 The old one-lane road bridge was replaced in the mid 1990s with a new two lanes single carriageway bridge and the village saw an end to tragic vehicle accidents at the bridge river crossing.With the emergence of Francistown as a city in 1997 and the political and economic instability in Zimbabwe, Mathangwane saw an influx of migrants from other tribes of Botswana who couldn't afford accommodation rentals in the new city and illegal immigrants from Zimbabwe who fled economic collapse and political persecution causing rapid growth to the village population.These influx led to indigenous villagers being made to forfeit their farmland around the village to government for allocation to newcomers as residential land.