20 Apr 2020

Police have charged 90 people for failure to comply with the COVID-19 Emergency Powers Act Regulations after they failed to present movement permits to law enforcement officers.

Botswana Police Officer Commanding for District No. 9 Senior Superintendent Makgophe Oageng said in an interview since the movement restrictions were effected, some people found themselves on the wrong side of the law as they continued to ignore the regulations and moved from their homes without permits.

Snr Supt Oageng also said 68 people broke the immigration laws and crossed borders at un-gazetted points with majority of them being citizens while some were South Africa and Zimbabwe nationals.

He noted that the district was spread along the borderline and therefore some people either had relatives or worked in farms in neighbouring South Africa.

The officer commanding said Makopong and Bray were the main challenging areas as their numbers were higher when compared to the rest of the borders in the area.

He said in Bokspits, one man was charged for crossing border at un-gazetted point after allegedly delivering meat to relatives in South Africa.

In another incident, a middle-aged male was charged for crossing to South Africa where he said he had gone to deliver a bank card to a girlfriend who lives with their child in South Africa.

Furthermore, he said some continued to contravene the regulations by selling tobacco as three people were caught with two of those arrested from Kgalagadi South area while one was from Kang.

Snr Supt Oageng said 15 individuals were caught making and selling traditional beer.

Meanwhile, he said generally, residents complied with the regulations except a few, which was a challenge in the district possibly because people were ignorant or were pressed by social, economic and environmental conditions.

He said to deal with the challenge, the police continued to intensify border police patrols and to sensitise the community about the precautionary measures to ensure that the people were on board.

Snr Supt Oageng added that government fought to combat the Corona-virus through the newly effected regulations, hence it was important that people complied.

He highlighted that the Police continued to work collectively with Immigration officials, health officials, Botswana Unified Revenue Services as well as the Botswana Defence Force to enforce the law, thus the community must come to the party to effectively deal with the pandemic.

On other issues, he said since the lockdown started, the crime rate had drastically reduced.

“In Kgalagadi District, we are receiving fewer reports, perhaps it could be that people are always in their homes guarding their property. And the district has not recorded any gender based violence cases,” he said. ENDS