22 May 2022

Wildlife poaching can affect the economy and cause the endangered wildlife species to become extinct.

Kgalagadi South MP, Mr Samuel Brooks said this during a stakeholder engagement recently.

He urged game farmers to unite in the fight against wildlife poaching and the increasing cross-border crime in Kgalagadi district.

He raised a concern that poaching was becoming rampant in the district hence the need to devise new strategies to curb the problem.

Mr Brooks said millions of Pulas were lost each year to poachers who smuggled trophies to neighbouring South Africa, leaving local communities impoverished.

Thus, he said it was critical that game farmers came up with solutions to assist government security personnel and wildlife officers.

Mr Brooks noted that a game ranch owner’s property worth P300 million was burnt down, possibly by poachers as the owners were not residing there.

“Farmers must come up with a compressive plan to stop poaching and cross-border crime to show government that they are partners,” he said.

He pointed out that wildlife was a highly priced resource which must be protected.

MP Brooks said it was the responsibility of game ranchers to protect the animals as they belonged to Batswana.

Government recently entrusted Bartrek Farm with 14 rhinos hence the need to protect them, he added. He said poachers used routes along the game farms to cross into South Africa.

He called for airstrips to be operationalised at Middlepits, Bokspits, and Tsabong in line with developing dry lands safari tourism routes in Kgalagadi area, saying ‘this would attract tourists and investors into the area’.

He cautioned farmers against  using their private airstrips to smuggle game, saying that would make it difficult for government to reconsider opening such airstrip again.

“I am failing to convince government to open the Bartrek airstrip because there was a lot of cross-border crime that happened in the past.  We need to work together to stop this,” he said.

MP Brooks encouraged farmers to take advantage of the Tsabong multispecies abattoir, which was under construction to slaughter their game.

He encouraged them to develop their farms, acquire knowledge from other experienced game farmers, share water, work collectively to develop each other’s farms for economic prosperity.

The legislator highlighted that there were various financial avenues that they could use to develop their farms and have security in their farm as undeveloped farms were a fertile ground for poachers.

Tsabong police representative, Inspector Jeffrey Lebang said they had recorded incidents of poaching and vandalism of farm fences. He explained that they continued to carry out night patrols but seldom caught the culprits.

He alerted farmers to be careful as poachers were dangerous and armed. He encouraged them to report any suspicious movement or undertaking.

Inspector Lebang warned that the problem was rampant in winter therefore game ranchers must expect more incidents of poaching this season.

He said apart from game poaching they had recorded increasing numbers of cross-border smuggling of small stock from Botswana to South Africa.

For his part, Modisa Game Farm manager, Mr Valentino Gruener said poaching was rampant in ranches where there was no farming activity.

“Recently we found a poached cheetah from South Africa,” he said.

He called for a collective effort to curb poaching and protect the wildlife resource, adding that “Kgalagadi is one of the largest areas, with open spaces and nature surrounding us. The potential for this place to grow into a tourism hub is enormous. It can create sustainable employment opportunities. It is so important for the communities here to learn about this potential and protect these rare animals.

Bartrek game ranch manager, Mr Richard Pascal called for the opening of airfields which he said were critical.

When overseas tourists fly into the area, it meant an injection of money which would ultimately trickle down to communities, he said.

Mr Pascal welcomed the construction of Tsabong multispecies abattoir which he noted would be a tremendous asset and suggested that farmers should be given control over the management and the marketing of the abattoir.

“Game is a very desirable commodity in the overseas market.

We produce our small stock in an friendly way, our game could also be used to tap into the overseas market,” he said.

Another farmer, Ms Motlhagodi Molomo called for the security personnel to be more proactive when they receive such reports as they were dealing with very dangerous criminals.

He called for all farmers to form an association that could advocate for advancement.

Botswana Defence Force (BDF) representative, Major Nesimba Tsholofelo applauded the farmers for working together to curb poaching and cross-border crime.

Major Tsholofelo said where there was unity and cooperation, it placed BDF personnel in a better position to fight poaching, adding that it was important for farmers to come forth and share any poaching activities information.

He noted that provision of information was a critical aspect and therefore they should feel free to contact them as they could only succeed when all stakeholders came together in the fight against poaching. ENDS