Botswana firms replacing Zimbabweans

SCORES of Zimbabweans, who flocked to Botswana in search of the so-called greener pastures at the height of the economic crisis at home, are now stranded after they lost their jobs in the neighboring country.

In separate interviews at Plumtree Border Post, deportees revealed that they had been replaced by Botswana workers.

"Sometimes Botswana officials offer you a job but on condition that you equip an indigenous person who will act as your subordinate but replaces you later once your permit expires.

"I had been working in Botswana as an insurance analyst for the past five years. During those five years I was assigned an understudy who is a Botswana national and he has since replaced me," said Mr Isaac Ndebele.

He said as a result he had been denied a new permit after the previous one expired.

"The Botswana officials just offer us jobs just to exploit us and after they are done they dump us which is really inhuman and cruel. I was issued a five-year permit and after it expired they refused to renew it.

"Botswana only offers jobs to Zimbabweans once they realise they have a serious skills shortage," said Mr Ndebele.

Another deportee, Mr Vitalis Shoniwa said acquiring a Botswana permit was now difficult for Zimbabweans as the neighbouring country appears to be reluctant to continue employing Zimbabweans preferring locals.

"Botswana officials have always been carrying out this skills transfer policy where skills are transferred from a trained Zimbabwean to a Botswana national. Of late they have intensified this policy as more and more Zimbabweans are gradually losing their jobs.

"I have been working in Botswana for the past eight years and after being replaced, they refused to renew my permit. The threshold for applying for a permit is now too high. The Botswana officials have intensified their skills transfer policy under the Immigration Act they recently introduced," said Mr Shoniwa.

He said Zimbabweans holding jobs in the formal sector which is where they mostly secured employment were being replaced by locals.

"More and more Botswana nationals are acquiring skills through their interaction with Zimbabweans. This whole process is an advantage to the locals but this has posed a huge challenge for us as we are losing our jobs.

"To make matters worse Botswana officials have intensified the deportation of illegal Zimbabwean immigrants. People are hunted down and rounded up on a daily basis," said Mr Shoniwa.

The assistant regional immigration officer in charge of Western Region, Mr Nqobile Ncube referred Chronicle to the Botswana immigration office for details but admitted to have received reports from travellers that the neighbouring country was reluctant to issue work permits to Zimbabweans.

The Botswana immigration official declined to comment.

The neighbouring country has this year intensified its illegal immigration inspections which has increased the number of deportees recorded.

Statistics show that from January to July this year Botswana deported about 15 400 Zimbabweans through Maitengwe, Mphoengs and Plumtree border posts compared to 9 175 during the same period last year. The three border posts are on the verge of surpassing last year's figure of 17 402.

The deportations which were on the decrease over the past four years are now on the upsurge. In 2009, 48 898 Botswana deportees were recorded, in 2010 the Zimbabwean immigration office handled 32 016 and 22 288 were handled in 2011.

Figures also show that Botswana has deported more than 135 000 Zimbabweans through the three entry points from January 2009 to July 2013.