12 Sep 2023

Deployed firefighting teams extinguishing raging wildfires in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR) should act as the last line of the buffer. 

Addressing the firefighting team deployed at the Tsau gate, CKGR, on Sunday, Ghanzi District Commissioner, Mr Mooketsi Lesetedi called upon the team to save one of the prominent tourism destinations and a habitat of wildlife, which he also said had a rich history. 

He implored the team to work round the clock to put out the blaze before they consume more land and wreaking more havoc. 

Through grit, tenacity and fighting spirit coupled with a positive attitude and mindset, wildfires raging CKGR would be combated, he said. 

This, he said, would not only protect the ecosystem but also save human and wildlife as well as property in campsites and government boreholes watering wild animals, which he said are threatened by wildfires engulfing the CKGR. 

The District Commissioner, however, advised them to be cautious, saying though he wished that the fires could be contained, there should be no casualties. 

He thanked the team members for heeding a call to come to rescue the situation saying such a patriotic gesture was heartening. 

In an interview, Mr Lesetedi said besides the Tsau team, which was on the north of the CKGR, another team was deployed on the south of the CKGR. 

He was grateful that the Boteti District was helping them to fight the wildfire that erupted at Setata, north east of the CKGR. 

Another team which was deployed outside CKGR at New Xade, managed to put the fire at bay. 

He said farmers in the periphery of the CKGR had been alerted and inducted on some strategies such as back burning. 

He noted that the wind and thick dry bush fueled the fires.

The team promised that they would surmount all challenges and persevere the CKGR. 

After his address, Mr Lesetedi visited the wildfire site where the fire had already gone beyond the boundaries of the CKGR and threatened the farms on the periphery, which are Rooibrakke and Bokamoso safaris. Ends