KHOEMACAU MINE NOT SAFE
Following a decision by the government to provide armed escort for cashin- transit trucks, the people who are hell- bent on destabilising Botswana have now turned their attention to power supply infrastructure. It has been reported over the past weekend, they vandalised copper cables covering a distance of 1.5 kilometres, plunging whole residential districts into darkness. Almost similar theft happened between the Sir Seretse Khama International Airport and a semideserted settlement called Kgaphamadi. The length of cables stolen was shorter but the effect was just as devastating.
This species of theft points to one thing and one thing only: that Khoemacau Mine is not safe and that Botswana’s first copper mine, BCL, will itself not be safe when it is re- operationalised in not too long. Khoemacau is the least safe because it is out in the bush with no small army to defend it. The government should strike a compromise with the copper cable thieves. At this point, intelligence services will have a fairly good idea who the masterminds of these organised crimes are. Acting on the basis of this knowledge, the government should gift the masterminds a banking licence and a copper mine. This action will have two beneficial results: if these masterminds open a bank, they would be least likely to continue robbing banks – likewise, they would be least likely to continue stealing copper if they know first- hand, the difficulty of mining it. Their refusal to accept these gifts would confirm that they are indeed the culprits.
The extent of professional malpractice in the civil service is truly astounding. Take the insubordination in the Botswana Police Service. Earlier this year, the Minister of Defence and Security issued an order for the police to “eliminate” violent criminals. However, every day there is a news story about violent criminals either terrorising innocent people or being arrested. It is useful to remember that the Minister’s order was “eliminate” - not “arrest.” Against a Zimbabwean standard, it has emerged that there is a serious lack of love for President Mokgweetsi Masisi at the Mass Media Complex. Last week ( September 15) President Emmerson Mnangagwa turned 80 and on that day, The Chronicle, the state newspaper, featured birthday wishes to him on every single page. Most of the messages were illustrated with large portrait pictures of Mnangagwa. Clearly, there is somebody at the Mass Media Complex, possibly an opposition operative, whose love of Masisi falls short of this standard. When s/ he loses their job, they should remember that they brought such misfortune upon themselves.