A border that divides families

Source: By Boitumelo Tshehle – The Sowetan, 01/01/1970

The ongoing border problems affecting a North West community close to
Botswana have forced their chief to adopt strange ways to distinguish
between South African and Botswana citizens.


Chief Kopano Lekoko of Tshidilamomolo complains that Botswana
nationals enter South Africa illegally through the border fence and
pretend to be part of his clan.


He told Sowetan the foreigners would then go to the Barolong Boo
Mariba tribal offices and ask the traditional authority to issue them
with proof of residence letters.


The letters are used by villagers as confirmation that they are
permitted to reside in a particular area. After long observation,
Lekoko realised that some of the people who visit his offices were not
from his village or even South Africans for that matter.


Some he said even obtained identity documents fraudulently.


"Most of them are sharing the same surnames as some of my people, so
it's easy to issue the letter to them but I became concerned because
the number of people wanting letters increased," Lekoko said.


He then devised a strategy to ensure that only South Africans received
the letters. There are seven villages under his leadership, each with
a headman. In order for one to get the letter, they first have to go
to the headman who will confirm their residency. The applicants will
then take that letter to Barolong Boo Mariba tribal offices for the
official letter.


If suspicions still remain, Chief Lekoko said the tribal authority
would then ask the person to stretch out their left hand.


"This is to see if they have a mark on the wrist. If it's there then
we would know that the person is not from here but from Botswana," he
said.


The mark to which Lekoko refers is a circular imprint from
vaccinations. The South African mark is on the shoulder.


But Mogorosi Legotlwane, who is the Chief of Tshidilamolomo in
Botswana, said vaccination marks did not matter as the people in the
area were one people divided by the border.


"We are all Barolong boo Mariba. We were only divided by the fence...
we cannot ignore that we relate. We share a lot of history and we are
one family," he said.


North West Home Affairs provincial manager Irene Mantlhase said the
Batswana might have used people in South Africa to get birth
certificates.


"Most of them share the same surnames. It makes it easier for them to
ask anyone from South Africa with the same surname to act as a
relative. If the mother does not have an ID, an informant can be the
new baby's grandmother.


"If they have birth certificates then it's easy for them to apply for
IDs, the mother can later modify the birth certificate after she
applied for an ID."


Mantlhase said most Botswana residents want to live in South Africa
because of the benefits South Africans enjoy. "In Botswana there are
no social grants."


Last week Sowetan reported about Botswana people crossing the border
fence to draw water from South African villages.


A 'jump' to cheaper food and beer
Tshepo Molelekwa buys his groceries and stock for his spaza shop in
Mabule, South Africa, just 7km from his home in Botswana.


But to get to Mabule from his home village of the same name, he has to
drive 200km to the international border post in Lobatse.


So, like many people living in this area, he simply jumps over the
fence that divides the two countries.
After jumping the fence and the dry bed of the Molopo River, he walks
on a narrow bushy path leading to a supermarket in Mabule on the South
African side.


A bakkie waits for him to return with his shopping to the other side
of the fence in Mabule in Botswana.


"So many thing are cheap here in South Africa. We pay almost double
the amount when we buy the same things in Botswana," he said.


"We live like slaves here, I have to be vigilant and ready to hide or
run to the no-man's land if I see the immigration officers. I am a
prisoner in my own land," he said.


Molelekwa's neighbour Tebogo Rampagane, who helped him carry the
groceries, also crosses the border fence just to get a cold beer.


"A beer is very cheap in South Africa. I pay 18 pula (R23) in Botswana
for a quart; but here in South Africa R16. I like it this side because
most of my cousins are here, life is much more affordable in South
Africa," he said.


Tsitsana Tseladitshaba, greeting a group of people who were jumping
back to Botswana, makes the same trip from SA to worship in Botswana.
"There is no ZCC church in Mabule, South Africa; I am from church. I
jump here almost every day," she said.


She was once arrested by immigration officers while trying to attend
her uncle's funeral in Botswana.


"It's difficult to bury your loved ones. It's a hassle just to go to a
funeral. We are being abused here. There is no freedom."


Morota wa bobedi Tiro, the chief of Mabule in Botswana, said when it
was erected in 1933, the fence was simply meant to help control the
movement of animals to prevent disease.


"Where on earth have you seen a short fence called a border? We do not
even struggle to jump it because it's not a border; it's a fence that
prevents foot-and-mouth disease.


"I will never accept this to be called a border. Both these
governments want to see us as Barolong boo Mariba perish.
"They are making us suffer, I am sure they will only stop when all of
us are dead," the chief said.


We could come and go freely
Elderly South African resident Bakang Marumoloa remembers a time when
there was free movement of people from his village in Tshidilamolomo,
South Africa, and those from a village of the same name in Botswana.
There was only a fence separating the villages and this was meant to
prevent the spread of animal diseases.


But all that changed in 1966 (when Botswana became independent).
People were now required to carry passports to cross over into each
side to visit relatives.


"We had lots of cattle. We left Morokweng because the place was hot
and dry. So we walked along the Molopo river looking for water until
we settled here.


"That fence was only erected to prevent cattle from Botswana from
infecting ours with foot and mouth disease," Marumoloa
reminisced.


Last month Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba and his Botswana
counterpart, Edwin Batshu, met to discuss issues affecting communities
living along the two countries' borders.


Botswana and South Africa share a border that is more than 1000km long
and many people have relatives on both sides of the border.
As a result of the ministers' meeting, a pilot project for a border
crossing point at Tshidilamolomo is to be launched next month. This
could end years of suffering for people like Barolong boo Mariba whose
community is divided by the border between the two countries at
Mabule.


The villagers who regard themselves as people from the same umbilical
cord now have to sneak into another part of their village in South
Africa when they need to buy groceries, entertain themselves or go to
church.


Many who share the same surname have forged papers so that they can
get South African identity documents and birth certificates.
Others have two identity documents - one from Botswana and another
from South Africa.


The communities of Mabule, Tshidilamolomo, Mmakgori, Logagane and
Pitshane are the most affected. Each village has a sister village in
Botswana.


Legally, when they need to cross over to each others' country, they
are forced to go through the Pitshane border post. Many feel the
border post is too far and that going there is time consuming.


The fence that is now regarded as an international border was erected
in 1933.


The villagers say their problem started in 1966 when the fence they
thought was only erected to prevent disease was declared a border
post. A well that was once used by both communities, is now situated
next to the fence on the South African side, making it difficult for
Botswana citizens to access it