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Botswana: BCP Demands Electric Border Fence for Bobirwa

Onalenna Modikwa

7 January 2009

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Selebi-Phikwe — Urgent implementation of delayed government plans to put up an electric fence along the country's border with Zimbabwe will alleviate rampant cross border crime, according to a petition sent to Minister of Justice, Defense and Security, Dikgakgamatso Seretse, by the opposition Botswana Congress Party.

The petition was handed to Bobirwa District Officer, Ewetse Selelo at Gobojango Customary Court on Christmas eve following demonstrations in the villages of Semolale, Mabolwe and Gobojango.

Reading the petition the party's council candidate for Bobirwa North ward, Thulaganyo Lucas, complained mainly about government's alleged failure to deal with cross border crime in Bobirwa.

The petition demands that as a short term measure the work of the Botswana Defence Force should be complemented with the Special Support Group. It further notes that police officers in Semolale should be increased and equipped to deal with illegal cattle trafficking across the border.

"As the political and economic situation in Zimbabwe deteriorates, cross boarder crime involving the theft of livestock from Botswana is intensifying but the government's response is slow, inadequate and half-hearted," the petition says.

It also says solders patrolling the boarder cannot cope with the situation and the police in Semolale are few and ill-equipped to deal with the magnitude of the problem. Farmers whose cattle have been identified and located in Zimbabwe have not received any government assistance, the BCP claims.

"We will further reiterate our call for the electrification of the border with Zimbabwe as a long term measure. We note with disappointment that the electrification of the border project was started but later abandoned without sufficient explanation after huge sums of money were spent on the project.

"Cross boarder crime is terrorizing and impoverishing the people of Bobirwa and it is critical that the government treat the issue as urgent and act with speed to improve the situation. It is the height of irresponsibility of government to stay indifferent in the face of such suffering of its people," the petition charges.

Lucas said that for many years now, people in the Bobirwa area have lost their livestock to criminals who cut the boarder fence at Shashe and drive cattle, donkeys and goats into Zimbabwe.

He said residents of Mabolwe, Semolale and Gobojango have lost thousands of livestock to this sort of crime.

"In an area where pastoral agriculture is a source of livelihoods, many families have been left impoverished and destitute by the theft of their livestock. As we speak the problem persists and farmers continue to lose their livestock with no hope of recovering them.

Those who have depended on donkeys for draught power have their dreams of tilling the land shattered with serious consequences for their subsistence," the BCP complained.

Lucas said the destruction of the fence by criminals has also meant that cattle from Zimbabwe find their way into Botswana exposing cattle in Bobirwa to foot and mouth disease.

He said that is why FMD has become endemic in the area. "The recurrence of this cattle disease has spelt doom for the economic life of Bobirwa.

"Persistent outbreaks of the disease have subjected the region to long spells of poverty and distress as farmers cannot sell their cattle to BMC during those times," Lucas observed.

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