16 Mar 2021

Some water sources in the Ngamiland District have experienced an increase in water levels due to localised heavy rainfall in the catchment areas.

Delivering a speech to the district special executive committee meeting, North West District Council chairperson, Mr Kebareeditse Ntsogotlho cited water sources such as Boro, Thamalakane, Boteti, Kunyere and Gomoti Rivers, saying they had received high water inflows since the beginning of the year.

Lake Ngami, he said, was also expected to recharge during this hydrological year than the previous year (2019/2020) due to high local rainfall amounts.

With the expected annual inflows from the Angola highlands, Mr Ntsogotlho noted that the district was expecting floods in some areas, especially those that were prone, adding that as the situation stood, the annual normal floods were expected to reach Maun earlier than they did last year.

“These calls for proper district disaster management contingency plan so that we are ready to act once floods arrive. I urge all relevant stakeholders to start public awareness processes so that everyone is taken on board in terms of preparedness,” he added.

On other issues, Mr Ntsogotlho reported that the district had experienced cases of Stomosys, Lumpy Skin Diseases (LSD) and bont tick since the beginning of the rainy season.

The department of Veterinary Services, he said, had done surveillance in the affected areas to come up with strategies on how to assist the farming community.

Reports of Stomosys, he said, had been recorded from areas around Lake Ngami, Tsau, Nokaneng, Habu and Gumare extension areas.

Furthermore, he said the department had embarked on mitigation measures through the engagement of local farmers by providing acaricides aimed at combating the effects of stomosys.

Mr Ntsogotlho noted that the disease samples had been taken to laboratories for fly identification. He also highlighted that the department continued to experience challenges where some farmers resorted to relocating their cattle to areas not affected by stomosys before dipping, hence spreading the fly to those areas.

Mr Ntsogotlho urged all the perpetrators to desist from the practice as it undermined the government efforts to fight the diseases. Cases of LSD, he said, had been reported from Shorobe extension areas since December last year. 

As response measures, he revealed that the department alerted relevant veterinary medical outlets such as Botswana Agricultural Marketing Board and the private outlets to increase stocking of the LSD vaccine.

Currently, he said Shorobe extension officers were on the ground assisting farmers with vaccination. With regard to bont tick and Dermatophillosis (Senkobo), he said cases that in the past had been visible mostly in Gumare/Tubu areas had now been reported in Jongwe crush in Beetsha extension area. 

The meeting was also informed that the Department of Wildlife and National Parks (DWNP) had been experiencing a high number of human-wildlife conflicts as wild animals continued to cause damage to human property.

They were also informed that incidents of human deaths and injuries caused by wild animals were on the rise in the district. 

Mr Ntsogotlho explained that the high cases of human-wildlife conflicts were mainly caused by an increase in grazing areas, which had spread towards localities due to good rains. 

The situation, he said, was also exacerbated by the collapse of the buffalo fence, which was erected to reduce encroachment.

Nonetheless, he acknowledged efforts by DWNP with the assistance of relevant stakeholders such as Veterinary Services to drive the animals out of human settlements. 

He also urged all stakeholders to come up with more innovative and safe measures to control the movement of the animals to safer habitats. ends