Francistown – The 500 kilometre electric fence erected by Botswana last year along its border with Zimbabwe at huge cost is not serving its purpose – to keep out refugees. Botswana has officially maintained that the fence is meant to curb the movement of animals from Zimbabwe and contain foot and mouth disease. However, the fence was also erected to try and keep border jumpers at bay. But the border jumpers have started destroying the barrier and are finding their way into Botswana territory regardless. Botswana’s Vice President Seretse Khama Ian Khama this week expressed disappointment that his government’s efforts to electrify the border fence had borne no fruit as people cut the wires and stole solar panels. Addressing a meeting of traditional chiefs near the Botswana border with Zimbabwe, Khama said strategies to control the destruction of the fence were now being developed. The Vice President called on Botswana chiefs in villages along the border to urge their communities to be “vigilant against people who destroy the fence”. Last month Minister of Local Government Michael Tshipinare encouraged locals living along the border to form vigilante groups and track down illegal immigrants who tampered with the fence. He told police officers in Tshesebe, a few kilometres from the Zimbabwe border, that illegal Zimbabwean immigrants posed “a major security risk”. The minister said police officers were overwhelmed by the high number of illegal immigrants from Zimbabwe. A Zimbabwean resident, Tendai Dzimiri, blamed the situation on President Robert Mugabe’s government. “We have been made refugees in other countries. We risk our lives entering this country illegally to try and make ends meet,” Dzimiri told Zim Online. Zimbabweans who cut the electric fence risk their lives as they might be electrocuted. Zimbabwe protested the construction of the fence last year comparing it to the wall Israel is erecting along its eastern border with the West Bank.

Source: WWW.ZwNews.Com