Mmegi

FMD-hit farmers demand access to Tati land

New normal: Travellers at the Jackalas No 1 border gate dip their shoes against FMD PICS: KENNEDY RAMOKONE
New normal: Travellers at the Jackalas No 1 border gate dip their shoes against FMD PICS: KENNEDY RAMOKONE

As the Foot and Mouth Disease rages in the North-East, farmers are demanding access to the 45,000-hectare Tati Farms area that government bought two years ago for P1.4 billion. That area would provide a buffer from the threats along the border with Zimbabwe. LARONA MAKHAIZA, LESEDI MKHUTSHWA & KENNEDY RAMOKONE report

For farmers in Zone 6B, the ongoing Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) outbreak is not just veterinary crises. It is an economic and emotional blow that continues to shape their daily reality.

With cattle movement still tightly regulated and grazing space shrinking, farmers from Jackalas 1 are now appealing for government to hurry up and allocate them a portion of the 45,000 hectares the State purchased from the Tati Company.

Editor's Comment
The State apparatus must be sanitised

When the State cannot rely on its own machinery to pursue suspected wrongdoing, repairing that machinery must become a national priority.The establishment of a Special Investigations and Asset Recovery Task Force may help government respond to the immediate challenge. However, Botswana cannot afford to leave the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime (DCEC) and the Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP) struggling whilst building...

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