World Cup makes Batswana more peripatetic

EPHRAIM KEORENG
Staff Writer | Wednesday June 23, 2010 00:00

A spokesperson of the Ministry of Labour and Home Affairs, Osesenaqa Lekgoko, says border-posts like Pioneer, Martins Drift and Tlokweng see huge numbers of people moving to and from South Africa in this manner. Towards the start of the international soccer spectacular, Batswana had bought the most World Cup tickets in Africa, after host country South Africa.

Home Affairs says 9,427 Batswana travelled to South Africa between June 11 and June 14. In the same period, 8,597 residents (non-citizens staying in Botswana) used the same route. These numbers coincide with June 11, the fixture for the opening game between South Africa and Mexico that ended in a 1-all draw.

Lekgoko says the ministry has also seen an upsurge in e-passport applications, especially after the announcement that South Africa would not accept Emergency Travel Documents (ETDs) from Batswana travelling to that country.

'From June 7-14, we received a total of 1,429 applications for passports,' she says. This is against a total of 8,714 applications received since the introduction of the e-passport on March 8, 2010.'

Meanwhile, Lekgoko says the Border Passport Control System project is on schedule and on budget. 'We expect to have rolled it out to the rest of the country by September this year,' she said.

'The system has already been installed at headquarters in Gaborone, Loapi Service Centre in Gaborone, Tlokweng Border Post, SSK (Sir Seretse Khama) Airport, Hukuntsi, Tsabong and Gantsi.' She denies allegations that South Africa does not accept old Botswana passports that are still valid. ' 'We are only aware of four Batswana who were returned because for some reason or other, the South African authorities were suspicious of their passports,' says Lekgoko. 'The passports could either have been damaged, owing some overstayed days in South Africa, or having validity periods of less than three months.'