27 Oct 2015

Minister of Labour and Home Affairs Mr Edwin Batshu says members of the Botswana Defence Force (BDF), especially those on anti-poaching patrols, are not trigger-happy as suggested by some foreign media reports.

Answering a question from the media at the just ended Botswana/Namibia Joint Permanent Commission on Defence and Security held at Phakalane Golf Estate, Mr Batshu said the lives of Botswana security officers patrolling game parks are at times put at risk as they have to counter heavily armed poachers.

Minister Batshu noted that at times officers are shot at, citing one incident in which a BDF soldier was shot dead during an encounter with armed poachers in the national park.

He said there was no how members of the disciplined forces could just go out and kill innocent people in the park without any justification.

For his part, Minister of Defence of Namibia Mr Penda Ya Ndakolo said his government has never accused BDF members of shooting at Namibians in the park. A journalist had wanted to know how the two countries were treating reports that BDF members were indiscriminately shooting at poachers.  Ends