Masisi finally tackles livestock rustling in Bobirwa

MASEGO area plagued by cross border livestock rustling

President Mokgweetsi Masisi has finally promised to act and come up with an everlasting solution that will enable Bobirwa farmers to live in peace and enjoy what they like best - rearing livestock.

For over four decades, Bobirwa farmers in particular those from the villages of Mabolwe, Semolale, and Gobajango ( MASEGO) were terrorised, losing tens of thousands of livestock estimated to cost billions of Pula through cross- border livestock rustling by Zimbabweans. asset Babirwa management, are farmers of repute, but their

efforts have dissipated into thin air resulting operations and related in mass impoverishment in the area since livestock is the mainstay of their economy. Most farmers were forced to abandon their farming areas fearing for their lives either due to, marauding wildlife and livestock theft.

This unwarranted behaviour led to President Masisi visiting the Bobirwa constituency last Thursday to address two consultative leadership meetings in the villages of Semolale and Mabolwe where communities apprised him and his team of the challenges they have faced for decades.

Masisi indicated that he has been aware of the problem that has been persistent, sustained, and systematic, and which requires escalated interventions.

Masisi promised not only to brief his counterpart, President Emmerson Mnangagwa but to also summon the Zimbabwean Ambassador to Botswana and dispatch him to the area for firsthand experience.

The president also promised to appoint a Task Team to study the situation and make recommendations.

Member of Parliament, Taolo Lucas reiterated the necessity of restoring the territorial integrity of Botswana by ensuring that borderline security is tightened and requisite infrastructure is enhanced along the border with Zimbabwe.

He warned that with no border security and a collapsed cordon fence, Foot and Mouth Disease ( FMD) was likely to resurface as hundreds of Zimbabwean cattle graze in Botswana.

Taolo asked Masisi to consider a compensation package for all those who lost their livestock to cross- border cattle rustling.

On Tuesday this week Divisional Commander, Assistant Commissioner of Police, Christopher Mbulawa led a team of senior police officers to assess the situation.

Rustlers are aware that BDF soldiers will not shoot at them, but that they are only there to maintain law and order.

They are boisterous and arrogant, and often engrave messages on trees for patrol teams such as, “You can’t catch us, you can’t shoot us, and we are still coming for more cattle, donkeys, and goats”. Last year they engraved the message, “We are coming for more livestock including your wives”.

The cross- border rustling intensified around the mid- 1990s with hundreds of cattle, donkeys, sheep, and goats lost in this crime. Of late the perpetrators open kraals in the dead of the night and drive cattle across the border.

In some cases, Zimbabwean livestock rustlers would attack farmers herding cattle with stones and make away with their cattle. Security and patrols along the border have varied over the years. Farmers have in recent times formed 10 mephato ( busting clusters) that worked with the police to fight this crime.

A few culprits have been arrested through this initiative. In fact, a Zimbabwean rustler was killed by mephato after resisting arrest.

According to Bobirwa Chief, Kgosi Ezekiel Masilo, the man was later buried in Bobonong after his relatives failed to identify him. Masilo is hopeful that the Task Force will involve the community instead of government imposing its final plan on them.

The opening of the Mabolwe border post was primarily to facilitate trade and movement between the two countries. It would also help farmers and the police to swiftly pursue cattle thieves into Zimbabwe.

However, they faced serious challenges as the Zimbabwean community was uncooperative. Sadly most of the cattle could not be found and whenever they were located, the logistics of returning proved difficult.

Those that returned were killed as a Foot and Mouth Disease control measure, and compensations were painfully low as a farmer would get a paltry P200 for a goat and P700 for a cow.

Zimbabweans entering legally tend to spy on the movements of Bobirwa farmers. They build kraals in the bush to keep stolen livestock in transit. They travel at night using the small streams and the two hills on the Zimbabwean side as their guide.

The Zimbabweans would usually loiter around the Shashe riverbank which serves as the boundary and has a thick bush. Those who do spying usually wait for the BDF patrol team to pass and place warning signs or red flags to signal danger to their partners, and white flags to signal safety.

Babirwa are pleading that government adopts the shoot to kill policy as one of the measures to protect their cattle just as it is done with wildlife.