The exercise to create a buffer along the international boundary was put on hold on account of financial resources, acting Minister of Lands and Agriculture, Dr Edwin Dikoloti has said. 

Dr Dikoloti said this answering a question in Parliament on Tuesday, indicating that the exercise commenced in May 2024 and was intended to cover the entire boundary of Botswana with its neighbours, including the Molopo area, to address territorial integrity and sovereignty.

 He said the ministry recognised that the land located along the international boundary had strategic significance to the economy and the social lives of Batswana. 

He added that the absence of a buffer along the international boundary constrained border management and undermined security patrols, animal disease control, cross-border crime surveillance and community access to rivers and related resources. 

“The threat of Foot and Mouth Disease has reinforced the need to address this colonial legacy where farms were allocated abutting the international boundary and the threat has now placed this exercise on the priority list of the ministry’s projects,” he said. 

He also explained that the implementation of the National Development Plan 12 (NDP 12) and the ongoing response to the Thibelo FMD exercise would go along with supporting and encouraging communities who had volunteered their time and resources to prevent possible incursion of the disease by maintaining the cordon fences. 

Notwithstanding the challenges faced concerning freehold and leasehold farms, he said there had been a notable achievement in the Borolong area and 14 649.4 hectares had been acquired and all affected land rights holders had been compensated. 

Additionally, he said government-owned Farm 1-JN (Banyana Farm) had been set back by 100 metres from the boundary and the remaining farms had been profiled while negotiations with farm owners would commence in the first quarter of the 2026/27 financial year. 

He further said the acquisition involved several steps of land acquisition, including consultations, valuation for compensation purposes and surveying the remaining extent of the land. Kgalagadi South MP, Mr Joseph Modise, had inquired on the possibility to provide a passage between Molopo ranches and the border line for other farmers and government officials to have access along the boundary line at Molopo farms to reduce cross-border exit or entrance in the ungazetted areas. ENDS