Batswana Confirm COVID-19 Corruption Fears

• But Afrobarometer says nearly three-quarters (74%) of citizens say the government has managed the response to the COVID-19 pandemic “fairly well” or “very well”

These findings are contained in an Afrobarometer report which also confirms the pandemic’s massive toll on Batswana, both through health consequences and economic effects. “Many Batswana believe that resources intended to help with the pandemic were lost to corruption, and they express dissatisfaction with the way relief assistance was distributed,” the report says.

Stolen or lost to corruption

In addition to expressing significant dissatisfaction with the fairness of government relief assistance, more than two-thirds (68 percent) of Batswana believe that “a lot” (52 percent) or “some” (16 percent) of the funds and resources that were available to the government for combating and responding to the COVID-19 pandemic were lost or stolen due to corruption.

“Only 6 percent think that none of these resources have been embezzled,” the report says. It shows that citizens are divided on whether the government is prepared to deal with future public health emergencies: 46 percent say it is, while 45 percent disagree. More than half (56 percent) of respondents say the government needs to invest more in preparations for future health emergencies, even if it means fewer resources are available for other health services.

More investment

“Despite their favourable assessment of the government’s pandemic management, almost half of adults doubt its readiness for future health emergencies, and a majority call for more investment in preparing for such crises,” says the report.

Nearly one-third (32 percent) of Batswana say a member of their household became ill with or tested positive for COVID-19 while slightly more than a third (35 percent) report that someone in their household either temporarily or permanently lost a job, business, or primary source of income.

About three-quarters (74 percent) of citizens say the government has managed the response to the COVID-19 pandemic “fairly well” or “very well.” More than 6 in 10 respondents say they are “fairly satisfied” or “very satisfied” with the government’s efforts to minimise disruptions to children’s education (63 percent) and to ensure that health facilities are resourced to deal with the pandemic (61 percent).

Children’s education

On specific aspects of the COVID-19 response, majorities say they are “fairly satisfied” or “very satisfied” with the government’s efforts to minimise disruptions to children’s education (63 percent), to ensure that health facilities are adequately resourced to deal with the pandemic (61 percent), and to provide relief to vulnerable households (54 percent). However, close to half (44 percent) of citizens express dissatisfaction with the government’s efforts in providing assistance to vulnerable households.

Six in 10 (61 percent) Batswana report that their household received COVID-19 relief assistance from the government, while 4 in 10 (39 percent) say they did not. Rural households (67 percent) were somewhat more likely to benefit from government assistance than those in urban and semi-urban areas (57 percent-58 percent), as were women compared to men (64 percent vs. 57 percent).

No difference

Respondents with no formal schooling (65 percent) are more likely to report having received assistance than citizens with post-secondary education (56 percent), but respondents’ level of lived poverty seems to make no difference in whether they received assistance.

More than 9 in 10 citizens (92 percent) of Batswana say they have been vaccinated against COVID-19. Only 4 percent say they are unlikely to try to get the vaccine. A slim majority (53 percent) of respondents say they trust the government “somewhat” or “a lot” to ensure that COVID-19 vaccines are safe.

Urban residents are about twice as likely as their rural counterparts to report having tested positive or fallen ill from COVID-19 (43 percent vs. 22 percent), but only slightly more likely to say that a household member temporarily or permanently lost a primary source of income (37 percent vs. 33 percent). More than one-third (36 percent) of Batswana women report that they or a family member tested positive or became ill with COVID-19, compared to 29 percent of men. But slightly fewer women (32 percent) than men (37 percent) say a household member lost a primary source of income.

Young respondents

Illness and/or positive COVID-19 tests were somewhat more common among the youngest respondents (36 percent-40 percent of 18- to 35-year-olds) than among those over age 45 (22 percent-29 percent), and increase in frequency with respondents’ education level, ranging from 16 percent of those with no formal education to 45 percent of those with post-secondary qualifications.

Loss of an income source was less common among respondents with no formal education (25 percent) than among those with more schooling (34 percent-39 percent). But it was also less common among economically better-off citizens (28 percent-30 percent) than among those experiencing moderate or high lived poverty1 (38 percent-43 percent).

More than nine-tenths (92 percent) of Batswana say they have received either one or two doses of a vaccine against COVID-19. Only 4 percent say they are “somewhat unlikely” or “very unlikely” to try to get the vaccination, while 4 percent say they are likely to do so.

High vaccination rates

Though vaccination rates are high across all demographic groups, vaccine resistance is slightly higher than average among urban residents (7 percent), respondents aged 26-35 years (8 percent), citizens with post-secondary education (9 percent), and those experiencing no lived poverty (9 percent).

While the number of survey respondents who say they are unlikely to get vaccinated is too small to provide reliable breakdowns, their most commonly cited reasons for vaccine hesitancy are mistrust of the vaccine, including worries that they might get a counterfeit vaccine, that the vaccine might not be safe or might cause bad side effects, and that the vaccine might not be effective.

It emerged that doubts about the government’s capacity to ensure vaccine safety can contribute to vaccine hesitancy. While no respondents who trust the government “somewhat” or “a lot” to ensure vaccine safety say they are unlikely to get vaccinated, the proportion of vaccine hesitant citizens reaches 15 percent among those who don’t trust the government at all. Almost three-quarters (74 percent) of Batswana say the government has managed the response to COVID-19 “fairly well” or “very well,” while only a quarter (25 percent) are critical of its overall handling of the pandemic.