30 Jul 2026

A total of 10 fire outbreaks have been recorded at various Botswana Defence Force (BDF) camps in the last 10 years, with electrical faults identified as the main cause.

Answering a question in Parliament on Wednesday, the Assistant Minister for State President, Defence and Security, Ms Maipelo Mophuting-Dikoloti said investigations established that the fires occurred at Village Garrison, Sir Seretse Khama Barracks and Glen Valley Barracks in Gaborone, 1 and 2 Military Garrisons in Francistown and Maun Garrison.

“Following investigation, it has been determined that the primary cause of the fire outbreaks was electrical faults resulting from system overloading,” she said.

Ms Mophuting-Dikoloti explained that except for the Glen Valley Barracks 100 Men Barrack Block, where the fire was deliberately started, the rest were caused by residents using high-power cooking appliances in individual units.

She said the buildings’ electrical distribution was designed on the assumption that residents would obtain meals from the communal kitchen and would not regularly use appliances such as hot plates, electric kettles and portable burners.

“The additional, unplanned load from these appliances exceeded the capacity of the circuits and protective devices, resulting in overheating, insulation failure and ignition,” she said.

On the relationship between the fires and building materials, the Assistant Minister said the affected accommodation structures were constructed mainly using prefabricated materials.

She said the construction employed aluminum panels that sandwiched polystyrene foam with an overall wall thickness of 70mm.

“Research and observations by our fire department following investigations into the fire incidents have indicated that this combination can contribute to the rapid spread of fire once ignited, as the polystyrene foam is known to be a combustible material,” she said.

Ms Mophuting-Dikoloti further stated that one life was lost in the September 2021 fire at the 25 Men Barracks Block in Maun and the criminal matter was still pending before court.

She added that the fires resulted in building damages of over P13 million for 342 units.

On compensation, the assistant minister said no compensation has been paid for damage to personal properties in all the incidents.

She explained that the law of damages previously determined compensation with respect to loss or damage to personal property, and that there had to be evidence of wrongdoing on the part of the BDF.

However, she noted that Section 331 of the BDF Act enacted in 2018 now provided for compensation for loss or damage of personal property when such property was in the custody or responsibility of the BDF.

“There is currently an ongoing case where liability for compensation was admitted based on the investigations ex post facto and a dispute arose as to the quantum of compensation. Botshelo Mathake and Others took the matter to court for assessment of damages involving 23 members who lost their personal household items in Village Garrison fire outbreak,” she said.

On measures to prevent future outbreaks, Ms Mophuting-Dikoloti said short-term interventions included upgrading electricity and power reticulation to ease overload.

For the long term, she said the plan was to phase out prefabricated accommodation structures with brick and mortar structures, subject to availability of funds.

She said barracks blocks have been budgeted for in each garrison in the current NDP 12.

Ms Mophuting-Dikoloti was responding to a question from the MP for Tswapong South, Dr Kesitegile Gobotswang, who had asked the minister to appraise the House on BDF camps that have experienced fire outbreaks in the last 10 years.

He further wanted the minister to state the number of fire outbreaks and main causes, relationship with building materials, lives lost and costs, whether affected persons were compensated, and plans to prevent future outbreaks. ENDS