The livestock discomfiture

Mmegi Editor | Tuesday August 26, 2014 13:07

Groups of livestock, ranging from cattle to goats and even horses, roam about on now well-established routes, imperilling traffic in our shopping malls. There is, for instance, a well-established and growing tribe of goats that follows a route through Mogoditshane, Block 6 and nearly all the way to Game City! In Block 9, the patches of grass without a grazing snout are few and far between.

However, it is in Mogoditshane and Kweneng District in general that the nuisance of roaming livestock is more acute. Small stock in particular are a constant sight that the District Council has had enough of. According to its chairperson, the Council has moved to banish roaming livestock back to masimo and punish owners who allow them into any undesignated area. According to Leo Motlhophi in an article elsewhere in this edition, although consultations are presently ongoing with the various stakeholders, the local authority has decided that livestock should be driven back to grazing lands.

Research done by the Council has also shown that the frequently cited excuse of land shortages do not hold water in most cases and instead, farmers move their livestock from masimo into towns in order to be closer to them.

In fact, far from a shortage of land, the Council has since discovered that many of the culprit farmers have huge tracts of masimo lying unused, in some cases for up to 50 years, while their livestock obstructs traffic in urban areas.

Earlier in the year, land authorities in the district did the unthinkable and invoked their powers to repossess “abandoned” masimo in areas such as Dutlwe and Kotolaname, a move viewed as nearly culturally taboo by the average agrarian Motswana.

Whether or not the actual repossessions took place, the district deserves credit for its courage and forthrightness in addressing an issue that is plaguing others areas such as Gaborone, Francistown and Selebi Phikwe.

Where city fathers and most residents are pulling in a united direction to transform their towns into world-class centres, some farmers are pulling hard in the opposition direction by allowing their livestock to roam wild.

Thanks to their indifference, we live in dualistic cities with the agrarian heritage stubbornly refusing to give way to the modernity structures such as the new CBD in Gaborone are ushering in.

Besides the road accident hazard they cause, free roaming livestock are an eyesore, an embarrassment for our FDI-seeking economy and also a rude and unwelcome reminder of the thoughtlessness of some of our fellow citizens.

We urge other local authorities to step up their efforts to drive livestock out of our towns and emulate Kweneng District’s resolve.

                                                                              Today’s thought

                                     “Selfishness is the greatest curse of the human race.”

 

                                                           - William E. Gladstone