Soldiers assault Okavango residents military style
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Botswana Defense Force (BDF) members have been accused of committing brutalities against the Okavango Delta communities of Ditshiping and Morutsha settlements. Some residents have complained of being tortured and beaten military style by officers stationed at satellite camp close to the two ungazetted settlements.
One of the victims, Kharathe Gorekwamang explained how he was beaten by army officers who left him for dead. He told this publication that the officers loaded him in to a van and drove away to beat and torture him. “They took turns beating and kicking me. Then they put a bucket on my head, tied my hands and told me to run for my dear life. I was scared and tried to run but I tripped on something and fell down. Then they all laughed at me like I was some kind of a comedy show.”
He said after they were finished with him they then drove him back to back to the settlement and dropped him at his fathers’ house. “My entire body was painful. I could not even walk. I urinated with difficulty as the officers had kicked me on my kidneys area.” Kharathe’s father, Gorekwamang Omane confirmed the incident explaining that he was present when the officers brought his son back. “He was in a bad state. We had to call for assistance from Okavango Kopano Mokoro Trust which services our settlement to help with a van to ferry him to the hospital sixty kilometers away in Maun.”
Gorekwamang works as a leader of the community led Mokoro poling (canoe) tours in the Okavango delta. The service is mostly utilised by western tourists. He revealed that in October 2018 together with a group of other polers, they took a group of western tourists for Mokoro trips in to the Okavango Delta. After the completion of the trip, the tourists gave the polers about P 1,300 as a tip on top of the initial payment.
Gorekwamang said: “The lead tour guide responsible for tourists group gave me the tip to distribute to other polers. However when we arrived at the village some members of my team started accusing me of stealing some of the tip money.” “Some of the women polers in our party said they saw some Euro notes from the money the lead guide gave me. I told them that there were no Euros. An argument ensued and the matter was reported to the village headman for intervention. At the insistence of women the headman then called the army officers who came listened to the issue and decided to take me for punishment.”
Ditshiping headman, Galebuse Tshekonyana confirmed the case was reported to him. He however denied giving the army officers permission to assault Gorekwamang. “The woman complainants are the ones who demanded that the army officers must take him to deal with the issue after I had tried to intervene and took the disputed money so that I could distribute it myself. I just heard that he had been assaulted and they never informed me,” he told this publication.
Another resident of the neighboring Morutsha, Onkabetse Wazimi told Weekend Post that in 2017 he had a misunderstanding with his girlfriend who reported him to the army officers. “When they came here they did not ask anything. They just started assaulting me.” Wazimi further stated that this year another resident was also beaten up who had been reported by a beer depot owner to the BDF as he had failed to pay beer money he owed. “Apparently he owed P180, 00. They beat him telling him he must go pay for the beers.”
Weekend Post is in possession of a letter from Makgobokgokgo area councilor, Luke Motlaleselelo, to the District Commissioner dated 17 October 2018 complaining about BDF officers’ behavior at Ditshiping. Part of the letter reads: “. I write this letter as the area councillor In relation to behavior of BDF soldiers where they beat community members, inflcting serious injuries on their bodies.” It further states that: “on the 5th October 2018, a community member was reported to the BDF base where they brutally beat him and left him unconscious and community trust vehicle had to be called from Maun to collect him in Ditshiping and rush to the hospital.”
In the letter, Motlaleselelo further makes damning allegation that there are suspicions that male residents are beaten severely because some of the solders have sexual relationships with girl friends of the affected in Ditshiping and Morutsa. Motlaleselelo wrote: “I am just quoting one incident but there are several similar incidents where people are just beaten without due diligence being carried out and what is hurting is that these soldiers seem to think our people are just a bunch of ignorants who live in the bush. “
The letter further questions whether the BDF is allowed to undertake duties of Botswana Police Services stating that the camp was set up for anti poaching operations when rhinos were introduced in the Okavango Delta but not to persecute the villagers. “I am appealing to you as the DC to engage BDF. “I am not trying to interfere on their duty but I feel they are encroaching outside their mandate.” Ngamiland District Commissioner, Keolopile Leipego has however denied receiving Motlaleselelo’s letter saying he has only informally heard about the matter.
