Phane harvesters defy lockdown
Chakalisa Dube | Thursday April 16, 2020 07:30
Tutume police Station Commander, Jerry Halahala confirmed the worrying trend in an interview with Mmegi yesterday.
The lockdown was imposed early this month in a bid to curtail the spread of COVID-19. It will end on the 20th of April.
In another development police around the country have also experienced concerns about illegal phane harvesters who continue to defy lockdown regulations.
“ This week we arrested seven illegal Phane harvesters and charged them for failing to comply with lockdown regulations. The illegal harvesters are our biggest worry at the moment,” Halahala said.
“ They usually go out in numbers something that has the potential to spread COVID-19. Some of them have eluded the police. We have however, decided to closely monitor areas popular with Phane harvesters within our policing areas,” he added.
The station commander also said that for more than a week they have not experienced any case where people cross between Botswana and Zimbabwe using the Maitengwe border. Maitengwe also falls within the policing area of Tutume police.
“ We only have one case of a Motswana man from Maitengwe who was arrested more than a week ago after he had crossed to Zimbabwe illegally. We arrested him when he came back. He was placed under mandatory quarantine immediately after his arrest.”
During the initial days of the lockdown, a sizeable number of people were arrested using the Maitengwe border a matter that sparked fears that the trend could lead to a spread of the Coronavirus.
Last week police in Masunga as well as in Francistown expressed concern about the number of people disobeying lockdown regulations.