Time to be decisive: Let's reset the COVID-19, war effort

When our current president came to face to face with the virus, he sought to personally own the war effort. That's where things went wrong. People who had experienced in community mobilisation, for example, wondered why the President was reinventing the wheel instead of simply leveraging onto existing structures. A standing battle hardened army, was discarded for an army of recruits, and COVID19 was converted into a reality show. I cannot remember a single celebrity medical practitioner of the HIV-AIDS, era. But COVID19 has produced as many TV celebrities, as dead bodies. Mogae, for exame, never sought glory in the war effort. People were dying, and he knew they had to be saved. He kept his eyes on the ball, not on himself.

It's hard saying these things. Somehow you wish everything was working fine. No one wants to denigrate President Masisi. But we face the pitiless logic of facts. The war effort has backfired spectacularly. It has backfired because it was turned into a looting fest. Masks were sold at P600 a unit. Town Mayors supplied relief essentials, and tenders were given to close family of those in power. President Masisi had hoped to replicate former President Mogae's success without following, or learning from his example. Sadly, things have gone south. They have gone south, not because we don't have skilled people among us for the job. I belive Dr. Masupu, Prof. Mosepele and their charges are eminently qualified. Things have gone south, because we lacked political leadership.

How did we overlook the need for just one, extra facility. How did we overlook the need for capacitation, after two extentions of the State of Emergency. We have gone through two successive waves of the virus, and we came out, no wiser. Surely, buying vaccines was no capacitation. When the SOE was first sought, there was no vaccine in the market. So, delays in vaccine arrivals are a pretext. Now the money is gone, and the people are dying. The nation is in fear. The nation is grieving. And the nation is angry. Never has public frustration been so palpable. Never in my forty five years of life, and living through three Presidents, have I seen our people lose faith so quickly in their leadership.

Editor's Comment
Molepolole unrest: Urgent attention on missing person cases

From Jakoba's mysterious disappearance on November 9 to the grim discovery of his remains at Mosinki Lands, a gap in the response mechanisms of the police and village leadership has been laid bare. The community's anger is evident, seen in the attack on Bakang Masole, the man found driving Jakoba's taxi and the main suspect, and the subsequent riot. Residents express discontent, citing a troubling trend of missing persons cases often...

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