The Botswana Defense Force (BDF) has been accused of covering up following a horrific incident in which a male primary school teacher was mauled by a lion and sustained serious injuries.
The Botswana Police Service (BPS) and Botswana Teachers Union (BTU) have expressed shock that they have not yet been informed about the incident.
The male primary school teacher stationed at Makobo Primary School escaped death after he was attacked by a lion at BDF Animal Awareness Park.
The lion is said to have charged at the teacher and dragged him to the ground before he was rescued by soldiers. He was in the company of students and some members of the Parent Teacher association (PTA) who were terrified when the incident happened in front of their full view.
Mogoditshane Police Station acting station commander Zachariah Tshenyego said the matter was never been reported to his station as expected.
“It is unfortunate that this incident has not been reported to my station as expected and we just heard in the media like anybody else therefore I do not know why it was not reported to us,” he said.
Procedurally, he said, the matter was supposed to have been reported to the police.
“I do not want to speculate why BDF did not report to the police; maybe they have a better explanation and are better placed to speak for themselves,” he said.
Contacted for comment Botswana Teachers Union BTU Secretary General Agang Gabana said “it is unfortunate that one of our members and also a former BTU organiser at a regional level between 2013 and 2016 was attacked and injured by a lion at Sir Seretse Khama barracks.”
He added that “is unfortunate that as stakeholders we had not been officially informed about this unfortunate incident in which one of our members was injured by the lion. We are in the dark as to why the BDF did not inform the union.”
He explained that he has already visited the injured teacher at Bokamoso hospital where he is hospitalized.
Responding to this publication, the director of protocol and public affairs at BDF Colonel Kacho Dikole said currently the teacher was in a stable condition and receiving medical care.
“At this point, we are unable to divulge the details of the affected person,” he said.
But Dikole said that the relevant stakeholders had been informed and the lion involved was killed.
He indicated “that a board of inquiry has been convened within the confines of the law, specifically board of inquiry rule 3, to ascertain what could have caused the unfortunate incident and to avert the re-occurrence of the similar occasions amongst others.”
