Khamas push Khumaga, Moreomaoto residents to court
Baboki Kayawe | Friday June 24, 2016 18:00
Failure by the two sides to reach common ground has left the concerned populations fearing dispossession of heritage, livelihoods and land, due to what they believe to be negotiation in bad faith by government in a heated altercation emanating from authorities’ planned expansion of the Makgadikgadi Pans National Park, westwards into Khumaga village.
Makgadikgadi Pans Landscape, which is located in the northeast of the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR) and southeast of the Okavango Delta, is regarded as one of the highest human-wildlife conflict areas in the country. The disputed fence realignment move will enclose the Boteti River within the Park which is just a stone’s throw from Khumaga village.
In addition, a chunk of land from the Boteti West area, particularly Khumaga, will be lost to the wildlife facility, leaving residents with no land for sustenance. The unilateral decision also threatens displacement, as part of Khumaga; which is the gateway to the Park, will form part of Makgadikgadi. Consequently, disgruntled villagers fear relocation.
The villagers accuse the government of being selfish in narrowly opting to resolve the human-wildlife conflict in these areas by taking the river out off their reach so as to bar contact between wild and domestic animals.
Following the erection of a game-proof fence to demarcate the boundary between Makgadikgadi National Park and communal land in its vicinity, that was completed in the late 2000s to address long standing issues of livestock encroachment into the national park, the fence has since been destroyed worsening the human-wildlife conflict it was intended to curb.
As a result, the communities pleaded for the refurbishment of the fence. Moreover, owing to land scarcity in the area, the constituents approached government asking for a piece of the state land. They had appealed for the realignment of the buffer fence 10 kilometres away from Khumaga village into the Park, in order to address this matter but their request was in vain. Instead, the Minister of Environment, Wildlife and Tourism, Tshekedi Khama issued a provocative directive at a kgotla meeting in Khumaga, stating plans to push the Makgadikgadi boundary fence 50 metres further into communal land.
The government’s unpopular announcement flared tempers resulting in the minister somersaulting on his initial decision to cover a lion’s share of Khumaga into the Makgadikgadi Park. The fence, if stretched would straddle the Rakops-Motopi road and delineate the boundary of the veterinary disease control zone which is an internationally recognised Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) free zone and the Makgadikgadi Pans National Park, considered an FMD red zone.
Following state media reports that the four villages bordering the Makgadikgadi National Park; (stretching away from the banks of the Boteti River) namely Khumaga, Moreomaoto, Rakops and Motopi had consented to the realignment of the Makgadikgadi fence 50 metres westwards into communal land in 2013, the affected four tribal leaders penned a complaint addressed to government refuting the pronouncement.
“The statement that we the four tribes have consented to the Makgadikgadi fence realignment further west from the Boteti River bank is not true and must not be considered as a position of the affected and concerned villages,” reads a letter signed by the quartet.
Rather, the traditional leaders pleaded for the repairement of the buffer fence where it is currently positioned, without eating into their land. They questioned whether the decision to realign the fence meant that communal land had now turned into state land?
“The best solution is to erect a high quality fence as well as to have fulltime patrol personnel to ensure that the Makgadikgadi fence is kept intact,” they continued.
The fact that these villages are sandwiched between the CKGR and Makgadikgadi Pans National Park makes it impossible for the former to be expanded westwards as they will be left with very limited land, stated the letter.
“It is a known fact that Boteti area lacks grazing land due to its aridity and acute shortage of communal land. Owing to this, the community requested for the fence to be realigned 10 kilometres away from communal land in vain. We later on bent to ask for four kilometres of state land still to no avail.” This was in pursuit of better pastoral and arable agricultural land in order to avoid over dependence on government programmes, the four tribal leaders explained.
To separate watering sources for livestock and wild animals, 14 boreholes were drilled in the park to guard against possible spread of diseases and conflict that could arise when the two species shared the river. To their surprise, the wild life now depends on the Boteti River for water, questioning the logic behind the existence of the boreholes originally meant to serve them.
