18 Feb 2018

Minister of Defence, Justice and Security, Mr Shaw Kgathi says crime in Mahalapye has not reached high levels. He said, in fact, a reduction has been recorded in most offences except for murder, house breaking and theft for 2016 and 2017.

He said stock theft in Mahalapye recorded a reduction of 37 per cent between 2016 and 2017, and that the police had put measures in place to deal with the challenge of stock theft and that they were yielding positive results

He attributed that to the commitment of clusters and police volunteers who had been active in fighting crime through intensified day and night patrols in crime prone areas.

Minister Kgathi noted that the Botswana Police Service had strategies aimed at addressing not only drug trafficking, but crime in general, especially violent and intrusive crimes.

“These include deployment of specialised task force at identified cut off points. Stop, question and search as well as day and night patrols, which are conducted in and around Mahalapye on a daily basis,” he said.

The minister noted that there was a Special Support Group team deployed in Palapye which covered Mahalapye and the surrounding areas.

He also noted that a light repair workshop, which was established in Mahalapye in 2006, assisted in the repair of Mahalapye police vehicles as well as those from surrounding villages.

He said offences recorded over a three year period from 2015 to 2017 showed that there were 32 murder offences, 278 rape cases, 436 house breaking and theft, 165 burglary and theft and 260 stock theft offences.

In addition, he encouraged the Mahalapye community to continue with their vigilance and working hand in hand with the police through the community policing strategy to reduce crime in general.

The Member of Parliament for Mahalapye West, Mr Joseph Molefe had asked the minister to state the statistics of cases of murder, rape, house breaking and stock theft in the Mahalapye policing area for the years 2015, 2016 and 2017.

He also wanted to know measures put in place to prevent drug trafficking and the sale of marijuana and other drugs in the Mahalapye policing area.

Furthermore, the Mahalapye West MP also asked when the Special Support Group would have detachments posted to Mahalapye on a rotational basis until the crime situation normalised, and when a light repair workshop for Mahalapye police would be established to reduce vehicle repair turnaround time.Ends