05 Apr 2016

Have you ever thought of taking a trip to No Man’s Land? It sounds like the most terrifying of places associated with bloodshed and uninhabitable. Well, as the name itself suggests, it looks like a fictional space. Even in the spiritual realm the likes of King David had once upon a time traversed this piece of land. The question remains is there a place called no man’s land?

The term no man’s land has various definitions depending on the geographical location of the speaker. The English dictionary defines no man’s land as an area or strip of land that no one owns or controls, such as a strip of land between two countries’ borders, especially in a war. Renowned scholars like Alasdair Pinkerton, an expert in human geography at the Royal Holloway University of London, says the Oxford English dictionary contains a reference to the term dating back to 1320, when the term was used to describe a disputed territory or over which there was legal disagreement.

He said the same term was later used as the name for the piece of land at Verdun in France, where the Red Zone (Zone Rouge) is an area with unexploded ordinance, poisoned beyond habitation by arsenic, chlorine and phosgene. Pinkerton said the area became into being due to the effects from World War I and it was sealed off completely and still deemed too dangerous for civilians to return as the area is still considered to be poisoned. 

Within our shores one man has dispelled the no man’s land misconception, stating that there is nothing like no man’s land along the boundary line. In an interview, the principal administration officer responsible for border affairs in the Ministry of Defence, Justice and Security, Mr Charles Mosele explained that the international boundary was found in two types of environmental conditions: The land based boundary and the river based boundary.

He said the land boundary was defined by fences running between beacons, but said due to contact between cloven hoofed animals such as buffaloes and cattle, it might result in the spread of diseases such as Foot and Mouth Disease, and that there were instances where veterinary officials have constructed disease control fences that run along international boundary fences.

Mr Mosele said this has resulted in two fences running parallel with an interval distance of about two metres or more, and that the land between these fences has come to be known as ‘no man’s land,’ implying that each of the adjacent fences was owned by a sovereign state and the land between the fences was unclaimed or was not owned by either state.

He said this was the land which was assumed as no man’s land, and that they have a feeling that when they stand on that piece of land, no state could lay claim to any charges against them.

Mr Mosele said the country found on the side of the veterinary fence running parallel to the international boundary owns the land between the two fences, stating that in the context of Botswana-South Africa, the land which is called no man’s land, was part of South African territory.

He said in the Botswana– Zimbabwe border, the land called no man’s land was part of Botswana, and that there were areas along the Botswana–Zimbabwe border where the Shashe River was the boundary. He noted that along it were two veterinary fences on the Botswana side.

“In the context between Botswana–Namibia, the land deemed to be no man’s land is part of the Namibian territory, where Botswana–Zambia the issue does not arise since the shared border is all defined by a river,’’ he said.

Mr Mosele said his office has carried out borderline community consultations in the past two year to build a mutually beneficial relationship with borderline communities. 

He added that the issue of no man’s land came out during the consultations.

He said the communities were informed that a key feature on international boundaries was a beacon, which is a boundary marker constructed with concrete and assigned  a unique name or code and surveyed to keep a record of its specific position on the geographic globe.

Mr Mosele said the beacon was marked on two opposite sides with letters that denote countries joined at that beacon. Ends