources of concern for GAZETTE REPORTER even bring their school books into parents about the alleged phenom- quarantine because they behave as eaders of Botswana Teachers Union (BTU) may face a vote of no confidence over enon. though they’re on holiday.” what members see as their failure to compel the government to provide teachers A video circulating on social me- The vice president of Botswa- Lwith PPEs. dia is particularly disturbing for na Sectors of Educators Union, The union has come under increasing pressure from members to take the government showing students brazenly hug- Mogomotsi Motshegwa, says the to court over this matter after growing numbers of teachers succumbed to the marauding ging one another and expressing virus. union is aware of the trend. “We Nearly 50 teachers have died from COVID-19 since the outbreak of the pandemic in delight that they spread the virus in just learned from the videos and Botswana early last year. this manner as a dependable means audio sent to us,” Motshegwa told Members of BTU subsequently called for court action and are now accusing leaders of of going into quarantine. The Gazette. “We have talked to the union of reluctance to take the legal route because they are on a secret government In more audio recordings, parents our ad-hoc team to investigate.” payroll. relate how they have learnt how “There is growing concern that teachers are on their own because BTU leaders has A spokesman of Botswana failed to act,” said a source. “Teachers are scared to report for duty because they are dy- students mob around those who Teachers Union, Zweli Tupane, ing in large numbers. Potential leaders in our midst are ready to take over and sue the test positive in point-blank contact said this calls for inoculation of government for failure to provide teachers with PPEs, prioritise teachers for vaccination, in order to ensure transmission of teachers as a priority. “After learn- and to give us a risk allowance.” the deadly virus to themselves and ing about this, we are calling all the Speaking on Teachers’ Day recently, the president of BTU Gotlamang Oitsile said the visit those in isolation. government had ignored their call for teachers to be prioritised in vaccination, saying the civic leaders and Members of Par- union had expected teachers to follow nurses as workers in the front lines. According to an aide at a quar- liament join our call for prioritisa- “We welcome government decision that teachers will be included in the priority vac- antine centre in Matsiloje, the tion of teachers for COVID jabs,” cination programme, but the statement is incomplete because I had expected them to give number of students arriving there Tupane said in an interview. us timelines,” Oitsile said. “We have had many vaccines coming into the country but the may point to young people get- Efforts to contact the Coordina- government has continued to ignore us. ting intentionally infected. “The “Teachers are at high risk and we have had too many cases of teachers passing away tor of Francistown District Health due to COVID-19. That alone should have set alarm bells ringing. We have started to allegations about these students Management Team, Dr Ivan Kge- prepare the paperwork to take the government to court unless they tell us clearly when must be true because we are expe- tse, proved futile at the time of go- teachers will be vaccinated. If it was not for Teachers Day, we would not have heard riencing an influx of schools from ing to press. whether will be included on the priority list.” Sowa Town, Masunga, Gweta and WESTERN INDUSTRIAL ESTATES (PROPRIETARY) LIMITED A Member of the BDC Group of Companies INVITATION FOR EXPRESSION OF INTEREST (EOI) SOLICITING BUSINESS PARTNERS OR TENANTS TO PROPOSE THE BEST POSSIBLE VALUE FOR MONEY UTILISATION OF LOT 18721, PALAPYE The requirement WIE is desirous of seeking business partners or potential tenants for the utilisation of Lot 18721, Palapye measuring approximately 100 hectares. The property is located within Palapye just off the A1 motorway between Mahalapye and Francistown. The property was initially earmarked for the development of a Glass Factory project. The factory including buildings of around 12000 sqm and infrastructure on site which were never completed. The property also has two railway lines and a BPC substation with incomplete electrical reticulation. This provides access to raw materials and exit of products to the market both South and North bound. This location is within proximity to raw materials like soda ash and coal. Site Visit A site visit will be undertaken on the 21st of June 2021 from 11am to 12noon for any party requiring the same. The site visit will not be mandatory but may assist the relevance of the submission. For more information on the invitation kindly visit our social media pages: Botswana Development Corporation @BDCLimited THE BOTSWANA GAZEttE WEDNESDAY 16 JUNE 2021 NEWS PAGE 3 COVID-19 Infections rise among 10 to 20-year olds • Prof Mosepele says caseload could burden society Botswana National Front (BNF) secretary general Moeti Mohwasa briefs the media in Gaborone. BNF secretary for information and publicity Justin Hunyepa and Nelson Ramaotwana were pres- • Non-compliance with protocols to blame ent during the briefing. (Pic:MONIRUL BHUIYAN/PRESS PHOTO) RORISANG MOGOJWE he COVID-19 Task Force (CTF) has expressed concern about the “aston- Tishingly high” numbers of cases that continue to be recorded in the country. In the latest update, the Deputy Coordina- tor of CTF, Professor Mosepele Mosepele, said the inclusive four-day period of 8 to 11 June 2021, “we recorded an astonishingly high number of new COVID-19 cases at 1 111, almost a four-fold increase from the previous reporting period”. The Coordinator continued: “This brought the total number of cases to 61 457 and we continue to see a high and increasing num- ber of active cases at 3 730 cases which have been on the rise in the last few weeks.” Non-compliance with COVID protocols, including the wearing of masks and reduced numbers at inevitable gatherings, have been fingered as causes of the dramatic rise in new infections. “Those who have been declared recov- ered as they are no longer infectious stand at 56 798,” Dr Mosepele said. “As we reported last time, we continue to see a sustained in- crease of COVID-related fatalities at 926 as of the 11th of June.” Professor Mosepele said the surge in CO- VID-related deaths is an indication that the COVID-19 case load has increased and could burden society. He added that the Greater Ga- borone zone remains the hub of the disease, which means it carries the highest burden of disease. Botswana has administered at least 150,749 doses of COVID vaccines so far. According to the Reuters COVID-19 tracker, assuming that every person needs two doses, this is amounts to a mere 3% of the country’s population inoculated. In the update, Dr Mosepele also revealed that infections among young people aged be- tween 10 and 20 years have gone up. While he admitted that the team cannot state why infections have gone up among these young people, videos and audio recordings circu- lating on social media indicate that students may be contracting COVID-19 on purpose, the aim being to miss school and go on isola- tion.