19 May 2016

Along the desolate Molopo River lies a scantily populated village of about 1 000 people, Tshidilamolomo.In fact, there are two Tshidilamolomo villages situated on either side of the Botswana border with South Africa.

However, there is no designated border crossing point, which rendered movement across the border by the residents living in the two villages difficult.Botswana and South Africa share a border line that is more than 1 000km long and many people have relatives on both sides of the border.The fence that is now regarded as an international border was erected in 1933.

However, the villagers say their problem started in 1966 when the fence they thought was only erected to prevent animal diseases was declared a border fence.

Since there was no designated border crossing point, Barolong boo-Mariba, whose community is divided by the border between the two countries, regard themselves as one people, yet they had to sneak into another part of the village in South Africa when they need to buy groceries, attend social events such as funerals and even to attend church services. 

An alternative would be to secure passports and travel to Phitshane border post, which many feel is too far and therefore costly and time consuming.
A well which was a source of water for both communities, situated next to the fence on the South African side, also became difficult for Botswana citizens to access when the fence was declared a border line.

The communities of Mabule, Tshidilamolomo, Mmakgori, Logagane and Phitshane Molopo are also affected by the state of affairs. Each of them has a sister village in South Africa, which divisions were caused by the erection of the border line.
Many who share surnames have forged papers so that they can get South African identity documents and birth certificates while others are said to possess two identity documents, one from Botswana and one from South Africa.

In an interview,  34-year-old, Ms Mmabatho Diphoko said she was born and bred in Tshidilamolomo in Botswana, but her parents were working on the other side of the border.

She says every time she had to collect money, food and other necessities from her parents she was forced to ‘jump the fence’ as travelling to Phitshane, 60km away, to the border point meant that she had to have some money only to come back to a place a stone throw away from hers.

Ms Diphoko reminisced how she used to be arraigned by the police officers and when she failed to pay P300 fine, she would face 20 days imprisonment.

Another resident from the South African side, Mr Dipolelo Kgomotso, 74, says after the erection of the border fence life became difficult for him as he could not visit his relatives in Botswana as he had no passport.
Mr Kgomotso also pointed that their animals used to roam the area freely, but the erection of the fence affected them as they left their livestock on the other side and for them to claim them, they had to go through complex immigration procedures.

As for Ms Mmamothibi Daly, she says from the beginning life was easy as they could attend all the social gathering without encountering any problems.

She says they used to plough their fields depending on amount of rainfall in either South Africa or Botswana. When it rained a lot on the South African side, they would then plough the fields in that country, but when it rained a lot on the Botswana side, they would still follow the rain pattern for better harvest.
She said orphans were never left without all the necessary assistance as all families stood by one another and looked after one another’s children without any food baskets from the government.

Ms Daly says they were able to feed large families from the fields, but the erection of the fence changed their lives for the worst as they lost access to the fields on the other side, which killed the spirit of self-reliance.
In an interview, headman of record for Tshidilamolomo in Botswana, Kgosi Samuel Legotlwane said Tshidilamolomo decried that things took a twist in 1966 when the fence was erected and later declared a border that divides Botswana and South Africa.He said to their knowledge the fence was mainly to control the spread of foot and mouth disease.
Kgosi Legotlwane said the demarcation affected them, badly as they were separated from their relatives.

He said they left their livestock and other valuable properties in South Africa and they usually fail to claim them because of some complexity of taxes laws and regulations.

He said there were no schools in Botswana so they attended school in South Africa while their parents worked in the whites’ farms.

Kgosi Legotlwane says all the villages along the border requested their own border crossing point and after thorough consultations with relevant authorities, a consensus was reached that a community cross border point should be set at Tshidilamolomo.He lauded both governments for heeding their plea by setting up a pilot border point in December 2015.

Kgosi Legotlwane implored residents to utilise the pilot crossing border post accordingly so that they can get a permanent structure that will allow an even smoother movement. For his part, Kgosi Kopano Lekoko of Tshidilamolomo in South Africa shared the sentiments with Kgosi Legotlwane. Kgosi Lekoko said life was a pain in the neck as they were disconnected from their relatives by a mere fence.
“We are Barolong boo-Mariba, we are one big family,” he said.

Prior to the erection of the fence, he says, the villagers were not required to carry passports to cross over into each side to visit relatives.

He says they lost their traditional connectivity as it was difficult to meet and perform their rites properly.
He says just after the enactment of laws that disallowed them to cross at any point,  millions of people were arraigned for crossing at ungazzeted points and this did not sit well with the village leaders.

Kgosi Lekoko recalls how the move forced the village elders from both sides to consult their governments, leading to the formation of a consultation team, which was spearheaded by his late father Kgosi Mothibi Lekoko to decide on what could be done to arrest the problem.

He notes that after his inauguration following the departure of his father, he snatched on the baton to fulfill the villagers dream. He extends his gratitude to President  Lt Gen. Dr Seretse Khama Ian Khama and other South African leaders for making their dream come true.
It was through the intensive bilateral talks between Botswana and South Africa that the border post was eventually opened last year in November by Minister of Labour and Home Affairs, Mr Edwin Batshu and his South African counterpart, Mr Malusi Gigaba. 

The villager’s consistent use of the pilot community cross border point will determine the erection of a permanent border post, which will not only ease movement, but be a source of employment to citizens of both countries. ENDS