Mathangwane Hits Centenary Mark

By Uyapo Kgosi
Correspondent | Monday April 14, 2008 00:00

Mathangwane village headman of arbitration, Batisani Moeti says that to prepare for the celebrations, they are consulting with stakeholders, historians and village elders before going public with the details.

The Tonota North village falls under the greater Francistown region and is an ethnic melting pot of Kalangas, Tswana speakers, Zezurus and the Ndebele of Zimbabwe. The Bakalanga are in the majority. A small section of the population is still engaged in agriculture. In the 1980s, a number of accidents on the bridge across the Shashe river that links the village to Francistown gave rise to spooky stories. The tales started after a white man perished in a night accident on the bridge. This was followed by more night accidents on the bridge. One tale has it that the accidents were caused by a ghost on the bridge. The ghost used to appear as a donkey and those trying to avoid it more often than not perished in fatal accidents.

That was a long time ago. Nowadays, the youthful Moeti and his villagers are more worried about illegal immigrants and escalating crimes like rape, house breakings and stock theft. 'Economic refugees and illegal immigrants are major perpetrators of these crimes. These people are roaming all over and come from as far as Francistown,' Moeti says. He says that within a month, several cases of house breaking are reported in the village and this is worrying. He says lack of streetlights in the vast village gives criminals the opportunity to terrorise residents.

He blames deviant local youth for engaging in criminal activities. He encourages unemployed youngsters in the village to utilise government programmes like the Out-Of -School Youth Grant and the CEDA Young Farmers Fund.

Moeti is worried about increasing stock theft committed by elusive criminal syndicates operating in the village and its peripheries. He says these wily criminals connive with butcheries to buy the stolen cattle. He says thieves easily find a counter to anti-criminal measures from the government. His advise to government is that butcheries should not be licensed to buy live animals. He suggests that the butcheries should buy meat from wholesalers and other large establishments like Senn Foods. 'The buying of live animals by butcheries exacerbates stock theft, as some dealings take place in secluded areas in the woods. And thorough inspection of butcheries should be carried out,' he says.