Sukulwenkosi Dube Plumtree Correspondent
A SENIOR police officer has called for a security fence to be erected on the Zimbabwe and Botswana boundary line to curb cross border criminal activities.

Speaking during a Zimbabwe-Botswana cross border stock theft bilateral meeting in Plumtree on Monday, the Officer Commanding Matabeleland South Province, Senior Assistant Commissioner Learn Ncube, said there were illegal crossing points dotted along the border line which were mainly used by stock thieves.

He said the international boundary between Zimbabwe and Botswana stretches for 786 kilometres – 476 km in Matabeleland South Province and 310 km in Matabeleland North Province and most of the road network along the border was not accessible.

“The border line is porous. There’s no security fence on the Zimbabwean side of the international boundary hence stock thieves take advantage of this and steal livestock mainly from grazing areas from either side,” Snr Ass Comm Ncube said.

The top cop also said co-ordination between local police and their Botswana counterparts had crippled efforts to eliminate rampant cross border stocktheft cases between the two countries.

Snr Ass Comm Ncube said intelligence gathered had shown that cross border stocktheft cases were mostly committed by syndicates involving both Zimbabwe and Botswana nationals.

He said some of the cattle rustlers would steal branded cattle from Zimbabweans, drive them into Botswana and then tamper with the brand marks.

Snr Ass Comm Ncube said local police officers had made several attempts to engage their Botswana counterparts in a bid to recover stolen cattle without success.

“As police in Zimbabwe we feel that there is more which our Botswana counterparts could do if they agree to work with us to help villagers recover their stolen animals,” he said.

“On May 25, 2015, 46 cattle went missing from a village in Zimbabwe. The affected people discovered spoors heading to Botswana. They went to Changate Police Station in Botswana where they made a report. The report wasn’t recorded and the scene wasn’t attended. The villagers were told to look for their own cattle.”

Botswana Police Service North Region Divisional Commander, Senior Assistant Commissioner Dinah Marathe, apologised for the non-cooperation by the police from her country and reaffirmed their commitment to tackling cross border cattle rustling.

“If there has been a case where our police haven’t been co-operating, I do apologise and I’ll personally look into this matter. Some of these cases haven’t been communicated to me but there should be maximum co-operation from the police,’’ she said adding that villagers from Botswana were also equally affected by the activities of cattle thieves.

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