11 Jun 2020

Kgosi Louis Siviya of Siviya has issued a stern warning to residents who engage in illegal activities with people from neighbouring Zimbabwe.

This follows a series of cases where police arrested some people who smuggled alcohol and tobacco into Botswana through ungazzetted points of entry.

Speaking on Tuesday, Kgosi Siviya said during the lockdown, police arrested people between the villages of Jackalas No 2, Siviya and Tshesebe who were selling alcohol smuggled from Zimbabwe.

He said it was cause for concern, adding that it proved that some Batswana crossed into Zimbabwe unlawfully to purchase the substances. He said it was very risky as the people could contract coronavirus during such dealings.

The village leader stressed that it was daunting when his village registered a positive COVID-19 case in April.

He said it would be  disappointing if one of his villagers imported the virus from the neighbours.

He said being a border village was a challenge when movements were restricted because some people were tempted to break the law.

Kgosi Siviya stated that it was disappointing to see children from border villages fueling illegal dealings instead of being whistle blowers to curb the spread of COVID-19.

He highlighted that they lived in fear because some Zimbabweans might enter the country illegally and pass through their village as they travelled to the southern part of the country.

He revealed that in the past they had seen illegal immigrants walking from the border fence to catch public transport in Siviya to go to Francistown.

Kgosi Siviya said despite stringent measures put in place for public transport operators to adhere to, some still ignored them and loaded people without identity documents.

He said he would engage public transport operators to stress the importance of demanding valid identity documents from passengers to ensure only legal persons were transported.

He highlighted that it was every Motswana’s responsibility to comply with COVID-19 protocols, saying public transport operators should sanitise and record temperatures before transporting passengers. Ends