Zim Police Chief Riled By Killing Of their Cattle
Chakalisa Dube | Monday May 22, 2017 15:19
Botswana has often maintained that cattle from Zimbabwe are the major source of the Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) in the country. Botswana has experienced reemergence of FMD over the last decade more especially in the Matsiloje region, which is the Zone 6 area.
The police chief lashed out at Botswana following revelations that 68 cattle that had strayed into Botswana were killed between January and April this year.
“There is need to revisit this policy as it is affecting our national herd.
Some of these cattle that are shot will be exhibits of stocktheft cases and whenever we try to engage our Botswana authorities on this issue they refuse to entertain us,” Makodza told a Zimbabwean newspaper The Chronicle last week.
He added: “Eventually, these culprits are not prosecuted even after being arrested because the evidence would have been destroyed. Villagers are really being shortchanged because they are only paid P100 as compensation for each beast lost.”
Some years ago, Botswana adopted a shoot-to-kill policy against Zimbabwean cattle that stray into Botswana.
Botswana shoots the stray cattle in order to protect the country’s beef market in the EU, which is considered lucrative.
The constant outbreak of FMD in the last decade has cost Botswana millions of pulas.
The money was spent mostly towards compensating farmers whose cattle were killed to suppress that disease as well as putting preventive measures.
In March this year the headman at Bulilima district Senganyodo Jetchen alleged at the time that Botswana nationals were stealing livestock from Zimbabwe.
According to media reports he claimed that four Zimbabwean villagers had lost their cattle to suspected Batswana thieves. Meanwhile, the Minister of Agriculture, Patrick Ralotsia has responded to Makodza’s calls for the policy to be changed.
“We can only change the policy if the reforms will benefit our people.
You have to be mindful that we want our farmers to enjoy the maximum benefits of our cattle which serve the lucrative EU market,” Ralotsia said recently.
Ralotsia said the Botswana government fully engaged the Zimbabwean authorities before the implementation of the controversial shoot-to-kill policy. “They know the reasons why we established the policy. We are not fighting,” he said.
The Minister said Botswana has applied to the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) for the Zone 7 (Bobirwa) and Zone 3b (Nata) area to be classified as a green zone in order to start serving the lucrative EU market.
“If we want to sustain our status of serving the highest bidder of our beef then we have to do everything possible to prevent the FMD,” he said.
On allegations that some cattle killed were allegedly stolen by Batswana, Ralotsia said, “Cattle are killed even if they have been stolen.
We are mostly looking at preventing the economic side effects that may be brought in by an outbreak of the FMD in the country,” he said.
Just recently Tati East Member of Parliament Samson Moyo Guma said there is need for government to erect an electric fence along the Botswana border in Matsiloje as a measure towards protecting farmers in the village and its environs from the FMD pandemic.
Guma said the fence will deter humans and cattle from the two countries from crossing through non-gazzetted points, a trend which fuels the spread of the FMD.