Maun Police Station Commander Mothaba Ramabya further denied a case was reported to the police despite victim stating he reported to Maun police and the copy of medical exam showing the police had requested for the examination. In a response to Weekend Post questions, BDF spokesperson, Colonel Tebo Dikole said BDF does not have an official record of incidents of assault at Ditshiping settlement or any other area in the Okavango Delta. It says if exist such incidents would be reported to the Botswana Police who would then notify BDF. The letter says: “Once such a report is received, the BDF would then take appropriate action guided by BDF act.
Weekend Post has however learnt that recently, following our enquiry, BDF has instructed officers not to deal with crime issues in Ditshiping and instructed them to reduce interaction with members of the community. In 2017, former President Ian Khama visited Ditshiping where residents called on Khama to help declare the ungazetted settlement a village so that they could begin to enjoy government developments and services. The settlement is serviced by Shorobe police post. During the meeting, the residents said the settlement came in to existence in 1961 and was set up by people who were relocated by creation of Moremi Game Reserve.
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ENVIRONMENT ISSUES: Masisi asks Virginia for help
President Mokgweetsi Masisi says the issue of sustainable natural resources management has always been an important part of Botswana’s national development agenda.
Masisi was speaking this week on the occasion of a public lecture at Virginia Polytechnic, under theme, “Merging Conservation, Democracy and Sustainable Development in Botswana.”
Botswana, according to Masisi, holds the view that the environment is fragile and as such, must be managed and given the utmost protection to enable the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
“It is necessary that we engage one another in the interchange of ideas, perspectives, visualizations of social futures, and considerations of possible strategies and courses of action for sustainable development,” said Masisi.
On the other hand, dialogue, in the form of rigorous democratic discourse among stakeholders presents another basis for reconfiguring how people act on their environments, with a view to conserving its resources that “we require to meet our socio-economic development needs on a sustainable basis,” Masisi told attendees at the public lecture.
He said government has a keen interest in understanding the epidemiology and ecology of diseases of both domestic and wild animals. “It is our national interest to forestall the dire consequences of animal diseases on our communities livelihoods.”
President Masisi hoped that both Botswana and Virginia could help each other in curbing contagious diseases of wildlife.
“We believe that Virginia Tech can reasonably share their experiences, research insights and advances in veterinary sciences and medicines, to help us build capacity for knowledge creation and improve efforts of managing and containing contagious diseases of wildlife. The ground is fertile for entering into such a mutually beneficial partnership.”
When explaining environmental issues further, Masisi said efforts of conservation and sustainable development might at times be hampered by the emergence and recurrence of diseases when pathogens mutate and take host of more than one species.
“Water pollution also kills aquatic life, such as fish, which is one of humanity’s much deserved sources of food. In this regard, One Health Approach imposes ecological responsibility upon all of us to care for the environment and the bio-diversity therein.”
He said the production and use of animal vaccines is an important space and tool for conservation, particularly to deal with trans-border animal diseases.
“In Botswana, our 43-year-old national premier pharmaceutical institution called Botswana Vaccine Institute has played its role well. Through its successful production of highly efficacious Foot and Mouth vaccines, the country is able to contain this disease as well as supply vaccines to other countries in the sub-region.:
He has however declared that there is need for more help, saying “We need more capacitation to deal with and contain other types of microbial that affect both animals and human health.”
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Masisi saddened by deaths of elephant attacks
President Mokgweetsi Masisi has expressed a strong worry over elephants killing people in Botswana. When speaking in Virginia this week, Masisi said it is unfortunate that Batswana have paid a price with their own blood through being attacked by elephants.
“Communities also suffer unimaginable economic losses yearly when their crops are eaten by the elephants. In spite of such incidents of human-elephant conflict, our people embrace living together with the animals. They fully understand wildlife conservation and its economic benefits in tourism.”
In 2018, Nthobogang Samokwase’s father was attacked by an elephant when travelling from the fields, where he stayed during the cropping season.
It was reported that the man couldn’t run because of his age. He was found trampled by the elephant and was pronounced dead upon arrival at the hospital.
