Opinion / Letters
Open letter to Botswana President
24 Feb 2015 at 06:40hrs | Views
As the people of Matebeleland in diaspora, we write this open letter addressed to the Hon Botswana President, Cde Ian Khama asking that his people consider and respect us (immigrants) as people not as animals.
It is quite disheartening to learn that Botswana gives our people refugee only to expose them to unbearable human rights violations.
In November 2013 a Ncube man from Plumtree had both his arms amputated as a result of vicious attack by his employer for merely asking for his pay. As we speak that man has become a permanent dependant on his family yet he had crossed into Botswana able bodied to feed his family. This week another Plumtree man died in the area hospital due to the Botswana law enforcers' attacks.
Many incidents of gross human rights violations against the people of Matebeleland has always been reported in Botswana and worse most of them are caused by the state law enforcers, the people who should be protecting both citizens and immigrants.
As a nation, Botswana should be knowing the fate of the people of Matebeleland in Zimbabwe since some it is voluntarily and lawfully sheltering thousands of the survivors of Gukurahundi who sustained serious and permanent injures and disabilities during that era.
Therefore we think Botswana should come to its senses to note that these people its law enforcers are viciously attacking day and night for their entry into that country without proper travel documents, are the children of those people it sneaked into the country in the name of protecting them.
We plead with the likes of Ditshwanelo groups as the Humanitarian groups, to intervene in these issues and protect humans. As the people who continue in the receiving side of all the SSG injustices, we now view this as an indirect war that the Botswana government is declaring on us through the command of the Zimbabwe government.
Had Botswana acknowledged that the Zimbabwe government has to account for the Gukurahundi killings all these people who sneak into that country unlawfully could have been properly documented.
We finally plead with President Hon Khama to have mercy on us as the Matebeleland people since he knows our root cause for failing to have the required documents.
Contact email : mpeopleindiaspora@yahoo.com
It is quite disheartening to learn that Botswana gives our people refugee only to expose them to unbearable human rights violations.
In November 2013 a Ncube man from Plumtree had both his arms amputated as a result of vicious attack by his employer for merely asking for his pay. As we speak that man has become a permanent dependant on his family yet he had crossed into Botswana able bodied to feed his family. This week another Plumtree man died in the area hospital due to the Botswana law enforcers' attacks.
Many incidents of gross human rights violations against the people of Matebeleland has always been reported in Botswana and worse most of them are caused by the state law enforcers, the people who should be protecting both citizens and immigrants.
As a nation, Botswana should be knowing the fate of the people of Matebeleland in Zimbabwe since some it is voluntarily and lawfully sheltering thousands of the survivors of Gukurahundi who sustained serious and permanent injures and disabilities during that era.
We plead with the likes of Ditshwanelo groups as the Humanitarian groups, to intervene in these issues and protect humans. As the people who continue in the receiving side of all the SSG injustices, we now view this as an indirect war that the Botswana government is declaring on us through the command of the Zimbabwe government.
Had Botswana acknowledged that the Zimbabwe government has to account for the Gukurahundi killings all these people who sneak into that country unlawfully could have been properly documented.
We finally plead with President Hon Khama to have mercy on us as the Matebeleland people since he knows our root cause for failing to have the required documents.
Contact email : mpeopleindiaspora@yahoo.com
Source - Matebele people in diaspora
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