RUNDU – John Thighuru, who is the chairperson of the Kavango East Regional council and Regional Councillor for Mukwe Constituency that borders Botswana on the south, has revealed the fence between Namibia and Botswana has been laying damaged for some time with no effort to replace it. Mukwe Constituency is in Kavango East Region. Livestock on both sides of the border fence have been moving up and down for grazing putting their health at risk as the Bwabwata National Park is found in this region.
“If you move from Muhembo Border Post westwards, the border fence is laying down on the ground, damaged and livestock from both sides are moving up and down,” Thighuru says.
Thighuru noted many livestock owners pay a lot of money to recover their livestock from the other side as they are only allowed to transport their livestock if they are to be collected from the Botswana side not by foot.
“Lucky enough that the relation between the two countries are very good, when the Batswana see our cattle crossing they used to inform us to go and fetch our livestock, but to fetch them is not by foot, it needs to be with vehicles, one cannot be allowed to move or recover livestock from Botswana without a vehicle across the border,” Thighuru added.
“You need to load them on a truck and the problem is the money to pay trucks now, to load your cattle from the Botswana side is a problem,” he continued.
Thighuru said those responsible to maintain the border fence must step in and do their job, the councillor also revealed that the joint committee of Police Officers from both Botswana and Namibia also face a difficult time when patrolling along the border fence on the Namibian side in Mukwe Constituency as there is no road or paths that the patrol teams can use to inspect the border fence.
“They don’t have access, there is no road, unless they have to go on the other side of Botswana when they need to patrol and see activities on the international border fence,” he said.