�A country without boundary fences�

Bame Piet | Wednesday June 11, 2014 07:00

The ministry has roped in its peers at Lands and Housing as it says part of the problem is that property owners along the country’s borders do not give government officials access to their holdings. 

This week, Defence, Justice, and Security permanent secretary, Segakweng Tsiane told the Public Accounts Committee that the lack of access was delaying the erection of fences, adding that in some cases, property fences are attached to the border fence.

“There are many challenges including the breakdown of machinery such as graders, and property owners (who) deny access to their properties along the border,” she said.

“Some of them have attached their fences to the border fence, whilst others use natural features such as rivers as their boundaries. 

“The Ministry of Lands and Housing, through its Department of Surveys and Mapping, has been engaged to identify the owners of such properties.”

In 2009, a National Security Conference held in Gaborone was stunned to hear that the country’s borders were porous as fences had fallen down, giving criminals and their stolen loot free reign. 

Less than a year later in 2010, three Batswana wildlife officers were detained for weeks in Zimbabwe, after they accidentally crossed into the northern neighbour due to the lack of a border-fence. 

The trio was charged with crossing into the country armed with ammunition, as well as smuggling a motor vehicle.

Tsiane said the construction of the border fence is ongoing, but there are challenges in the Tuli Block area and from Ramotlabaki to Mamuno along the South African border-line. “The teams from both Botswana and South Africa are currently working along the Transfrontier Park to identify beacons and ultimately the borderline,” she said.

“The challenge along the Zimbabwe border is that they have indicated that they are not able to build the 100 kilometres of fence they were supposed to due to financial constraints.”

The challenge with Namibia, she said, is vandalism of the infrastructure. Tsiane however said neighbouring countries are all cooperating in building the border fence, adding that the Joint Permanent Commissions (JPC) are the way forward. 

Tsiane said that Botswana has been able to achieve a lot through the JPCs, among them anti-poaching operations, prevention of cross-border vehicle theft, and the resolution of “political discomforts”.

“The one-border strategy, the 24-hour operations of border gates and joint anti-poaching operations are some of the achievements derived from JPC,” she said.

While the PS may be happy with all the achievements, her appearance at the PAC was soured when she conceded that she is yet to know why the Directorate of Intelligence Services (DIS) and Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crimes (DCEC) were removed from her ministry to the State President.

 Excerpts from the proceedings

Question: Do you know why they (DIS and DCEC) were taken away? Were there any discussions?

Answer: Restructuring of ministries is the prerogative of the head of civil service. I wasn’t privy to discussions that led to the relocation.

Question: Are you still able to facilitate coordination of security agencies like before?

Answer: We have a very effective forum where we discuss all security related issues.