Batswana Consort With Illegal Immigrants Despite Threats
Lesedi Mkhutshwa | Monday June 15, 2020 15:52
FRANCISTOWN: It is an undeniable fact that over the years Batswana have fallen victim to some crimes that involve illegal immigrants.
In some of the cases that ring a bell, the perpetrators in the offences and their victims are people known to each other.
A woman allegedly killed by her illegal immigrant boyfriend and in some instances, the father of her children, a local who is allegedly injured or killed by illegal immigrants for failure to pay them and illegals who rape local women are just some of the cases that buttress the gist of this piece.
Also, there have been cases where locals for whatever reasons have taken the law into their own hands against illegal immigrants notwithstanding the fact that the laws of Botswana too offer protection to the latter.
But as already stated in the blurb of this article, karma has a way of catching up.
Despite the advice rendered by authorities (police, chiefs, ministry of nationality, immigration and gender affairs amongst others), some Batswana continue to throw wind to caution.
The spirits of authorities, however, are not dampened by the fact that a few people continue to discard their advice with reckless abandon.
Just like responsible parents who will not tire from instilling discipline in their wayward child, the authorities have instead amplified their voices conscious of the fact that we are now living in the era of the coronavirus pandemic, which poses an existential threat to human life.
The headman of Mbalambi village in the northeastern part of Botswana, Bernard Mbalambi, has and is still concerned by the practice in which some Batswana from his village hire or cohabitate with their illegal immigrant partners.
The headman – whose village is just a stone’s throw away from the Zimbabwe border – said that instances whereby some women cohabitate with men from across the border are commonplace in his village.
Although Mbalambi posits that there is nothing wrong with local people having relationships with their closest northern neighbours from Zimbabwe, he is worried that most do not have the necessary documents to live in Botswana.
This, Mbalambi explained, is a problem when they commit crimes in Botswana since it becomes very difficult for the local police and their counterparts in Zimbabwe to trace them.
Tracing the alleged perpetrators of serious crimes, Mbalambi said, becomes a monumental task because some of them give their local partners false names and addresses in Zimbabwe.
The situation is so dire that some men from Zimbabwe even visit their partners in Botswana using bicycles at night and then illegally cross the border back to Zimbabwe very early in the morning, said the chief.
Mbalambi’s fears are compounded by the fact that nowadays there is danger in coronavirus (COVID-19) lurking and waiting to pounce at any moment since the virus has also been detected in Zimbabwe.
Mbalambi added: “The Zimbabwean border jumpers cut the Botswana-Zimbabwe line near our village to enter Botswana. We have realised that they do that almost every day”.
Mbalambi said they would not rest on their laurels and continue to advise people against the dangers of dating illegal immigrants, which relationships, for some may end tragically.
Kgosi Masunga Maruje III of Masunga echoes Mbalambi’s sensitivity.
Masunga said over the years, the government has been battling the scourge of Batswana in his village that are in the habit of hiring Zimbabweans illegally.
The hiring of illegal immigrants, Masunga added, contributes to the rising crime levels in Botswana since it later becomes difficult to locate the alleged perpetrators of the crimes after they cross the border to Zimbabwe.
In the same breath, Masunga is concerned about some people in his village who are in relationships with illegal immigrants.
Just like Mbalambi, Masunga advises Batswana to make sure that the people they are dating or are in a relationship with that come from Zimbabwe always follow the legal processes when they come to Botswana.
Masunga added that he has also discovered that some Batswana students have not yet reported for school after they illegally crossed the border to Zimbabwe to visit one of their parents during a tour of some schools in his village last week Wednesday.
He said: “This is very worrisome because Botswana is now in a fierce battle to eradicate coronavirus in the country. The parents and children who had crossed the border unlawfully are at a great risk of spreading the virus in Botswana if they are infected since they will also use ungazetted points of entry to return to Botswana”.
Masunga stated that the situation is very difficult to arrest now since they cannot hold kgotla meetings to caution people against the practice of jumping the border unlawfully due to the social distancing protocol.
Masunga said illegal immigrants from Zimbabwe enter Botswana to do various piece jobs hence they may end up engaging in relationships with local women.
He, however, said they would work hand in hand with other government departments to try to contain the situation.
The spokesperson of Botswana Police Service, assistant commissioner Dipheko Motube, also said they are concerned about some locals who continue to hire and or cohabite with people from other countries who have entered Botswana illegally.
The police’s job, Motube noted, becomes very difficult when some of these foreigners are implicated in carrying out various criminal activities since they will escape into their countries using ungazetted points of entry.
Motube advised Batswana to desist from employing or living with people who have entered Botswana illegally since they may use false names whilst living in Botswana, which makes it a fruitless exercise when trying to apprehend the culprits to face justice.