EFB issues ultimatum to politicians
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Former President, Mogae
The Evangelist Fellowship of Botswana (EFB) has launched a scornful attack on the leadership of the country saying those calling for legalization of homosexuality, prostitution and abortion should start to rethink their stand.
The EFB leader Master Matlhaope told the WeekendPost this week that EFB continues to caution the nation “particularly those in leadership to uphold the righteous standards set by our forefathers”.
He said “the standards they set includes but are not limited to criminalizing homosexuality, prostitution and abortion. Those calling for the legalization of these should be warned and advised to think otherwise,” he warned.
Former president Festus Mogae has on several occasions made known his views that homosexuality and sex work be decriminalized in Botswana to assist curtail the spread of HIV/AIDS, as various studies identified them as catalysts to the scourge.
Recently, Assistant Minister of Local Government and Rural Development Botlogile Tshireletso told parliament of her support for abortion and called for its legalization.
Human Rights lawyers such as Uyapo Ndadi has also advocated for the decriminilisation of homosexuality and prostitution, saying they were fundamental rights of any human being and also personal choices that no one including government should temper with.
Homosexuality
According to the EFB, homosexuality is foreign to our nation and above all regarded as an abomination in the Bible. The umbrella of ‘fire churches’ stated that they are encouraged by the government’s appeal of the Lesbians, Gays and Bisexuals of Botswana (LEGABIBO) registration case. “Homosexuality, criminalized in our penal code must remain as such and the practice should boldly be discouraged,” EFB contends.
Prostitution
The EFB leader also posits that prostitution which is often color coded-sex work- dehumanizes people. He says it takes away dignity and replaces it with shame, and that is why even those calling for its legalization cannot dare their daughters practice it let alone do it themselves. “It sentences a woman to the life of shame in the present, and secures her for eternal hell fire after final judgment,” he added.
Matlhaope highlighted that they believe in the inherent value of a woman, “she is a living being not a commodity, a nation builder, a life carrier and life’s shelter, a protector, a nurturer, a home maker, a wife, a mother and a sister, above all she has the imago dei (the image of God). Her price is the blood of the Son of God.”
The outspoken pastor declared that: “we call those calling for legalization for prostitution to desist and to respect the value and dignity of women.”
Abortion
According to the pastor, human life takes precedence to personal privacy. We do not have the right to privately kill another human being, he says. “We call for the protection of human life, born and unborn.”
He however added, “In a pregnancy situation, we have two lives-the life of the woman and the life of the unborn child and both are human with potentialities. Under normal circumstances, a woman would have right to do as she wants with her body of course within the boundaries of acceptable behavior, and when she carries another life, we have two lives both of which have right to live. None of these two lives have the right to take the life of the other. Only when one is under threat can there be tampering to save the other.”
Satanism
The EFB leader also raised concerns about the escalation of Satanism activity and behaviour in public schools and the use of drugs and substance abuse amongst the youth, juvenile deliquincies as well as breaking down of families and increasing HIV infections. He made relevance to the Thamaga incidence which resulted in an innocent elderly woman being murdered by a gang.
“We have evidenced an increase in corrupted sexual morals, infiltration of anti-societal norms, road carnages and all these behaviors, call for intensified prayer and evangelism efforts, which is why we call all EFB churches and those subscribing to the evangelical doctrine of regeneration to intensify evangelism effort,” he said.
Democratic intolerance
The EFB also points out that they are disheartened by voices of intolerance in the national space. He pointed out, “In a democracy such as ours, they say everyone has the right to express his or her views. They add that it is also enshrined in our culture and norm as Batswana expressed in Tswana idioms such as; “mafoko a kgotla a mantle otlhe, mmualebeo abo a bua la gagwe gore monalentle a le tswe”.
Motlhaope said that there were topical issues that are debated varying from economy, arts, and traditional renaissances and said that EFB encouraged healthy debates as they are important for the development of the country.
“We have however noted that at times when EFB within its space as a faith based institution speak on issues of morality, we are faulted as being intolerant. We wish to state that intolerance to EFB’s opinion is also intolerance and should equally be condemned,” he added.
Corruption
On the issue of corruption, he said that the EFB encourages all in leadership as well as all citizens and residents to do all it takes to ensure Zero tolerance for corruption. “We pledge our prayer and support to His Excellency the President of Botswana and encourage him to continually take all action required against corruption to set the right tone from the top,” the EFB leader stated.
Vision 2016
Matlhaope reminded citizens that with only a year left before reaching 2016, and the 50th independence anniversary, all should exert more effort in the realisation of the Vision. “We are now less than a year towards the end of 2016, our 50th Independence anniversary where we have set a clear vision of what as nation we wish to be. We therefore urge every Motswana to redouble his or her effort for the realization of the vision. We also pray that God continues to assist us to realize this noble goal.”
