01 Nov 2020

The business community continues to make meaningful contributions towards improving public safety and security.

Receiving a porta cabin for Tsolamosese Police Post donated by Grand Palm Hotel and Resort recently, the Minister of Defence, Justice and Security, Mr Kagiso Mmusi commended Grand Palm for the support.

He said the gesture would go a long way in mitigating operational law enforcement challenges faced by communities in the area.

Mr Mmusi stated that the business community recognised that without public safety and security, the economic development would be affected, adding that resourcing the police adequately to respond to the rapidly evolving criminal space was critical.

Policing Tsolamosese would now answer the national commitment of taking services to the people and in a way relieve Mogoditshane Police Station, which is overstretched due to its area of coverage and high volume of crime it handled, he said.

The minister also said the police post came at the right time since Tsolamosese’s population had increased significantly from 2011 and the area was afflicted by violent and intrusive crimes.

He said with a view to guarantee the safety and security of Batswana, the Botswana Police Service (BPS) would continue to collaborate extensively with other security organs, both internally and across the borders.

BPS has adopted the community policing strategy through which it actively engages the community to fight crime, he added.

He said it was not always possible to fulfil the immediate deliverable to avail the necessary resources to drive the country’s development agenda due to many competing factors, especially those presented by COVID-19 and therefore appealed for private sector support.

He called upon the entire community and other stakeholders to closely collaborate with the police in the fight against crime, including gender based violence, which is of   great concern in the country.

For his part, Kgosi Keabetswe Dihutso of Mogoditshane applauded Grand Palm for the donation and encouraged them to continue giving back to the community.

He said fighting crime required collaboration between law enforcement officers and their respective communities, thus urging the community to adequately utilise the police post.

Kgosi Dihutso said failure to report crime would render the police post useless and also affect how resources were allocated to the police.

Ms Charlene Ludick from Grand Palm said the resort believed that preventing crime was everybody’s responsibility to keep the community safe.

She said donating the porta cabin would further strengthen collaborative efforts in the fight against crime, adding that her organisation would continue to build strong relationships with BPS. ENDS