Last week it was a fatal shootout at the bus rank. This week the Bontleng neighborhood was in the line of fire on what depicted Grand Theft Auto trivia games. Armed robbery is proving to be a growing phenomenon and one cannot help but wonder where the next shooting might take place as a consequence of our lenient gun penalties.The Botswana Penal Code states that any person convicted of illegal possession of firearms is liable to a minimum of five years imprisonment.
However, in an interview the Minister of Defence, Justice and Security, Ramadeluka Seretse said that the sentences got heavier when combined with the offence committed by the person arrested. He said that the situation is not yet out of control and there was no reason to further tighten the penalties and policies."We have the manpower, and according to our records we have not yet failed in containing the current state of affairs," he said.Seretse revealed that the source of most illegally possessed firearms has everything to do with the past southern African liberation wars. He said that most of these firearms were never accounted for and resulted in virtually all of these weapons finding their way onto the "black market".
