As mentioned yesterday,I had to travel to Gaborone from Francistown today with my mother to take my sister to an urgent doctor’s appointment at GPH and we experienced first hand the deficiencies of the permit system

THREAD

So over the weekend we had made all the efforts to obtain a travel permit to no avail.first we went to molaodi (district commissionioner) who told us that as long as we had an appointment letter,which we did,there was no need for permit

Wanting to be sure,we went to the local kgosi to again ask for a travel permit and they did not know anything about travel permits

We then called the hotline to confirm and was told the same message as the district commissioner,that as long we had an appointment letter we could present it to the authorities

Today at 5:30am we leave Francistown so we can make it to the GPH at 11am.we then get to the Sese checkpoint near Serule where we present the appointment letter and expect to continue on the rather long trek to down south

The officers at the checkpoint tell us that they want to see permits and nothing else and we try to tell them what we were told by district commissioner and hot.our pleas fall on deaf ears and.

We are given the option of either U-turning back to Tonota to get permits at the council offices or facing the full wrath of the law. Law-abiding citizens we are,we oblige,turn back and head up north.the time is now around 7:00am

We get to Tonota council premises and are met by this crowd,all waiting to apply for permits.We wait for 8:00am for offices to open so we can get help.8:00am comes and staff instead of assisting us are called into a meeting

While on the line this lady (picture taken with her permission) arrives.she too has had to U-turn at Sese checkpoint because like us,she was assured that doctor's appointment letter would suffice.she is due anytime and had to travel to be admitted for delivery

She tells me that she and her partner tried to explain their situation and the female officer told her gore "be o itse gore oa belega anytime ekabo o dirile permit go ago gave emergency ke ka boom" while the male officer proceeded to take her partner's licence

Its now around 9:30am and we still waiting for Tonota council meeting to adjourn.still no end in sight. we decide that because it is impossible to make the 11:00am appointment at GPH,we should try to reschedule.GPH tells us next available date is June

We beg and beg and finally after lots of begging,they say we can come tomorrow same time. Tonota council tells us that they issue permits for people departing from Tonota only so if we going tomorrow,we have to make a permit in F/Town. we hit the A1 back to Ghetto

We pass the Tatisiding checkpoint where the officers tell us that we should have been let through at Sese.its too late now. we go to Ntshe House to make permits for tomorrow's travel and are met with this line

There we are told that they don't process medical permits and to do that we have to go to Nyangagwe Hospital. we head there are met by this line.there is also a meeting there so we have to wait for it to adjourn to get help

Meeting finally adjourns and we are told that because our appointment is at GPH and not Marina,they cannot process our permits so we have to go back to Ntshe House

At Nyangagwe its sad scenes. we meet an old diabetic man who was also turned back at Sese on his way to an appointment at Marina.he is near tears because if you miss an appointment at a government hospital,getting another one can take months

He also tells us that he has just been informed that even permits for those going to Marina have been suspended at Nyangagwe so he also has to go to Ntshe House to apply for one

He doesnt have a car and when he got turned back at Sese he was on a lift and had to get another one back to F/Town.add the energy he used going to Nyangagwe from Ntshe on foot because there are no http://taxis.my  mum gives him P50 for food at least

Defeated,we head back home from Nyangagwe and are currently on the line to apply for permits at Ntshe House so we can take my sister to the appointment tomorrow

As much as we all agree that people should stay home,it seems like gobernment's security forces lack the empathy or knowledge to understand that some people have pressing health issues which require them to travel for hospital appointments

The permit system is also a mess cause there is no uniformity about how they work.Everyone you encounter tells you their own http://version.It  leads to crowds of people at offices which defeats the whole purpose of this lockdown

It also seems like security forces are on a power trip and doing anything to flex their power even when its unwarranted.If its only day 4 of lockdown and they treating sick children,pregnat women and sick old citizens like this,what more should we expect?

Even if these draconian measures stop corona,our people are going to die from being denied access to medical care for other preexisting conditions all because of a permit.lets also not forget they are the most susceptible to the virus.

So while you guys watch and listen to state media telling you how everything is going well with the lockdown,know that your fellow citizens are being denied medical care and being left to die all because of a permit

End/

UPDATE:we just came back from Ntshe House and didn’t get a permit as they said they don’t issue permits for anyone going out of Francistown unless they are going to a funeral or they are essential services

While on the line a lady infront of me was told gore “ya go ta ka serepa “ when she said she had to attend her mum’s funeral even though they said people going to funerals get permits

We were told to again go to Nyangagwe tomorrow (we have been there thrice today) to again check if we can get http://permits.as  much as we have been through a lot today,I feel for people who didn’t have the privilege of a car or enough money that we had.its sad tota

this was the scene at 4:30pm ko Ntshe House when offices were being closed.look at all that extreme social distancing which is a result of a very competent permit system.just marvelous

If this keep going like this,government’s incompetence and overzealous security forces are going to lead to more deaths of our citizens than the COVID-19 virus

UPDATE:we again go back to Nyangagwe Hospital in the morning at around 6:30am to see if we can get a permit this time.we are number 20 on the line.we are told that hospital superintendent who signs permits just knocked off from a night shift so we have to wait for him to return