We want our troops back home—Kwape
Mompati Tlhankane | Tuesday February 28, 2023 06:00
Speaking to the media this week, Kwape said their wish is for the BDF soldiers to return home but indicated that Botswana cannot turn its back on Mozambique when the situation is as it is.
He said they do not want to be labelled as people who decamped before the war was won. He said Botswana soldiers' stay in Mozambique has been extended to the beginning of August and that is when the Heads of State will decide the next move.
The war in Mozambique prompted the deployment of BDF troops to help Mozambique’s embattled army in 2021 by joining other SADC countries in the mission which was supposed to last for six months but has since been extended to July 2023. Kwape said people should know that the main reason President Mokgweetsi Masisi deployed soldiers to Mozambique was that the deadly insurgency in that country was threatening to reach Botswana shores.
“As SADC we decided to act on this to remedy the situation before it gets out of hand,” he indicated. Compared to 2021 when the SADC soldiers arrived in Mozambique, Kwape said the situation is better because they no longer see beheading videos.
He emphasised that they have not yet conquered the Mozambique war but at the moment the situation has calmed down. He said SADC has also revealed that the situation is no longer at level six anymore but rather it has moved to another phase where the visibility of soldiers is meant to put down fires where sparks emerge. Asked to comment on the mounting costs of the war, Kwape said: “War in its nature is very expensive especially when you don’t use your resources to curb the situation before it gets worse.
The consequences are far worse and more expensive when you don’t act in time. To unite Africa, if there is no peace then there is nothing that can be achieved." So far the war has cost Botswana close to half a billion and recently the BDF increased the coffin and Mozambique deployment budget. In the draft 2023–2024 estimates of expenditure from the Consolidated and Development Funds released after the budget speech earlier this month, the BDF increased aid to Mozambique (Special Expenditure) from P109 million in the 2022–23 financial year to P164. 6 million for the 2023–24, an increase of 51%. As of December 31, 2022, the BDF in Mozambique had spent P78.3 million on the deployment. The Mozambique special budget comes shortly after the Finance Ministry tabled a P552.4 million supplementary budget to cover the costs of the military deployment among others in December 2022. According to the then supplementary budget’s recurrent expenditure, an amount of P133.4 million went towards funding the deployment of the country’s soldiers, police and prison officers in Mozambique.
The funds cover spending items such as allowances, military material and equipment, food rations and medical expenses as well as uniforms and accessories. Through the estimates, the BDF increased the coffin budget from the P750,000 authorised expenditure in the 2022–23 financial year to P1 million draft estimates for the 2023–24 financial year, a 30.8% increase. Even though the army spent P457,150 in the current financial year ending in March 2023, it has requested P334,000 in the latest draft estimates.