Trucks to be confiscated, sand miners to face P1m fine
Spira Tlhankane | Wednesday December 3, 2025 06:00
Bogolo Kenewendo, the Minister of Minerals and Energy (MME), told Parliament recently that the enactment introduced harsher punitive measures that will see people fined up to P1,000,000.
“Owing to the prior limitations on the legislative punitive actions, the amended Mines and Minerals Act has been enacted. The Mines and Minerals Act amendments have included harsher punitive measures through revision of fines and giving more powers to authorised officers to confiscate, impound, and dispose of equipment that was found and used in the commission of such illegal activity,” Kenewendo revealed.
Kenewendo indicated that law enforcement organisations have, of late, strengthened their patrols along the affected areas and river systems in an effort to combat the illegal activities. “Summary penalty of P200 is revised to P5,000; breach of the provision of the Act imposed by the Minister has been revised from minimum P50,000 to P500,000; first conviction fine not exceeding P1,000 revised to less than P500,000, and/or jail time of one year revised to five years. A fine of not more than P5,000, revised to not more than P500,000. A fine of not more than P100,000, revised to P1,000,000,” Kenewendo disclosed.
Kenewendo added that the ministry is aware that natural resources, particularly sand, are being illegally mined or extracted. She said her Ministry continues to engage with other stakeholders to combat illegal sand mining that is ravaging the Greater Gaborone area, including the Metsimotlhabe River.
Kenewendo was responding to a question from Mmopane-Metsimotlhabe legislator Helen Manyeneng, who had asked if the Minister was aware that natural resources, particularly sand, are being illegally extracted from the Metsimotlhabe River in the Mmopane-Metsimotlhabe area; and if so, whether her Ministry will consider putting in place clear regulations to allow for controlled and legal sand mining, strictly for use by young citizens in their personal or community projects, and not for commercial sale, to curb illegal extraction whilst promoting responsible resource use.
“Demand for sand today continues to increase as the country’s developments steadily grow through the construction of new infrastructure, so sand is an important component and a crucial commodity in the economic development of Botswana's construction industry.
“Whilst the limited sand resources in the Southern part of the country, sand mining activities in the Greater Gaborone were suspended due to the state of degradation in our river systems. Our river systems are damaged due to excessive sand mining, and other uses of the river systems, such as water abstraction, especially for agricultural use, are affected.
“Recently, during the past rainy season, we have seen communities being impacted due to accumulation of floods in areas around floodplains due to this excessive sand mining,” Kenewendo pointed out.
Kenewendo said she expects that all government departments and ministries that have authority over land or its use, such as the Ministry of Lands and Agriculture (Land Boards and Department of Lands), the Ministry of Environment and Tourism (Department of Environmental Protection), Botswana Police, and Dikgosi, are not allowing illegal mining to occur on the land they have custody over. She highlighted that all parties entrusted with the administration of land and the environment must not allow any such activities to happen on their land without their knowledge and authority.
“My ministry has the intention (funds permitting) to conduct studies along all major rivers in the country to establish the extent of damage caused by excessive sand mining. The studies would inform considerations for the proposed initiative, to allow for controlled and legal sand mining, strictly for use by young citizens in their personal or community projects,” she said.