News / National
Professionals flock back to Zimbabwe
23 Jul 2012 at 05:47hrs | Views
THE Department of Immigration Control at the Plumtree Border Post is processing about 80 applications of professionals who are now returning home, an official has said.
In a recent interview, the assistant regional Immigration Officer in Charge at the point of entry, Mr Nqobile Ncube, said they were processing applications from a cross section of professionals who now want to come and work at home.
Most Zimbabweans left the country at the height of the economic meltdown in the last decade to work in neighbouring countries like Botswana, South Africa and Namibia.
Since the introduction of the multi currency the economy is now showing signs of recovery and most people are now tracing their steps back home.
Mr Ncube said deportations of Zimbabweans from Botswana were now very low and attributed this to the fact that most Zimbabweans now used legal travel documents.
He noted that Botswana was scaling down permits for foreigners in an effort to empower its citizens by giving them preference when it comes to job opportunities.
He said 297 professionals came through the point of entry by June this year while 255 were recorded during the same period last year.
"The department grants the returnees residence permits because they largely have certain skills to offer back home. Government has a deliberate policy to encourage people with special skills to come back home," he said.
Mr Ncube said since 2010, figures of deportees have been going down adding that they did not anticipate any change this year.
According to statistics shown to Chronicle, a total of 1 738 people had been repatriated by the end of June this year compared to 960 during the same period last year.
A total of 53 246 people exited the country in June this year compared to 45 649 during the same month last year.
In May this year, 80 045 people entered the country compared to 51 305 during the same period last year.
"The problem of baby trafficking has also gone down as we now have joint ventures with our Botswana counterparts where we conduct outreach programmes and educate people living along the border on the dangers of aiding people who use illegal means to cross the borders.
"Our target areas are Plumtree, Mphoengs and Maitengwe where there are points of entry. The International Organisation for Migration is also doing some outreaches to educate people living along the border," he said.
Mr Ncube said the outreach programmes were yielding needed results as no cases of child trafficking had been recorded of late.
Some Zimbabweans staying in Botswana especially women were reportedly smuggling children into Zimbabwe in an effort to make them get birth certificates and other identification documents.
In a recent interview, the assistant regional Immigration Officer in Charge at the point of entry, Mr Nqobile Ncube, said they were processing applications from a cross section of professionals who now want to come and work at home.
Most Zimbabweans left the country at the height of the economic meltdown in the last decade to work in neighbouring countries like Botswana, South Africa and Namibia.
Since the introduction of the multi currency the economy is now showing signs of recovery and most people are now tracing their steps back home.
Mr Ncube said deportations of Zimbabweans from Botswana were now very low and attributed this to the fact that most Zimbabweans now used legal travel documents.
He noted that Botswana was scaling down permits for foreigners in an effort to empower its citizens by giving them preference when it comes to job opportunities.
He said 297 professionals came through the point of entry by June this year while 255 were recorded during the same period last year.
"The department grants the returnees residence permits because they largely have certain skills to offer back home. Government has a deliberate policy to encourage people with special skills to come back home," he said.
According to statistics shown to Chronicle, a total of 1 738 people had been repatriated by the end of June this year compared to 960 during the same period last year.
A total of 53 246 people exited the country in June this year compared to 45 649 during the same month last year.
In May this year, 80 045 people entered the country compared to 51 305 during the same period last year.
"The problem of baby trafficking has also gone down as we now have joint ventures with our Botswana counterparts where we conduct outreach programmes and educate people living along the border on the dangers of aiding people who use illegal means to cross the borders.
"Our target areas are Plumtree, Mphoengs and Maitengwe where there are points of entry. The International Organisation for Migration is also doing some outreaches to educate people living along the border," he said.
Mr Ncube said the outreach programmes were yielding needed results as no cases of child trafficking had been recorded of late.
Some Zimbabweans staying in Botswana especially women were reportedly smuggling children into Zimbabwe in an effort to make them get birth certificates and other identification documents.
Source - TC
