- Company confirms no measures were in place before Botswana lockdown
TLOTLO KEBINAKGABO
Drivers at leading logistics and transport company, UNITRANS Botswana, allege that the leading logistics and transport company turned a blind eye on measures to prevent and contain the spread of COVID-19 for some time.
This is in spite of Botswana closing its borders a fortnight ago and traffic to South Africa and back was banned except for trade in essential goods and services, especially from South Africa where 1660 cases of the Coronavirus have so far been registered.
According to a driver who spoke for himself and his collegues, isolation for 14 days upon arrival from SA has been the most flouted measure at UNITRANS. “None of the drivers coming from South Africa was asked to self-isolate,” the driver, who asked to remain anonymous, said. “The excuse of the management has been that they could not do anything and were waiting for the Ministry of Health.”
In an interview with this publication, UNITRANS’s Head of Human Resources, Moses Sebolai, confirmed that the company started isolating workers from South Africa only on Friday last week. This is inspite of South Africa having the highest rate of both infection and death from COVID-19 in the SADC region and the country being under a 21-day lockdown that began on 26 March.
This means that before Botswana declared a State of Emergency on Thursday last week, it was business as usual at UNITRANS.
Sebolai said before Botswana went into the State of Emergency, it was not clear what measures to adopt and admitted that UNITRANS drivers went to their homes after arriving from SA.
“The requirements were not as clear as they are now,” he said. “This needed logistical arrangements. Nobody was prepared for this situation.”