The four communities’ traditional leaders are contending that the decision to stretch park into tribal land has no regard to the socioeconomic ties that exist between the masses and Boteti River - fondly regarded as the lifeblood of the communities dependent on pastoralism, fishing and crop production from its waters. Many see the decision to push the fence that demarcates the village and the park 50 metres further from the Boteti River bank into Khumaga a non-harmonious use of natural resources between government and the communities, to benefit the former.
“The livelihood of these communities is largely dependent on the river, nonetheless they agreed to share this resource with wildlife so the decision to exclusively channel its water for wild animals use would present huge economic and survival challenges,” the four leaders wrote.
Even in periods when the river is dry, these people have drilled boreholes in the river and water their livestock. “Underground water here is salty save for the one drilled in the river. Truly speaking, without access to this river there won’t be life in this area,” the letter further states.
Uncertainty on what happens to this community once the proposed development is in place has cost the local trust; Ngande Development Trust, funding opportunities for conservation projects it had intended to roll out.
In June 2013, the Department of Wildlife and National Parks through its regional office in Letlhakane responded to the Trust’s funding proposal thus, “reference is made to one dated 11 September 2012. The above correspondence indicates that Community Conservation Fund committee deferred your proposal due to the uncertainty around the game park presented by the alignment of the Makgadikgadi fence,” reads the letter signed by one Molosiwa for director.
“Your organisation can consider the possibility of applying for more land (plot expansion) which will be incorporated into the proposed development and into the associated business management plan,” states the communique.
At the core of the communities’ complaints is the conclusion by the affected villagers that the government does not want to listen to and address their grievances but only hell bent on giving an ear and priority to game. They accuse minister Tshekedi Khama of avoiding the core issues whenever he addresses them by stage managing kgotla meetings and wishing away issues.
Writing letters to the same minister they say has proved to be a waste of time as he is in the habit of ignoring the issues raised to safeguard his agenda.
Responding to the loaded letter by the four village chiefs, Tshekedi Khama in a letter which Mmegi is in possesssion said that he has noted their grievances and currently discussing the matter with the affected ministries. The minister also dispatched a team from his Ministry to discuss the matter with the concerned communities.
To their surprise, the communities say they later saw surveyors from the Ministry moving around their village with pegs making markings. The chief immediately called an impromptu meeting to alert the villagers and gave them a chance to discuss the matter. Luckily the week coincided with President Ian Khama’s scheduled address to the protesting villagers.
Upon realising that the pegging would be reported to President Khama, the ministry’s deputy permanent secretary, Felix Mongwagae apparently moved swiftly to call a damage control meeting a day before the President arrived, to apologise for what the surveyors had been doing. The area MP Slumber Tsogwane had advised the protestors to share most of their concerns with the President but Khama did not want to be dragged into the matter, as the meeting facilitators deprived the committee an opportunity to air their concerns
Office of the President had also in a letter in 2014 rejected the protestors’ plea to dialogue with him, saying the President was busy and attending to pressing matters and as such would not be able to give them audience.
“Nonetheless, the President sends his greetings to you and wishes you well and good health,” concludes a response from the highest office to Kgomotso Matsiara - the delegation chairman. The delegation had requested to express their grievances and dissatisfaction about Tshekedi’s habit of shallow and empty responses.
Recently the protestors re-wrote to the President complaining over Tshekedi’s willingness to proceed with markings without involving and consulting them. The move by the government they are now convinced, calls for another step and they have decided to engage lawyers to assist them as the government has elected to ignore all their interventions and calls for dialogue.
The community has agreed to contribute to sponsor the legal route raising human rights issues violations should the government continue with its hardline stance on the issue. The law firm engaged is Moeletsi Attorneys, a Gaborone based firm. The partners at the firm told Mmegi when reached for comment that they do not want to be dragged into the matter.
An 18-person delegation committee was appointed in 2013 to look into the matter constituting of think tanks from the two areas in a quest to amicably resolve the dispute. Chaired by Matsiara it comprises of representatives from most affected villages.
