Govt. gets 20 000litres sanitiser donation

TheVoiceBW

The Ministry of Tertiary Education, Research, Science and Technology – through the Botswana Institute for Technology Research and Innovation (BITRI) and the Botswana International University of Science and Technology (BIUST) – and De Beers Group over the weekend donated 20,000 litres of sanitisers to Government.

Received by the Minister of Presidential Affairs and Public Administration Kabo Morwaeng, the sanitisers will be distributed to those in need by the national COVID-19 Task Team. 

De Beers Group and the Ministry of Tertiary Education, Research, Science and Technology, under which both BITRI and BIUST fall, each provided 500,000 Pula for the initiative, with the De Beers Group contribution forming part of its recently announced 10 million Pula in-kind donation to the COVID-19 Relief Fund.

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The donation from the two entities went towards procurement of raw material, including 20,000 litres of ethanol and containers for the sanitisers. 

Bruce Cleaver, CEO, De Beers Group said: “We continue to explore ways in which we can support and partner with the Government of Botswana in the fight against COVID-19. Regular washing or sanitising of hands is one of the key preventative measures promoted by the World Health Organisation, and we are proud to have partnered with BITRI and BIUST to provide these supplies to those who need them. We stand side by side with Botswana during COVID-19 and are focused on supporting our partners as we progress towards recovery.”

CEO of BITRI, Professor Shedden Masupe, highlighted that both BITRI and BIUST produced equal amounts of the sanitiser in order to expedite production in light of the urgent need to dispatch the products to those who need them now.

He emphasised that for BITRI, the initiative is a once  production to assist in the pandemic as there are a number of SMMEs already participating in this space. “Both institutions prioritise institutional capacity and collaboration with other organizations and institutions. We are therefore grateful to have collaborated as leaders in the technology space locally, but also thankful to have collaborated with De Beers Group, another leader in the field of technology, over and above its role in the diamond industry,” said Masupe. 

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