Journos challenge flora thieves

I recalled the case of hoodia at the beginning of the 21st Century after its illegal harvesting for export from Botswana. I remembered that the primary school that I went to in the 1980s and the wider area around it was surrounded by innumerable Mokgwapha trees, hence eventually its name, Lekgwapheng Primary School. The ward in which the school is located is also called Lekgwapheng. But today, 17 years later, the name of both ward and school is a crude misnomer in a place where no such tree exists any more.

As we approached Mmanoko from our assignment, we saw a Mazda van packed with cactus trees (mokgwapha), prompting us act. We followed the van for a while, taking pictures as we went, until we decided that BDF headquarters in Mogoditshane was safe enough to flag the van down. Mara and I asked the people in the van if they had a licence to commit such a rape of the environment and the destination of the cargo.