Illegal Shebeens Blamed For Fuelling Crime

Pini Bothoko | Monday April 29, 2019 13:50

 

Mogoditshane police station commander, superintendent Russ Letsebe has raised a concern over the mushrooming of illegal shebeens in his policing area.

Letsebe told The Monitor that most violent crimes such as murder, rape, attempted murder take place at these informal drinking places.  He asserted that often his office is called to attend to violent crimes that usually occur at or near the areas.

He said people drink too much alcohol and end up fighting. In some instances, some of the shebeen operators commonly referred to as “Mma Spoto” in the area continue to violate the trading hours whilst others operate illegally, he asserted.

Letsebe said many people have lost their lives after they got into misunderstanding that led to a fight. “Majority of the shebeens are difficult to identify because many of them sell liquor on a small scale.  Some are hidden in the mostly populated wards of Mogoditshane,” Letsebe said. “There are a lot of murder, rape, attempted murder cases in Smodern ward in this village located a stone throw from Gaborone.” Shebeens are where criminals meet to discuss their plans on organised violent crimes like armed robbery.  Fights that result in stabbings are a regular occurrence at the village’s drinking holes especially on weekends. Letsebe estimated that there were two to three shebeens in almost every ward in his policing area.

He said their efforts to raid the illegal shebeens were not successful as the outfits continue to mushroom on daily basis.

“We occasionally do patrols to raid illegal shebeens. But we only manage to charge two operators and when we arrive at others, we will find them aware of our patrols and to have disposed the evidence of any existence of shebeens in their homes,” Letsebe said. Letsebe’s concern follows a Friday night incident in Mogoditshane that landed a man in hospital after being stabbed with a knife at a shebeen. He said the victim sustained serious injuries and is currently fighting for his life at Princess Marina Hospital.

“The victim claims that the suspect requested him to buy him a beer and when saying he did not have money, he stormed and stabbed him with a knife,” Letsebe explained. He stated that residents of Mogoditshane are having sleepless nights as the well-known people operating as ‘bo Mma Spoto’ are selling beers especially quarts the whole night.