WeekendPost understands that during the 2014 elections, the candid EFB in unison with the Botswana Council of Churches (BCC) and the Organization of African Instituted Churches (OAIC) set up an Observer Mission and fully participated in observing the General Elections.
As such, the leader cautioned elected leaders that: “we believe those elected are both within the perfect will and the permissive will of God. We urge all the legislators to ensure that the will of God is sacrosanct in their mandate and ensure that morality guides legislation. We pledge our prayers for our legislators. Whilst the legislators are totally free to express their views and vote according to their good consciences, we hold them accountable to remember what they promised the electorate, what the electorate holds in high regard and what the electorate abhors.”
EFB is an umbrella of ‘fire churches’ which are evangelical, Pentecostal and Para church organisations in the country. It boasts of a membership of denominations and organisations – which have member branches across the country. Currently EFB membership stands at 79 and the voice of EFB is collective of this membership.
The Fellowship holds that leaders who support same sex relationships, abortion and sex work will have a ruth awakening from the church movement, however, the assertion clashes with some of the leaders who have publicly declared their support for the individual choices with regard to abortion, prostitution and homosexuality.
Law society of Botswana (LSB) Chairman Lawrence Lecha also told this publication in a brief interview that churches are taking it too far and now trampling on the rights of others. “That is a very unfortunate statement by the EFB. Our constitution is clear that there shall be no discrimination of any kind, be it religion, gender and/or sexual orientation,” he lambasted.
“Churches are entitled to their opinions and religion (Christianity) as is the case with other religions such as Islam, Hinduism for example.” As human rights advocate, LSB stated that they will advocate, defend and protect the rights of other people. The issue of human rights, Lecha says is an international phenomenon that every being is entitled to – as long as it does not trample on the rights of others. EFB is entitled to their views and we are entitled to ours as well, they cannot impose their views on other people, he said.
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ENVIRONMENT ISSUES: Masisi asks Virginia for help
President Mokgweetsi Masisi says the issue of sustainable natural resources management has always been an important part of Botswana’s national development agenda.
Masisi was speaking this week on the occasion of a public lecture at Virginia Polytechnic, under theme, “Merging Conservation, Democracy and Sustainable Development in Botswana.”
Botswana, according to Masisi, holds the view that the environment is fragile and as such, must be managed and given the utmost protection to enable the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
“It is necessary that we engage one another in the interchange of ideas, perspectives, visualizations of social futures, and considerations of possible strategies and courses of action for sustainable development,” said Masisi.
On the other hand, dialogue, in the form of rigorous democratic discourse among stakeholders presents another basis for reconfiguring how people act on their environments, with a view to conserving its resources that “we require to meet our socio-economic development needs on a sustainable basis,” Masisi told attendees at the public lecture.
He said government has a keen interest in understanding the epidemiology and ecology of diseases of both domestic and wild animals. “It is our national interest to forestall the dire consequences of animal diseases on our communities livelihoods.”
President Masisi hoped that both Botswana and Virginia could help each other in curbing contagious diseases of wildlife.
“We believe that Virginia Tech can reasonably share their experiences, research insights and advances in veterinary sciences and medicines, to help us build capacity for knowledge creation and improve efforts of managing and containing contagious diseases of wildlife. The ground is fertile for entering into such a mutually beneficial partnership.”
When explaining environmental issues further, Masisi said efforts of conservation and sustainable development might at times be hampered by the emergence and recurrence of diseases when pathogens mutate and take host of more than one species.
“Water pollution also kills aquatic life, such as fish, which is one of humanity’s much deserved sources of food. In this regard, One Health Approach imposes ecological responsibility upon all of us to care for the environment and the bio-diversity therein.”
He said the production and use of animal vaccines is an important space and tool for conservation, particularly to deal with trans-border animal diseases.
“In Botswana, our 43-year-old national premier pharmaceutical institution called Botswana Vaccine Institute has played its role well. Through its successful production of highly efficacious Foot and Mouth vaccines, the country is able to contain this disease as well as supply vaccines to other countries in the sub-region.:
He has however declared that there is need for more help, saying “We need more capacitation to deal with and contain other types of microbial that affect both animals and human health.”
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Masisi saddened by deaths of elephant attacks
President Mokgweetsi Masisi has expressed a strong worry over elephants killing people in Botswana. When speaking in Virginia this week, Masisi said it is unfortunate that Batswana have paid a price with their own blood through being attacked by elephants.
