Gaborone is increasingly becoming a transit point for Methamphetamine that mainly comes from Johannesburg to other cities across the country. Gaborone, in particular, is a hub for various illicit commodities that are easily trafficked in and out of the country before being exported to other markets.
A hard-hitting report on the methamphetamine market in Eastern and Southern Africa states that the volume of meth production in Botswana is rapidly increasing and that the market is now fully fledged. The commodity report entitled “A Synthetic Age: The Evolution of Methamphetamine Markets in Eastern and Southern Africa” states that “meth appears now to have market footholds in eSwatini, Lesotho, Botswana, Mozambique, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Uganda and Kenya”.
Although meth is not particularly popular in Botswana, there are fears that the country could transition from being a meth transit hub to a retail destination mainly due to the higher retail price. The commodity report which examines price, distribution systems and market structures of Meth states Botswana is now the most expensive place in the southern Africa region to buy this potent drug as Batswana need to shell out between P457 and P534 per gram for this potent central nervous system stimulant that is mainly used as a recreational drug. By contrast, a gram of methamphetamine costs between P190 – P424/gram in South Africa; P343/gram in Lesotho; P229/gram in Eswathini.
Methamphetamine is a powerful stimulant known for its euphoric and energy-producing effects. The drug comes in several forms, including pills, an oily brown substance, and an odourless powder that can be snorted or dissolved in liquid.
The report also notes that there were “no instances uncovered where meth was being injected in place of smoking it”. Speaking to this publication, a medical health worker, Irene Tumane, says unlike heroine users who are in the habit of injecting a hit into their bodies then withdraw their blood and inject it into another person it is quite encouraging that the report notes that meth users in Botswana do not share needles.
“Sharing needles compromises Botswana’s fight against HIV/Aids. It is a regressive and a stumbling block in the fight against HIV/Aids considering that Botswana has already achieved the 90:90:90 target,” she says. The 90-90-90 target was set by UNAIDS and encourages countries to aim to achieve diagnosis of 90% of people living with HIV by 2020, initiation of treatment by 90% of diagnosed people by 2020 and viral suppression in 90% of people on treatment by 2020. Botswana has already surpassed this target at 91-92-95%.
The Methamphetamine commodity report claims that major distributors in Botswana are: “alleged to be mostly of Nigerian and Chinese origin, but include other nationalities (e.g. Congolese). Batswana meth distributors tend to be fewer in number and have less market influence, often contacting Chinese suppliers for information when queried about import or distribution characteristics”.
With Gaborone situated close to two international overland border gates with South Africa, the report states that “supplies are imported almost exclusively overland from production and storage caches operated by Nigerian syndicates based in Johannesburg”.
A former law enforcement agent who spoke to this publication on condition of anonymity said criminal syndicates around the world have shocking levels of access in governments, civic society and even politics. He also says these syndicates take advantage of the weaknesses of these institutions in order to advance their agenda.
“Botswana is at risk of contributing substantially to the surge in drug use in southern Africa. The problem is further exacerbated by the fact that we have a poor drug policy. For Botswana the place to start would be to come up with a comprehensive drug policy which consist of law enforcement and political approaches to dealing with corruption that complements drug trafficking,” he says.
The report states that most of the methamphetamine available in Botswana comes from Johannesburg supply points, and costs about twice as much the price per gram for meth in South Africa. “More drug gangs are likely to be attracted to Botswana because of the higher retail price for meth. They can make good money here since Botswana is the expensive place in the region to buy meth,” he says.
Although Botswana is landlocked, these organisational entities have the benefit of being on the pathway of a large volume of Chinese-originated cargo trade that transits through Walvis Bay port on the west coast end of the Trans-Kalahari Corridor, a trafficking corridor that passes through Gaborone on its way to a primary terminus in Johannesburg, South Africa.
According to Enact – a European Union (UN) supported project responsible for observing and developing responses to transnational organised crime in Africa – the African continent is now witnessing the sharpest increase in meth and heroine as a spectrum of criminal networks and political elites in eastern and southern Africa are substantially enmeshed in the trade. They also say the “the transit of heroin has shaped, and been shaped by, high-level governance dynamics, and the criminal governance of illicit markets mirrors the dynamics of political competition and rule.”
With billions worth of drugs being sold across southern Africa annually, it is difficult to put a figure on the annual meth trade in Botswana.
