Govt agrees to fund Red Cross

MARANYANE NGWANAAMOTHO
Staff Writer | Thursday December 16, 2010 00:00

 

Speaking at a meeting of the Southern Africa Partnership of Red Cross Societies (SAPRCS) in Gaborone yesterday, the Assistant Minister of Health, Gaotlhaetse Matlhabaphiri, said the government had approved the appeal for financial support.

'I'm pleased to inform you that the government has approved the appeal for an annual subvention to the Botswana Red Cross Society (BRCS) that will support the operational costs of the organisation,' Matlhabaphiri said.

He said his ministry would soon sign a Memorandum of Understanding with BRCS before the end of the 2010/2011 financial year to enable the charity to exercise its tasks.

He told the meeting that the auxiliary mandate of the BRCS as stipulated in the Act demands that it play a pivotal role in complementing government efforts in health delivery.

'The focus of the agreement will be on the improvement of life-saving skills through first aid and paramedic training, increased mitigation and prevention strategies for health, improved rehabilitation and stimulation facilities for people living with disabilities and community based rehabilitation, disaster preparedness and response, community sensitisation on communicable diseases and voluntary non-remuneration blood donor services,' he said.

Meanwhile, in a subsequent interview with Mmegi, the Secretary General of BRCS, Mabel Rammekwa, said they were happy that the government had finally seen the need to work with the charity in a more significant way.

Rammekwa said the government realised it had an obligation to support the society's efforts of providing effective and sufficient humanitarian aid to those in need.

'The government established this society and then turned its back on it,' she said. 'It is now good news that the government will now be participating in a more significant way by including us in the budget.'

'In the Act, we are established as an auxiliary to the ministry,' Rammekwa explained. 'Therefore, they should in fact, be doing most of the work while we just assist where necessary.' Regarding the conference, she said SAPRCS was having its third meeting this year and had gathered in Gaborone to discuss the strategy of how to produce their own funds regionally and to decide on which direction to take to execute their plans. 'That is why we are asking our governments to be partners and to fund us in order for us to be more effective and efficient,' she said.

The Southern African Partnership of Red Cross Societies chairpersons and secretary-generals from Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Swaziland, South Africa, Namibia and Zimbabwe, the regional representative of the International Federation of the Red Cross and the regional representative of the International Committee of the Red Cross attended the meeting.