In the same year, in Maun, a 57-year-old British woman was attacked by an elephant at Boro and died upon arrival at the hospital. The woman was with her Motswana partner, and were walking dogs in the evening.
Last month, a Durban woman named Carly Marshall survived an elephant attack while on holiday in the bush in Botswana. She was stabbed by one of the elephant’s tucks through the chest and was left with bruises. Marshall also suffered several fractured ribs from the ordeal.
President Masisi Botswana has the largest population of African elephants in the world, totaling more than 130 000. “This has been possible due to progressive conservation policies, partnerships with the communities, and investment in wildlife management programmes.”
In order to benefit further from wildlife, Masisi indicated that government has re-introduced controlled hunting in 2019 after a four-year pause. “The re-introduction of hunting was done in an open, transparent and democratic way, giving the communities an opportunity to air their views. The funds from the sale of hunting quota goes towards community development and elephant conservation.”
He stressed that for conservation to succeed, the local people must be involved and derive benefits from the natural resources within their localities.
“There must be open and transparent consultations which involve all sectors of the society. It is against this backdrop that as a country, we lead the continent on merging conservation, democracy and sustainable development.”
Masisi stated that Botswana is open to collaborative opportunities, “particularly with identifiable partners such as Virginia Tech, in other essential areas such as conservation, and the study of the interplay among the ecology of diseases of wild animals and plants, and their effects on human health and socio-economic development.”
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Gov’t commit to injecting more funds in fighting HIV
Minister for State President Kabo Morwaeng says government will continue to make resources available in terms of financial allocations and human capital to ensure that Botswana achieves the ideal of eradicating HIV and AIDS as a public health threat by 2030.
Morwaeng was speaking this morning in Gaborone at the High-Level Advocacy event to accelerate HIV Prevention in Botswana. He said the National AIDS and Health Promotion Agency (NAPHA), in partnership with UNAIDS, UN agencies, the Global Fund and PEPFAR, have started a process of developing transition readiness plan for sustainability of HIV prevention and treatment programmes.
“It is important for us, as a country that has had a fair share of donor support in the response to an epidemic such as HIV and AIDS, to look beyond the period when the level of assistance would have reduced, or ceased, thus calling for domestic financing for all areas which were on donor support.”
Morwaeng said this is important as the such a plan will guarantee that all the gains accrued from the response with donor support will be sustained until the end when “we reach the elimination of HIV and AIDS as a public health threat by 20230,” he said.
“I commit to continue support efforts towards strengthened HIV prevention, accentuating HIV primary prevention and treatment as prevention towards Zero New Infections, Zero Stigma, Discrimination and Zero AIDS related death, to end AIDS in Botswana.”
He reiterated that government commits to tackle legislative, policy and programming challenges that act as barriers to the achievement of the goal of ending AIDS as a public health threat.
In the financial year 2022/2023, a total of 119 Civil Society Organizations, including Faith Based Organizations, were contracted with an amount of P100 million to implement HIV and NCDs prevention activities throughout the country, and the money was drawn from the Consolidated Fund.
Through an upcoming HIV Prevention Symposium, technical stakeholders will use outcomes to develop the Botswana HIV Prevention Acceleration Road Map for 2023-2025.
Morwaeng stated that government will support and ensure that Botswana plays its part achieving the road map. He said there is need to put hands on the deck to ensure that Botswana sustains progress made so far in the fight against HIV and AIDS.
“There are tremendous achievements thus far to, reach and surpass the UNAIDS fast track targets of 95%- 95%- 95% by the year 2025. As reflected by the BAIS preliminary results of 2021, we now stand at 95- 98- 98 against the set targets.”
“These achievements challenge us to now shift our gears and strive to know who are the remaining 5% for those aware of their HIV status, 2% of enrolment on treatment by those aware of their status and 2% of viral suppression by those on treatment.”
Explaining this further, Morwaeng said shift in gears should extend to coming up with robust strategies of determining where these remaining people are as well as how they will be reached with the necessary services.
“These are just some of the many variables that are required to ensure that as a country, we are well positioned to reaching the last mile of our country’s response to the HIV and AIDS pandemic.”