OKAVANGO SCHOOLS HIT HARD BY COVID-19
300 students from Gowa SS test positive
BOARDING schools in Okavango Sub District are grappling with a Coronavirus crisis, with Gowa Secondary School in Seronga hardest hit having recorded 300 cases in the past months.
The Sub District’s chairperson, Mpoke Karapo, confirmed this week that the District Health Management Team (DHMT) has so far recorded 686 cases and four deaths in the region. 496 of those cases remain active.
“Several outbreaks were recorded in schools, especially those with boarding facilities. Gowa Junior Secondary School registered 300 students while Shakawe Senior Secondary School registered 55 cases and contact tracing is still ongoing,” revealed Karapo.
The sub district comprises several settlements in the North West, including major villages such as Etsha extension area, Shakawe, Gumare, Seronga and Gudigwa among others.
However, it does not have an adequate isolation centre where Covid patients can be placed.
“May I highlight that the sub district has no quarantine facility and all contacts are quarantined at home,” highlighted Karapo.
VIRUS
The newly constructed J.P. Kavindama Hospital in Shakawe has a 20-bed isolation ward, which Karapo maintains is not enough given the sub district’s population and rapid rate at which the virus is spreading.
“This is inadequate to cater for the current situation. Additionally, there is a shortage of testing kits for contact tracing,” he further warned when opening this week’s council meeting in Gumare.
Breaking the figures down further, the Chairperson declared, “Gumare village registered a total of 94 cases followed by Shakawe at 77 and Nokaneng at 17.”
Meanwhile, Ngami DHMT, which covers schools in the Maun Administration Authority (MAA), reported over 100 cases in its schools and the demise of two teachers.
In a monthly report presented at MAA on Wednesday morning, Dr Sandra Maripe revealed the deceased taught at Tshwaragano Junior Secondary School (Maun) and Legotlhwane Primary School.
In total, 103 students, 67 teachers and eight support staff have tested positive for Covid-19 in MAA schools.
Both Ngami and Okavango fall under North West District, with the 2011 population census putting the number of people living in the area at 175,631.
However, the district has just 80 beds available: 20 in Shakawe and 60 in MAA. Dr Maripe maintains that at least 120 more beds can be availed at Maun General Hospital should a worst-case scenario arise. The clinic is currently undergoing renovations.
KNOWN as man’s best friend, a pack of dogs chose survival over bravery recently, fleeing for safety as their owner fought off a lioness.
47-year-old Lesedi Mooketsi of Morutsha settlement owes his life to his friend, Tshameko Polao, who stepped up where the dogs failed and heroically came to his mate’s rescue.
The two men had gone to round up their goats in the bush to milk them for morning tea when a lioness burst out of the thicket, pouncing with terrifying speed.
According to the duo’s report to the Regional Wildlife Department in Maun, the feline was led to them by their dogs.
The two men had reportedly set off in the company of their dogs but when they were tracking the goats back to the kraal, the hounds suddenly rushed into the bush.
“A pride of lions had killed a cow and were mauling at it. The belief is that the smell of a dead carcass is what could have attracted the dogs into the bush,” explained Regional Wildlife Officer, Dimakatso Ntshebe.
Suddenly, the dogs came speeding back to the two men. In hot pursuit was a lioness.
“From what they told us, the two men made a bolt for it but the lioness leaped onto one man, causing injury to his left hand and elbow and scratching his thighs with its paws,” continued Ntshebe.
At this point the dogs are said to have fled, leaving Mooketsi to fend for his life and Polao desperately trying to save him. Polao reportedly smashed a log against the animal. When that didn’t work, he stabbed it with a spear.
Roaring in pain as the weapon pierced its flesh, the lion is said to have let go of Mooketsi a and retreated i into the bush w with the spear stil still lodged into its b body.
Th The matter was repo reported to the Wildlife Dep Department two days later. Ntshebe told The Voice that when his officers went to the scene, they discovered a pride of lions had indeed visited the area but had since tracked back into the wilderness.
The department is yet to track down any injured lion.
Morutsha is located in the wildlife protection area in the Okavango Delta and animal attacks are common in this place.
ly, the Sudden dogs came ng speedi the back to In two men. t pursui hot lioness was a
A group of young people are working towards resuscitating community co-operative supermarkets and stores around the country in an effort to promote food and goods production in rural communities.
Speaking in an interview with Okavango Voice this week, Daniel Somolekae, Softsport Director, a company behind the programme, revealed that they are already rebuilding Etsha 6 shop to prepare it for re-opening.
“We have made an agreement with the board to allow us to run the stores for a certain period of time, as you can see, we are busy with renovations,” explained the 33-year-old.
The idea to re-build community stores according to Somolekae was hatched during the April 2020 lockdown, “When our parents struggled to meet tender demands to supply food and basic staff to communities, we noticed that some chain suppliers deliberately made it hard for small business owners to get the supplies at reasonable prices. They wanted for themselves the monopoly to supply commodities and get tenders from councils.”
With revival of community co-operations, Somolekae says they hope to re-build farming and general production industries and take advantage of free trade in Africa, which Botswana government has since entered into with the rest of the region.
“We will be selling mostly local goods. For instance, Etsha has fish, so the community here can package it so that it is not only sold in Etsha 6 stores but can be transported to other stores outside the region as well. Again, we would open the market for locally produced goods outside the country,” he added.
So far, Somolekae says, they have travelled around the country to inspect the state of the stores around the country and found out that out of 275 stores, only just around five are operational, Moshupa, Thamaga, Bobonong, Gantsi and Molalatau.
Softspot intends to run Etsha 6 co-op for the next five years before handing it back to the community to run it.
“In the interim, we will be training the community on best marketing and sale techniques so that they will sail through once they are on their own,” further explained Somolekae.