13 Jun 2016

A delegation of senior officials from Botswana and Zimbabwe held an inter-state meeting on security and  policing matters in Selebi Phikwe recently.

The meeting, which was led by officials from both countries’ police, was also attended by high ranking personnel from the military, prison services, veterinary, immigration and customs. 

The meeting came as a result of the bilateral agreement of  the Joint Permanent Commissions (JPC) of the two countries that stated that government institutions from both countries work together to advance peace, security and economic prosperity of the two countries. 

Discussions centred around issues such as motor vehicle theft, firearms smuggling, drug trafficking, precious and semi precious stones cross border dealings, combating rape, murder issues and conducting of joint investigations.

Furthermore, the two countries discussed nature conservation and wildlife matters as well as veterinary, immigration, crop production, customs exercise, prisons and correctional services, military and joint border patrol matters.

In an interview, Botswana’s Senior Assistant Commissioner of Police -Divisional Commander North, Ms Dinah Marathe said the security leadership of the two countries came up with resolutions that they intended to implement at regional level. 

She indicated that at regional level, they also came with their own resolutions aimed at fulfilling assignments set by JPC.

“Our two commissioners met two years ago and came up with some resolutions which included setting up a joint anti-stock theft strategy, which we implemented at regional level. In March we met to review our progress in the implementation of the strategy,” she said.

She also noted that another resolution was to eradicate the frequenting of people at an area called no man’s land between the Ramokgwebana and Zimbabwe border where there were reports of people disturbing travellers and sometimes stealing travellers’ belongings. 

She said they managed to achieve the objective working together with their counterparts from Zimbabwe. 

“We work together to solve crime. Recently we had a breakthrough in a murder case where a woman from Zimbabwe was murdered in Botswana by Zimbabwe nationals and due to our joint operations and sharing of information the culprits were arrested in Zimbabwe,” she said. 

Assistant Commissioner Marathe also stated that they shared information about new trends of crime and organised crime not only between Zimbabwe and Botswana but the two countries also learn from other countries that have been dealing with same issues.

She also mentioned that the two countries have trained their officers on handling cyber crime issues and give each other feedback on progress made in combating criminal activities.

For his part, commander - Matebeleland, Mr Learn Ncube, said they came to Botswana they looked at the implementation of the resolutions they set themselves last year February. 

He said they discussed the implementation metrics, and looked at how far they have gone as two countries in trying to deal with crime and border issues between them.

“We are happy with implementation activities along the border. We recorded some successes though we noted some challenges and we came up with further implementation matrices to reach our objectives,”he said.

He said some of the issues they are looking at as security agents from both countries include smuggling of goods, cross border stock theft, unlawful entry to either countries and serious cases like murder where they handle criminals who commit crime in Zimbabwe and move on to Botswana and commit similar crime and vice versa. ENDS