“Communities also suffer unimaginable economic losses yearly when their crops are eaten by the elephants. In spite of such incidents of human-elephant conflict, our people embrace living together with the animals. They fully understand wildlife conservation and its economic benefits in tourism.”
In 2018, Nthobogang Samokwase’s father was attacked by an elephant when travelling from the fields, where he stayed during the cropping season.
It was reported that the man couldn’t run because of his age. He was found trampled by the elephant and was pronounced dead upon arrival at the hospital.
In the same year, in Maun, a 57-year-old British woman was attacked by an elephant at Boro and died upon arrival at the hospital. The woman was with her Motswana partner, and were walking dogs in the evening.
Last month, a Durban woman named Carly Marshall survived an elephant attack while on holiday in the bush in Botswana. She was stabbed by one of the elephant’s tucks through the chest and was left with bruises. Marshall also suffered several fractured ribs from the ordeal.
President Masisi Botswana has the largest population of African elephants in the world, totaling more than 130 000. “This has been possible due to progressive conservation policies, partnerships with the communities, and investment in wildlife management programmes.”
In order to benefit further from wildlife, Masisi indicated that government has re-introduced controlled hunting in 2019 after a four-year pause. “The re-introduction of hunting was done in an open, transparent and democratic way, giving the communities an opportunity to air their views. The funds from the sale of hunting quota goes towards community development and elephant conservation.”
He stressed that for conservation to succeed, the local people must be involved and derive benefits from the natural resources within their localities.
“There must be open and transparent consultations which involve all sectors of the society. It is against this backdrop that as a country, we lead the continent on merging conservation, democracy and sustainable development.”
Masisi stated that Botswana is open to collaborative opportunities, “particularly with identifiable partners such as Virginia Tech, in other essential areas such as conservation, and the study of the interplay among the ecology of diseases of wild animals and plants, and their effects on human health and socio-economic development.”
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Gov’t commit to injecting more funds in fighting HIV
Minister for State President Kabo Morwaeng says government will continue to make resources available in terms of financial allocations and human capital to ensure that Botswana achieves the ideal of eradicating HIV and AIDS as a public health threat by 2030.
Morwaeng was speaking this morning in Gaborone at the High-Level Advocacy event to accelerate HIV Prevention in Botswana. He said the National AIDS and Health Promotion Agency (NAPHA), in partnership with UNAIDS, UN agencies, the Global Fund and PEPFAR, have started a process of developing transition readiness plan for sustainability of HIV prevention and treatment programmes.
“It is important for us, as a country that has had a fair share of donor support in the response to an epidemic such as HIV and AIDS, to look beyond the period when the level of assistance would have reduced, or ceased, thus calling for domestic financing for all areas which were on donor support.”
Morwaeng said this is important as the such a plan will guarantee that all the gains accrued from the response with donor support will be sustained until the end when “we reach the elimination of HIV and AIDS as a public health threat by 20230,” he said.
“I commit to continue support efforts towards strengthened HIV prevention, accentuating HIV primary prevention and treatment as prevention towards Zero New Infections, Zero Stigma, Discrimination and Zero AIDS related death, to end AIDS in Botswana.”
He reiterated that government commits to tackle legislative, policy and programming challenges that act as barriers to the achievement of the goal of ending AIDS as a public health threat.
In the financial year 2022/2023, a total of 119 Civil Society Organizations, including Faith Based Organizations, were contracted with an amount of P100 million to implement HIV and NCDs prevention activities throughout the country, and the money was drawn from the Consolidated Fund.
Through an upcoming HIV Prevention Symposium, technical stakeholders will use outcomes to develop the Botswana HIV Prevention Acceleration Road Map for 2023-2025.
Morwaeng stated that government will support and ensure that Botswana plays its part achieving the road map. He said there is need to put hands on the deck to ensure that Botswana sustains progress made so far in the fight against HIV and AIDS.
“There are tremendous achievements thus far to, reach and surpass the UNAIDS fast track targets of 95%- 95%- 95% by the year 2025. As reflected by the BAIS preliminary results of 2021, we now stand at 95- 98- 98 against the set targets.”
“These achievements challenge us to now shift our gears and strive to know who are the remaining 5% for those aware of their HIV status, 2% of enrolment on treatment by those aware of their status and 2% of viral suppression by those on treatment.”
Explaining this further, Morwaeng said shift in gears should extend to coming up with robust strategies of determining where these remaining people are as well as how they will be reached with the necessary services.
“These are just some of the many variables that are required to ensure that as a country, we are well positioned to reaching the last mile of our country’s response to the HIV and AIDS pandemic.”