During a Mmegi investigation in Khumaga this week, the three members of this committee - secretary Lethugile Makonyela, his deputy Bapaletswe Motamma and spokesperson Kgothatso Dihawa - expressed disgruntlement at government’s poor consultation, unilateral decision making and big brother mentality.
“It seems government does not want to listen to us that is why we are currently seeking legal advice on how we can optimally resolve the standoff. We are also exploiting other avenues, both local and international like Law Society of Botswana, Botswana Council of Churces, Ditshwanelo and Survival International,” said Motamma.
However, Kgosi Keeditse Orapeleng of Khumaga who repeatedly expressed unwillingness to grant Mmegi an interview is of the view that the legal route is not a suitable remediation. “With the courts you either win or lose and that hardens hearts. You can never negotiate through the courts,” he said. The chief is adamant that his people will not be relocated and trusted government had the interest of the community at heart.
“I personally am of the view that the decision is meant to protect the people though they don’t want to view it that way. There are growing concerns that continued sharing of water sources between domestic livestock and wild animals could possibly spread difficult to control diseases such as foot and mouth,” Orapeleng said.
“I don’t want to make any overriding and sweeping statements because the community has appointed a delegation to pursue the matter. Moreover, as a chief, one is a uniting factor hence the expectation to maintain balance whenever confronted with issues of this nature,” he stressed.
Orapeleng however revealed that his position and views do not sit well with the villagers of Khumaga as he is considered a sellout on allegations that he, together with some chiefs were occasionally seen boarding aircrafts showing them the realignment aerial map. There are talks that certain concessions were made on air between the chiefs and the authorities, an allegation Orapeleng denied.
“Of course we once flew with ministry authorities on one occasion but no concessions were ever made on air as widely held. The community believed that the authorities were using the flight and food as a strategy to lure us to their side, but it is all propaganda,” charged a dismissive Orapeleng.
Boteti West constituency MP, who is also the minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Slumber Tsogwane, played down the dispute. He dismissed claims of lack of consultation on government side. Tsogwane said the delegation committee had informed him about these grievances, which he referred to minister Khama.
“I spoke to the Minister about the issue and he assured me that they would thoroughly consult the negotiating committee in the area. It is not true that engagement is lacking, the problem is that the committee is too political,” charged Tsogwane.
Moreover, he dismissed as baseless escalating fears of relocation and maintained that facilities such as the primary school and others will not be affected by realignment of the fence as alleged. On the land scarcity outcry, Tsogwane rubbished the communities’ strong feeling that communal land is turned into state land, further deteriorating land shortage in the area.
“Of course I acknowledge land scarcity in the area, but this move will not have much of a bearing on livelihoods and land scarcity,” said Tsogwane.
Contacted for comment, minister Khama was singing a totally different tune describing the talks as all encompassing and progressive. He further said the Ministry of Infrastructure, Science and Technology was at an advanced stage of the tender specifications design which will determine the total project cost. While the communities are still expecting detailed responses to issues they have repeatedly raised with government, minister Khama told this publication that the project is about to take off with the tendering stage being polished.
“We have done a fair amount of consultation with all stakeholders. Just recently a high level team from my ministry comprising of the permanent secretary and his deputy visited Khumaga to finalise consultation on the matter,” he said.
Minister Khama attributed accusations of poor consultation and big brother mentality from the community to lack of understanding the long term benefits of the project like employment creation during the expansion exercise, community getting a share in the tourism industry as three campsites have been reserved for that purpose, as well as curbing the human-wildlife conflict.
“Interaction between wild animals and domestic livestock is a serious problem in this area. Their area, the 4a zone is now a red area and they are currently not exporting to the EU market. I wish they could view this move as one that is meant to save and preserve their livelihoods,” said Khama.
Khama said this lack of full comprehension on the matter, may have divided opinions but the community must rest assured that their livestock will be supplied with water pumped from about eight to 12 boreholes to be drilled in the river once it is made part of the park.