Molale apportions road-rail accident blame on farmers
Goitsemodimo Kaelo | Tuesday December 13, 2022 06:00
When appraising Parliament on Botswana Railways (BR) during the Minister’s Question Time on Friday, Molale accused farmers of herding cattle on the road and allowing animal-straying onto the railway lines.
While farmers have previously blamed BR authorities for neglecting damaged fences, Molale has in turn accused farmers of contributing to the issues of rail and road safety.
He said farmers vandalise perimeter fencing along the railway line and national highways network. He said he would not blame the BR management for asking farmers to fix the fence because they are the ones whose livestock vandalises them.
He said it is either they keep pleading or enforce strict rules to curb this. Molale admitted that they are fighting a losing battle to attain safety on both rail and road transport, but said this is more of a mindset issue as farmers don’t want to look after their livestock.
He said traffic cops have now been reduced to herd boys along the highways as they are forced to chase away livestock from the roads throughout the day. “It is up to us in this House as to which direction this country wishes to take in as far as entrenching a good value system in our citizens. This may sound small but it is a symptom of a bigger problem,” he said.
Molale said as part of the restructuring at BR, they have suggested establishing a standalone safety unit or division. “Currently, we have an investigations unit that waits for accidents to happen.
The safety unit should have preventative strategies that we are utilising. That restructuring was left behind, but we want to have that unit that will be proactive to curtail and prevent accidents from taking place,” he said.
According to Molale, BR spent P3 million on perimeter fencing during the 2012–2013 financial year. Member of Parliament for Nkange, Dr Never Tshabang said there is a need to re-look at the safety situation and come up with modern ways to ensure safer roads and railway lines. In recent times, there have been several train accidents in the country.
Just recently, three BR train crew members lost their lives after a goods train crashed into a truck at the Phakalane junction railway cross in Gaborone. In 2019, two employees of BR died in a passenger train accident near Pallaroad following a train derailment due to floods.