Over the years, villages near the Botswana-Zimbabwe borderline including Matsilole, Matshelagabedi, Matopi, Patayamatebele and others have been battling with alarming cases of illegal mining and cross border crimes. Early this year, it was reported that following numerous failed attempts to rescue an illegal miner who was trapped in an old mine shaft, his body decomposed underground. Furthermore, in December last year, it was reported that a Zimbabwean man was trapped when an old mine shaft in Matsiloje collapsed on him whilst digging for gold. Addressing a kgotla meeting recently in one of the affected villages, Matshelagabedi, Mohwasa said the Botswana Defence Force (BDF) collaborated with Botswana Police Service (BPS) from KAMANI 1 operations to fight against illegal mining and cross border crimes. He added that 88 police officers and 20 soldiers including the Special Support Group (SSG) have been deployed to patrol in the affected villages. Mohwasa indicated that the BDF officers are patrolling the Rainbow old gold mines, Signal Hills, Patayamatebele whereas the police are patrolling along Kalakamati (old Shashe farms), Francistown, Tachila farms, Albert Farms and others. He said the new police station, which will be completed soon, will also come in handy to answer some of the people's grievances regarding crime.
He said they are a listening government and are there to serve the people who voted for them. Mohwasa stated that statistics have proven that a lot of illegal mining and cross-border crimes are committed by illegal immigrants. For instance, he gave an example that Matshelagabedi, which is just a stone's throw away from the Botswana-Zimbabwe borderline and near the second city of Francistown, has been greatly affected by illicit mining. He said as earlier discussed, probably it was high time villagers in the area were granted rights to mine in the area so that they can take care of the mineral resources and gain economically. Mohwasa also suggested that there is a need to empower the Village Development Committees (VDCs) so that they can be independent just like community trusts. He said the empowerment of VDCs will help in exploring ways near mineral deposits and tourism attraction areas so that they can benefit from such. He said they have realised that the alarming cases of illegal mining and such the government took a deliberate decision to send a task force so that they can see how villagers from areas, which had abandoned mining benefit from such natural resources.
