18 Nov 2021

On the third day of the judicial enquiry on Sedudu shootings, Lt Colonel Samuel Tselayakhumo of Botswana Defence Force (BDF) took to the witness stand.

The gist of his evidence was that poachers were merciless criminals, who would kill for want of trophies.

Consequently, the BDF had lost some of its personnel.

Lt Col Tselayakhumo said other than stripping the country of its flora and fauna, tourists, who brough in the much needed revenue, were robbed of their hard earned money and personal belongings.

Following is an abridged version of what transpired on Wednesday morning when Lt Col Tselayakhumo fielded questions from Deputy Director of Directorate of Public Prosecution (DPP), Mr Kabo Leinaeng.

LT Col Tselayakhumo:  As commander of the Joint Task Force Team, I coordinate, command and control all the military assets of Chobe and Ngamiland districts.

Mr Leinaeng: And what does the Joint Task Force do?

Lt Col Tselayakhumo: The Joint Task Force is part of the Botswana Defence Force deployed for the purposes of maintaining border security. In addition, we are charged with conducting anti-poaching operations and from time to time, we provide assistance to civil authorities.

Mr Leinaeng: When you say civil authorities who are you referring to?

Lt Col Tselayakhumo: Civil authorities include police, district commissioner and local authorities such as kgosi.

Mr Leinaeng: How do you assist them?

Lt Col Tselayakhumo: We provide assistance in case of disaster or whenever there is need, which is beyond their capacity.

Mr Leinaeng: Where were you on the 5th of November 2020?

LT Col Tselayakhumo: On the 5th of November 2020, I was a Joint Task Force commander and I was specifically in Kasane at my headquarters.

Mr Leinaeng: Is there any incident, pertaining to your work, that you would want to tell the court about concerning the 5th of November, 2020?

Lt Col Tselayakhumo: On the night of November 5th, 2020, I received intelligence report, which stated that four men had intruded into Botswana. This was at general area, Chobe Chilwero lodge.

It is about two kilometres from my base. It is also about three kilometres into Botswana.

It is an area of operation for the aquatic unit, which operates along Chobe River.

The intelligence report further stated that the four men were armed with two rifles and they were using two canoes.

They had docked around Chobe Chilwero Lodge and had gone deep inland of Chobe National Park.

Mr Leinaeng: What did you do?

Lt Col Tselayakhumo: I instructed that two teams should be sent out to investigate these people.

This was to augment other teams that were already patrolling the park.

We usually conduct border security patrols. We also have to carry out anti-poaching missions.

So, one patrol team was responsible for the area around Chobe Chilwero Lodge, the other was responsible for the area along the Chobe River, adjacent to the national park.

Mr Leinaeng: Can you shed light on nature of the poaching and the poachers themselves.

What kind of people are they and the weapons they use when they carry out these activities?

Lt Col Tselayakhumo: Poaching in the Chobe and Ngami areas is a serious problem. Poachers are dangerous criminals who would kill in order to access trophies such as those in rhinos and elephants.

In addition to poaching, they conduct other criminal activities. Poachers take with them assortment of weapons.

I have worked in this area for the past 20 years on rotation and I have encountered poachers with AK 47 hunting rifles,. Some of these are modified and have silencers and telescopes. Botswana Defence Force has suffered at the hands of poachers and has lost two special force members, colleagues of mine.

In addition, the country has lost some of its rhinos and elephants due to activities of these merciless poachers.

They are ruthless and they exchange fire with members of the security forces.

Mr Leinaeng: With regards to the November 5, 2020 incident, how many teams did you send?

Lt Col Tselayakhumo: After receiving the report, I instructed that two teams be dispatched. One for the water and the other to patrol the land.

And I instrcuted field engineer, Ngani, to deploy the teams.

At around 10:45pm, I received a report that the team, which was operating along the Chobe River, had encountered four men who upon being challenged to stop and identify themselves; refused to do so but rather opened fire.

The team returned fire and shot the four men.

I ordered that the scene be protected and everything, including the bodies, be secured.

In the morning of the 6th November 2020, investigating teams involving the Botswana Police Service, Department of Wildlife and National Parks as well as DIS went to investigate the scene.  The team also requested the use of scuba divers to search the river bank.

On the 19 November, 2020, a joint team of Botswana and Namibia divers went to the scene again to search the area.

Let me say here that when the BDF set out its troops on missions, there are policies and standard operation procedures (SOPs) to follow.

Our officers are obliged to follow them to the letter and as a defence force, we take full account of such operations.

Some of these SOPs include how soldiers should react to the animals, but also there are specifics which guide us on what to do when we are shot at or when the property of Botswana government is threatened.

Our soldiers reacted accordingly in this particular matter.

Meanwhile, Lt Col Tselayakhumo maintained his calmness and confidence  when responding to questions from the fiery Namibia Lives Matter Movement’s national chairperson, Mr Sinvula Mudabeti.

Mr Mudabeti had since beginning of the inquest displayed traits of quick-temper whenever witnesses seemed not to go along with his wishes.

For instance, he repeatedly tried to dig for answers as to who, among the BDF intelligence operatives, tipped off Lt Col Tselayakhumo about the four men that had intruded the Botswana border using canoes on November 5, 2020.

More than once, Lt Col Tselayakhumo’s response was that he was not in a position to divulge the identity of the officer who provided the intelligence.

The irked Mr Mudabeti read out a statement from a certain book, which alleged that the BDF was responsible for killing 38 innocent Namibians in the name of anti-poaching.

Lt Col Tselayakhumo refuted the statement saying ‘It is your statement. You may own it. I would not want to be part of it”

Additionally, he said the BDF had lost special forces members to the ruthless poachers.

A Namibian national, Hon. Matengu Simushi of Katima Rural Constituency took off where  Mr Mudabeti had left off.

“Can you provide adequate information about how the four men got into Botswana for purposes of justice.

It is paramount to avail the names of the person who gave you the intelligence report,” asked the bespectacled Simushi, who is also chairperson of the Zambezi Regional Council.

In his response, Lt Col Tselayakhumo said the fact that he had received the intelligence report in question should suffice.

“I am not comfortable divulging the names of our operatives and would rather choose not to say anything further on the matter,” he said to the chagrin of Hon Simushi, who felt hard done by the response.

Hon Simushi also expressed doubts on the credibility of the investigations, which he said failed to retrieve the two rifles that were alleged to have been carried by the suspected poachers on November 5, 2020.

However, Lt Col Tselayakhumo said it was possible the guns in question could have been lost in the water. He had relayed earlier that scuba divers’ attempts had also failed to bear any fruit.

Meanwhile, DPP assistant director, Ms Thato Dibeela, brought to the attention of Regional Magistrate Taboka Mopipi that 13 more witnesses would be added to the initial 33. ENDS