24 Mar 2019

President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi has told Bobonong tribal leadership that he was committed to standing up to challenges bedeviling the area.

He cited cross border crime, marauding elephants, drought and Foot and Mouth disease (FMD) as some of them. 

Dr Masisi said this during a stopover at Bobonong kgotla on March 22 on his way to address Botswana Democratic Party structures at Matshekge Senior Secondary School. 

The President said very soon he would dispatch relevant departments to assess the area and come up with workable strategies to address their concerns, noting that to address such challenges the community needed to be taken on board. 

Dr Masisi said the country was drought stricken and as such subsidy on livestock feeds had been extend up to June and would be assessed thereafter.

Concerning the issue of draping some dikgosi with leopard skin during their installation, President Masisi said the  law was silent on the issue.

He said it was customary that some chiefs were draped with the skin and asked dikgosi not to challenge the status quo for the sake of peace. 

On a different note, the President informed them that Zimbabwe, Malawi and Mozambique were recently hit by Cyclone Idai, which killed and displaced some people and said Botswana would help with aid as was the case in the past.  

President Masisi also advised dikgosi not to engage in political activities while also advising politicians not to meddle in bogosi issues.  During his welcome remarks, Kgosi Ezekiel Joel raised a concern on cross border crime, FMD and elephants that destroy farmers’ crops.

Kgosi Joel said FMD had created a situation where butchery owners had fixed prices for cattle, resulting in buying them at low prices.

He called on government to intervene and seek market for zone 7 while waiting for the area to be declared a green zone. ends