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Botswana: Curious Batswana Crowd Crime Scenes
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Mmegi/The Reporter (Gaborone)
18 March 2008
Posted to the web 18 March 2008
Gale Ngakane
Francistown
The adage 'curiosity killed the cat' does not seem to have a deterring effect on Batswana who can always be seen milling around accidents, talking animatedly.
They would suddenly drop whatever they are doing to make a beeline to a scene, which could be a vehicle accident, people quarreling or some strange happening.
And once they get there, they speak in animated tones giving their verdicts about who is wrong and who is right and what action should be taken.
The hordes at times become violent, meting out instant mob justice to whoever is deemed to have been at fault. Last Thursday an abnormal truck laden with cement bricks collided with a female-driven Nissan saloon car in Francistown city centre. Apparently the car rammed into the rear wheels of the truck where it remained lodged while the drivers waited for the police. But instead of the police, hordes of people, in no time had congregated around the now immobile vehicles gesticulating and talking, offering their opinions on who is wrong and who is right.
While the truck driver fidgeted about, a women, apparently, the driver of the car with keys dangling from her manicured fingers, could be heard remonstrating with the crowd. "Batho ba Modimo, this is an accident like any accident. We should wait for the police to come and do their investigations. That is when we can know who is wrong and who is not wrong.
'There is no need for us to be arguing," she was heard to say. She was with three other women. But a woman on-looker could not be deterred. Clad in a yellow apron that announced her trade as a Mascom airtime vendor, the woman could not hide her bias as she querulously jabbed her fingers at the monstrous truck:
"I have always said these big trucks do not belong on these roads. They should be out there on the highways. What would this man (the driver of the truck) say he was doing on this narrow street?" To which a burly man who soon had the crowd hanging on his every word with a tone that would not have been out of place at an Evangelical Crusade responded with a diametrically opposite view:
"This truck was at a stand still. Otherwise, these women would have been turned into mincemeat by now if it were moving. It would have crushed this car. This woman did not look where she was going"
"She is the one who should have stopped," argued another man. Even after the police, had come in the middle of the palaver to start their investigations, the arguments continued as they took the two drivers to the police station to make statements.
A police constable, who did not want to be identified, says on numerous occasions, they have had to deal with crowds impeding their investigations at scenes.
"These people come and step all over clues that could help us in our investigations. That is why at times we end up cordoning off scenes of accidents and crimes.
"I do not know whether these people realize that it is not helpful for them to crowd around crime scenes as they impede our investigations," said the officer.
A member of the public who identified himself only as Barry says these incidences always provide some form of entertainment for bored people walking about town. "They know that their opinions would not be of any value, but they still flock to such scenes anyway.
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"They seem oblivious of the fact that they may get caught in the crossfire. To them, it is a diversion from their boring tasks," says Barry.
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| Copyright © 2008 Mmegi/The Reporter. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections -- or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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