12 May 2019

Cattle baron Mr Robert Moatlhodi has been compensated 100 per cent for the loss of his three 10 000-litre water tanks commonly known as Jojo that were destroyed by elephants recently.
In addition, the Shashe farmer whose cattle post is near Patayamatebele, was compensated for the destruction of his kraal.
This was revealed by the North East District chief wildlife ranger, Mr Gaselethapa Kgomotso in an interview with BOPA in the aftermath of the mayhem that elephants continued to cause in the district.
Earlier this month, elephants destroyed Mr Moatlhodi’s property on two consecutive days.
The officer indicated that Mr Moatlhodi would be assisted with red pepper to scare away the jumbos but noted that the law allowed him to kill the elephants should they continue to terrorise him.
In another incident, a vegetable farmer at Patayamatebele, Mr Mogomotsi Marope also had his crops destroyed by elephants.
Mr Marope explained that the damage had already been assessed and was awaiting compensation.
He said the elephants invaded his vegetable garden destroying cabbages and tomatoes after bringing down the fence.
He explained that most of the elephants were looking for water and caused a lot of destruction en route to Dikgatong Dam.
On another issue, Mr Kgomotso said 17 people had been arrested for fishing illegally at the dam.
“Yes, I can confirm that recently, in our clean-up campaign we arrested 17 people, mostly Zimbabweans and locals poaching at Dikgatong Dam,” he said. He said the poachers’ modus operandi was to remove fishing nets belonging to beneficiaries and replace them with their own.
Two vehicles loaded with fish were impounded upon realising that the suspects did not have fishing permits, he said adding that they had been charged with poaching.   
The fish has since been auctioned and the proceeds remitted to government.
Mr Kgomotso, who stated that this was the first case of illegal fishing this year, explained that last year during the same period, another 17 people, mostly Batswana, were arrested for poaching at the dam, which has a quota of 20 beneficiaries from the villages of Robelela, Shashe Bridge, Patayamatebele, Matopi and Matsiloje.      
He said his department was planning to intensify its campaign by engaging members of the Botswana Police Service and the Botswana Defence Force where necessary.
Meanwhile, Kgosi Dick Morine of Patayamatebele has concurred with other speakers that elephants were a big problem in his village explaining that a lot of farmers were recently left empty handed after a herd of elephants swept through their fields.
He appealed to government to come up with a permanent solution to the elephant problem.ENDS