Africa-Press – Botswana. Realising that exchanging pleasantries in passing at regional events had done little to form a bond between Botswana and South Africa’s heads of state, Boko and Ramaphosa recently met in Pretoria to clear the way for formal settings of the Bi-National Commission and other mutual engagements.
The President of Botswana Duma Boko and his South African counterpart President Cyril Ramaphosa have held familiarity talks to establish rapport ahead of more formal talks in the near future.
Boko made a state visit to Pretoria last Tuesday to discuss underlying issues and enable resumption of collaboration in trade, investment and good international relations.
Notable absentee
The meeting was the first one-on-one interaction between the two leaders six months into Boko’s tenure.
Ramaphosa was a notable absentee at Boko’s inauguration on 8 November last year, sending Vice President Paul Mashatile in his stead.
Boko ruffled a few feathers in January when he made statements questioning South Africa’s safety at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
More formal relations
In televised post-meeting remarks, Boko stated that he initiated the talks with Ramaphosa in order to ensure that he and his South African counterpart got to know each other before establishing formal working relations.
The two acknowledged that they have met on numerous occasions in regional platforms but their interactions were limited to exchanging pleasantries, hence the need for prolonged talks.
“It was imperative that I arrange the meeting with the President of South Africa one-on-one before we get into the more formal settings of the Bi-National Commission (and) to get to know each other and get a feel of what the issues are and what the sense is on both sides in relation to those issues,” he said.
Medical attention in SA
“It was a very important meeting that paves the way for more formal engagements.”
Boko confirmed that one of the main topics they discussed was repatriation of the bodies of deceased Botswana citizens who came to South Africa to access medical care.
“Many of our people come here to access medical help, some of them unfortunately lose their lives this side,” he told Ramaphosa. “To have their remains repatriated creates major problems. We need to deal with that.
“People who come to South Africa and end up overstaying even by a single day lose their right to re-enter SA for at least 12 months. These are some of the issues we raised and committed to dealing with.”
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