The decision to prevent non-residents and non-nationals of Botswana who are arriving from the DRC and indeed other Ebola affected countries from entering Botswana may not be popular, but is understandable. In fact it is in times like this that governments need to make bold decisions, no matter how unpopular. And for this, we salute the government of Botswana.
Yes, our own people will suffer as a result of the ban. Our brothers and sisters from other SADC countries will also suffer. But isn’t the inconvenience of a few better than the death of thousands of Botswana and SADC nationals? It is however worrisome that while Botswana has closed its borders to travellers from the DRC and has banned its citizens and residents from visiting the country, until the Ebola epidemic is over, other SADC members have different arrangements. From this single episode we can safely reason that SADC does not have a common position on Ebola. This is a recipe for failure. The reason the disease eventually spread throughout West Africa was because the countries in that region made the same mistake.
