04 Apr 2022

Ministry of Defence, Justice and Security has offered the communities of Omaweneno, Kisa, Maralaleng and Draaihoek a police vehicle and increased security personnel along the South Africa and Botswana border in Kgalagadi South to fight small stock cross boarder crime.

Addressing a kgotla meeting at Maralaleng where community members and those from Kisa, Omaweneno and Draaihoek had converged on Thursday, Minister  Kagiso Mmusi said small stock cross border crime was a challenge in the area and the ministry worked round the clock to fight crime in close cooperation with communities.

In addition to a new vehicle, he said plans were underway to build two Special Support Group (SSG) camps in the area and increase security personnel to patrol the border line.

He highlighted that Botswana would engage with South Africa to replicate the international security agreement that had effected at Bobirwa area, where Zimbabwe worked with Botswana to fight cross border crime. 

Mr Mmusi said discussions leading to putting up relevant infrastructure and security personnel in place would commence in the near future.

This year, he said, 1 000 graduate police officers shall be deployed to various areas to fight crime, adding that special constables in some areas would be increased from two to four per station after making assessments to augment staff.

Maralaleng’s Kgosi David Megano appreciated the developments as the village’s proximity to the border line made it susceptible to serious cross border crime. 

He said criminals vandalised the border fence to create routes for stolen stock to South Africa, which was seldom recovered.

He said when small stock or livestock was stolen from South Africa into Botswana, it was easily recovered and returned, but it was difficult for Batswana to recover their stolen and lost animals due to private property of ranches along the border, whose fences made it difficult to penetrate to recover the animals.

Kgosi Megano called for drawing of legal instruments to enable Batswana to recover their animals with ease in the neighbouring  country. 

He noted that the village boreholes were close to the border and every week they reported lost or stolen animals, especially small stock.

Therefore, he called for more to be done to beef up security along the border by increasing  manpower  and building infrastructure to enable the police to effectively do their job.

He also called for operation KgomoKhumo to be carried out in Maralaleng, which he said was a hub of small stock criminals syndicates.

For his part, acting commissioner of police, Mr Phemelo Ramakorwane expressed concern that members of the police worked with criminals to defeat the ends justice.

Thus, he warned police officers who crossed the line would be disciplined accordingly, adding that there were service delivery standards that police officers should follow, “If they don’t follow them, do not hesitate to take your case to the next senior officer. If they are not doing their job satisfactorily report them,” he said.

He offered Maralaleng community P20 000 to build a bus shelter, which was requested by Ms Ontuetse Dipheko on behalf of the community. 

Ms Dipheko decried that her small stock was stolen and no one was ever caught. She blamed some residents for hiding criminals from the police.

One resident, Mr Lucas Taele of Kisa called for resuscitation of the border fence, which he said was last maintained in 1975 and was worn out, making it easy for criminals to cross with stolen animals. 

Further, he said cross border criminals also stole borehole engines.

Kgosi Matshidiso Babeile of Kisa decried that there were criminal syndicates whose roots were deeply entrenched in local communities, furnishing those in South Africa with full information about local farmers’ whereabouts and the quantity of their stock. Some of the criminals, he said, stole at gun point.

Further, he said the road by the border line was bushy and should be cleared so that criminals tracks could easily be identified. 

Draaihoek/Makopong councillor, Mr Moses Chimbombi said, “When Batswana look for their lost small stock, they fail to enter the ranches because they are not allowed to enter private property, but it was easy for South Africans to recover their lost or stolen animals on the Botswana side because it was predominately communal grazing land.

For his part, Draaihoek Farmers Committee chairperson, Mr Cornelius Kaekwe decried over staying of that some police officers, which he said exacerbated crime as such police officers ended up compromising service delivery.

Member of Parliament for Kgalagadi South, Mr Sam Brooks, appreciated the minister for visiting Maralaleng, which he said was the epicenter of small stock cross border crime. 

He called on members of the community to work collectively with the police to fight crime and use the vehicle from the Ministry of Defence, Justice and Security to augment the police fleet. ends