28 Jul 2014

The Ministry of Labour and Home Affairs spent P2 million to repatriate more than 120 000 illegal migrants, especially from neighbouring countries, between 2011 and to date.

Mr Ikotlhaeng Bagopi, the ministry’s permanent secretary, told a recent press conference that the cost excluded the wear and tear of the vehicles that were used to transport the illegal immigrants.

Mr Bagopi said the ministry would hold a National Irregular Migration Pitso in Gaborone today (July 29) to find better ways of dealing with the challenge of illegal immigrants.

He explained that irregular migration referred to both the illegal migration and trafficking of persons, especially vulnerable groups. He said the purpose of the pitso, expected to attract 100 participants, was to raise awareness on the effects of irregular migration, review existing strategies aimed at combating irregular migration, create dialogue and come up with recommendations that would inform a strategy for the management of irregular migration.

He also said the pitso should come up with recommendations to strengthen the ministry’s strategies to mitigate irregular migration in Botswana.

“As you might be aware, there is an on-going debate in the public domain driven mainly by opinion leaders and the ordinary folks,” he said. “This is one of our concerns that has triggered the holding of this pitso which we hope will allow our stakeholders to contribute towards national response.”

Dimensions of the immigration challenge include the high number of undocumented migrants in Botswana, re-entries, hiring of irregular migrants, harbouring of irregular migrants, exploitation of irregular migrants, safety and security issues and high costs to government. ENDS