24 Mar 2014

Parliament has been told that in a period of three years, Gumare has experienced cases of stock theft, house breaking and theft, burglary, robberies and store breaking.

Minister of Defence, Justice and Security, Mr Dikgakgamatso Seretse said this when responding to a question from the Member of Parliament for Ngami, Mr Taolo Habano. Minister Seretse told Parliament on Thursday that in 2011, police recorded 16 stock theft cases, 11 were recorded in 2012 and six in 2013.

House breaking and theft, police recorded 16 in 2011, 15 in 2012 and 14 cases in 2013 while for burglary, 14 were recorded in 2011, eight in 2012 and four cases in 2013.

The minister said seven cases of robbery were recorded in 2011, two in 2012 and five in 2013, while shop breaking offences totalled 30 in 2011, 23 in 2012 and 26 in 2013.

Mr Seretse also stated that Gumare Station had 10 vehicles, out of which four were serviceable; four were with Central Transport Organisation (CTO) for repairs while two had been boarded.

The vehicles currently operational, he said, could not be considered adequate to effectively cover the policing area considering the vastness and terrain of the area.

However, he said it must be noted that shortage of transport was not unique to Gumare Police Station. Minister Seretse further said as a short term solution, consideration would be made to replace the boarded vehicles in the 2014/ 2015 vehicle allocation.

He noted that as a long term solution and dependent on the availability of other resources such as accommodation, human resources would be increased at existing policing posts.

MP Habano had asked the minister to brief the house on the rise of criminal activities by providing statistics for stock, burglary and others occurring in the Gumare area including Tubu and Etsha.

He also wanted the minister to state the number of vehicles currently in operation at Gumare Police Station and whether the number equates a station of its stature taking into consideration that it covers areas such as Xaixai, Botswana- Namibia Border at Dobe and Qangwa.

The minister was also requested to state short and long time plans to address the situation. Ends