(Last Updated on November 23, 2020 by GERALD NCUBE)
BOTSWANA – The Botswana government has announced that they will re-open some of it’s land borders starting from the 1st of December following months of restrictions due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
This was announced through a media statement by the Ministry of Transport and Communications in Botswana.
The Ministry’s statement said, “Cross-border public passenger transport operations were suspended during the first national lockdown (March 2020) due to the Covid-19 outbreak…
“As part of government’s efforts to open up the economy, a decision to lift the suspension of cross border passenger road transport operations has been taken, as a means to provide services to members of the public and business community across the border.”
Some of the routes to be opened include Klogweng Border Gaberone – Johannesburg, Gaberone – Zeerust, Gaberone – Rustenburg, Ramatlabama Border among others. Other routes also set to be re-opened include the Botswana – Ramakgwebana border, Francistown – Bulawayo, Francistown – Harare and Francistown – Lusaka.
The statement also outlined the strict measures that will have to be adhered by the travellers – which include producing a valid 72-hour negative Covid-19 result to the public transport operators, wearing of masks and cleaning of both interior and exterior of the vehicles with water and soap or sanitizer.
This shall be done two or three times a day or after every trip.
Zimbabwe also recently announced that Cabinet had approved the re-opening of some of the borders which include Beitbridge, Plumtree, Victoria Falls, Chirundu, Nyamapanda and Forbes.
Plumtree border post shared by the two countries is one of the busiest borders processing over 3 million travellers annually.