Undocumented Zimbabweans comprised 260 of the 318 foreigners deported from Botswana since the beginning of this year, costing the diamond-producing country over P1 million.
BY OUR STAFF REPORTER
According to Botswana’s Mmegi newspaper, that country’s Minister of Labour and Home Affairs, Edwin Batshu, told journalists that his ministry had used P1 355 713, 80 to deport 318 prohibited immigrants since January 2012.
“P818 440, 09 was spent in repatriating illegal immigrants,” he said.
Batshu said the deported prohibited immigrants came from Zimbabwe (260), India (16), South Africa (11), Kenya (4), Zambia (3), Tanzania (2), Nigeria (5), China (5), Mozambique (1), Uganda (2), Egypt (2), Sri Lanka (1), Bangladesh (5), Lesotho (1) and Pakistan (1).
He, however, denied allegations that at least 300 Nigerians were declared prohibited immigrants in a short period of time.
Batshu’s disclosures debunked earlier media reports that some 13 199 Zimbabweans were deported from Botswana between January and September this year compared to 18 387 illegal Zimbabweans kicked out from the same country during the same period in 2011.
Last year, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) reported that at least 2 000 Zimbabweans were deported every month from neighbouring countries with Botswana topping the list with 500 deportees.
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“This phenomenon is not new as it has been going on since 2006, with the reasons being the same – that of documentation,” IOM chief of missions Vincent Houver said at the time.
An estimated three million Zimbabweans reportedly fled the country at the height of the 2008 political persecution and hyper-inflationary pressure and sought refuge in the Diaspora.
Most of the exiles were reportedly undocumented.
