18 Feb 2013

 

 President Lt Gen. Seretse Khama Ian Khama has appealed to Motopi residents in Boteti North Sub-district to cooperate with the Ministry of Environment Wildlife and Tourism (MEWT) in their endeavor to assist them live harmoniously with wildlife.

Addressing a kgotla meeting at Motopi on February 14, President Khama said MEWT would soon carry out consultations in their village to assess the barrier fence that has been destroyed by elephants.

He appealed to village leaders and the community at large to cooperate with the officials as it was for their own benefit, adding that human/ wildlife conflict was rife but the government could not solve the problem alone without their input.

President Khama also said government was doing everything in its power to decrease poverty level amongst its people; hence the poverty eradication initiative.

He said also the Ministry of Agriculture was also doing what it could to assist farmers where possible, since some areas were seriously affected by drought.

The President was responding to Kgosi Gonkgang Mankgatau of Rakops, who complained that they were faced with massive drought in their area.

He said they could not even access government agricultural programmes because of the drought, adding that they were disadvantaged. He further said they were terrorised by elephants the situation that worsen their problem.

He noted that they have lost hope in the Botswana Meat Commission because they no longer knew what was currently going on at commission.

In his comments, the Minister of MEWT Mr Tshekedi Khama also pleaded with the community to work with his team so that they find solutions to the problem.

Mr Khama explained that there was need to balance between wildlife, farming and community participation for them to reduce human wildlife conflict.

He said in the meantime, they could make use of some initiatives in place to fight the elephants like the use of chilli pepper project in Kumaga, the use of dogs to guard livestock and bee farming.Ends