There is a significant population of Zimbabweans in Botswana.

Numbers and distribution

Economic and political problems in

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and ...

have led to significant increases in migration to

Botswana Botswana (, ), officially the Republic of Botswana ( tn, Lefatshe la Botswana, label= Setswana, ), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory being the Kalaha ...

since the early 2000s. By 2003, it was estimated that there were 40,000 Zimbabwean migrants in the country, of whom only one-third were resident legally. Many reside in the Ledumadumane suburb of the capital

Gaborone Gaborone ( , , ) is the capital and largest city of Botswana with a population of 246,325 based on the 2022 census, about 10% of the total population of Botswana. Its agglomeration is home to 421,907 inhabitants at the 2011 census. Gaboron ...

. There is also a camp for Zimbabwean refugees at Dukwe.

Migration

The number of Zimbabwean migrants in Botswana was estimated at between forty and one hundred thousand . In 2012, Botswana deported 17,402 undocumented Zimbabweans, while in 2013 it had already deported 22,675 in the first ten months of the year. The growth of migration, legal and illegal, has produced various tensions between the governments of Botswana and Zimbabwe, with Paul Mangwana even threatening to expel all Botswana nationals from Zimbabwe in response to the alleged poor treatment which Zimbabweans face in Botswana. Botswana claims to have deported 26,717 Zimbabweans residing in the country illegally in 2002. Beginning the following year, they also began to build an

electrified Electrification is the process of powering by electricity and, in many contexts, the introduction of such power by changing over from an earlier power source. The broad meaning of the term, such as in the history of technology, economic history ...

fence A fence is a structure that encloses an area, typically outdoors, and is usually constructed from posts that are connected by boards, wire, rails or netting. A fence differs from a wall in not having a solid foundation along its whole length. ...

along their boundary with Zimbabwe. Botswana's agricultural officials assert that the main purpose of the fence is to stop animal rather than human migration, with the aim of preventing the transmission of foot-and-mouth disease, but Zimbabwe's high commissioner in

rejects this explanation, calling it an attempt to make Zimbabwe into a "Gaza Strip". One survey found a support rate of 63% for the fence. Human rights abuses faced by Zimbabweans in Botswana have also become the subject of a play entitled "Voice of the People", with actors from both countries.

Employment

Zimbabweans are the most numerous nationality among registered foreign workers in Botswana. More than half of Zimbabwean migrant workers are employed in

mining Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic ...

and agricultural occupations, while others work in construction, real estate, retail, education, hospitality, health and manufacturing. As a result, a disproportionate number of Zimbabweans form part of Botswana's skilled workers, making them a great asset to the economy. Others, especially the more irregular migrants, are engaged as maids, herders or in cross-border trading, with female migrants facing the risk of being exploited as maids or sex workers.

References

Notes

Sources

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External links

Some Zimbabweans in Botswana felt too discouraged to vote
a 2008 news article from ''The Standard'' {{Use dmy dates, date=September 2018 Ethnic groups in Botswana

Botswana–Zimbabwe relations