Cabinet is reportedly mulling to re-open the sale of liquor on the second day of August.
Cabinet sources have revealed that The Presidential task team has advised the executive against allowing the sale of alcohol during the mid-July holidays.
The veracity of the claim was not independently verified by the time of going to press.
“Cabinet is thinking around opening the selling of alcohol early next month on the 2nd of August because there were indications that people had planned to host parties,” claimed sources.
“Before anything else you will understand that we are politicians and we have come to represent our own people, so we should also take into consideration that a lot of Batswana rely on the liquor sector to provide for their families,” sources further claim.
Also highlighted is that there can never be consultation prior to closure.
“A decision to be mum prior to closure was taken long time by both cabinet and the task force because we do not want a situation where we announce and then people flock to bars and bottle stores the next day to buy alcohol,” they said.
Sources also indicated that although the 2nd of August is not a done deal, cabinet will sit in the middle of the month to take a final decision.
“We are trying by all means to avoid any casualties as a result of Covid-19 because vaccination has not even completed, so people are still vulnerable. Behavioural change has failed us. We tried various ways to avoid shutting down the selling of alcohol but we had to take a painful decision to close,” sources said.
Since March, Botswana has vaccinated 47,160 people with Covax donated doses.
