Botswana Police Commissioner Keabetswe Makgophe, may be in trouble after two of his officers who tested positive for Covid-19 flew President Masisi to his farm recently, ahead of his scheduled trip to Mozambique.
The two pilots are said to have come into contact with Masisi on his trip to Banyana farms last Monday before their Covid-19 results were released.
It is said the pilots received a call while at the farm and were told that their Covid-19 results had come out positive.
President Masisi had to cancel his trip to Mozambique on Wednesday where he was scheduled to join other Southern African Development Community (SADC) leaders for the Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Extra Ordinary Summit that was to be held in Maputo last Thursday.
The Mozambique trip has since been postponed and President Masisi is expected to travel on a date to be announced.
This is the fourth time that President Masisi has gone on self-isolation after his supporting staff tested positive.
According to our source the procedure is that the Permanent Secretary to the President informs the Police Commissioner about the President’s trip in advance. The Commissioner then informs the Director Air Support who prepares the flying team.
“The pilots are not supposed to fly the president before their Covid-19 results are released. The Director has to check if they are in good health and state of mind before flying. Someone did not do his job and there has to be an explanation. The President was with his bodyguard and the two pilots. Another police chopper was sent to fetch Masisi while the two officers flew back to Gaborone,” he said.
Press Secretary to the President, Batlhalefi Leagajang confirmed that the President went on self-quarantine following the detection of a COVID-19 case among some of his staff members.
He said the President’s self-quarantine is out of abundance of caution while more information is being gathered to ascertain the level of risk which will guide additional precautions and investigations in relation to this exposure.
When reached for a comment, Police Spokesperson Dipheko Motube said he does not respond to issues that involve Covid-19 and referred this publication to the Presidential Taskforce team.
