29 May 2022

The team assigned to assess the situation of cordon fences in Ngamiland has called on relevant authorities to consider outsourcing the maintenance works of cordon fences to private entities to improve management.

The team was assigned following a resolution by Maun Administrative Authority sub-council, after councilors expressed concern regarding the state of the boundary and cordon fences.

The fences are used to control movement of animals, both wildlife and livestock, and the team argued that the fences were no longer serving purpose of separating animals from human activities.

They argued that the district was overwhelmed by issues of Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) outbreaks, which hampered food production efforts especially meat production.

The team indicated that failure to maintain the fences, was  risky in case of FMD outbreak.

In the  recommendations, the team pointed out that there was need to use modern fencing mechanism which included the use of solar panels, energizers and electric fence among others.

The team also called for more staff to be deployed in strategic stations for effective fence management, as well as availing fence equipment and machineries for easy works of maintenance.

Sharing the findings to the ongoing sub-council, a member of the team, Mr Ntlotlang Kebonyekgotla noted that boundary and cordon fences had been in existence since 1980s and were currently old and worn out.

He acknowledged that maintenance was done in the past, but of recent there was no maintenance carried out on the protection fences.

Furthermore, he stated that the Department of Veterinary Services used to have staff maintaining the fences, however only gate keepers were retained, but retired maintenance personnel were never replaced.

He also pointed out that there were no ablution blocks at the gates and thus exposed staff lives to risk of wild animals’ attacks especially at night.

Mr Kebonyekgotla noted that there were no fire breaks along the fence exposing it to damages in case of veld fire outbreaks.

The boundary and cordon fences run through the villages of Makalamabedi, Shorobe, Boro, Mowana, Matsebe, Xaraxao, Morutshe, Daunara among others.

Meanwhile, some farmers recently decried lack of maintenance of the bufer zone, which was meant to separate the red zone from green zone.

They opined that proper maintenance of the protection fence could help elevate the beef industry in Ngamiland.

Delay to maintain the cordon fences, he said was one of the factors frustrating efforts to control and possibly eradicate the highly contagious diseases, adding that farmers always inform relevant authorities but there was no progress.

They requested government to consider declaring some areas in Ngamiland which had been without Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) outbreaks for a longer time as green zones.

For years, unlike other regions, they said Ngamiland farmers had been unable to sell cattle to better paying markets. Ends