09 Sep 2024

 Cross-border thieves are reportedly employing advanced measures to evade detection and arrest by law enforcement agencies.

It is reported that the lawbreakers, especially smugglers and poachers, employ the use of drone-assisted cameras to check for the presence of law enforcement officers before they proceed with commission of crimes in the country.

It is further pointed out that the criminals use engine-powered boats to gain access into and out of the country in case of flowing rivers of Motloutse and Shashe which act as buffers between Botswana and South Africa and Zimbabwe.

The criminals allegedly smuggle cigarettes into the country while others poach wild animals at Mashatu Game Reserve.

Speaking during a cross-border crime workshop by MAMOSEKO crime prevention committee in conjunction with Semolale Police Station on Friday, head of Mashatu anti-poaching team, Mr Orebotse Masupe said that poaching was on the rise at the game reserve.

He said that while they were alive to the fact that people had been killing wild animals for consumption in the past, they were alarmed by the recent killings of giraffes at the game reserve.

Last week, he said, they found two giraffes poached. Contrary to claims that such poachers killed the towering animals for consumption, Mr Masupe is suspicious that there could be a booming market for giraffe meat.

“Between August 1 and now (September 6) we have lost seven giraffes to poachers. 

Here we’re referring to incidents that we have spotted and we’re afraid there could be more, which we may have missed,” said Mr Masupe.

Mr Masupe, who explained how the giraffes at Mashatu game reserve were imported from Namibia and South Africa in 1984, said that it would be difficult to recover from such a loss considering the rate at which the animals were poached.

Not only are the animals poached at alarming rates, but the 15 months’ gestation period too would contribute to the longevity in recovery, according to Mr Masupe.

“If we can continue with this trend of losing seven giraffes every two months, there exists a painful reality of extinction,” he said.

 He also said that some of the poachers, with their many dogs, reach campsites where tourists lodge and scare them adding that they have records of some tourists cancelling their bookings due to such incidents.

While appealing to the neighbouring countries to protect and conserve wild animals, Mr Masupe also appealed to citizens of the concerned countries to report the poachers who he said could be known in their communities.

Chief Wildlife Warden overseeing Bobirwa, Mr Setokinyana Nkau confirmed existence of such incidents, explaining in an interview that such incidents happened largely in Mashatu Game Reserve where the giraffes are kept.

Mr Nkau said that they have engaged with Zimbabwean intelligence officers to determine the likely destination of the giraffe meat because, in his view, if two giraffes were killed on the spot the was meat too much for home consumption.

Another poaching happens when some Zimbabwean farmers, looking for their cattle, would kill some wild animals on their way back home across the Botswana/Zimbabwe border. 

Such incidents are so rife that an average of three are recorded per week, according to Mr Nkau. ENDS