24 Nov 2016

Dukwi Refugee Camp chief administration officer, Mr Rebaone Mmese has appealed to Tutume Sub-district councillors to caution their electorates that employing refugees from the refugee camp is not allowed anymore.

Addressing full council session in Tutume on Tuesday, Mr Mmese said government’s previous decision to allow Batswana to employ refugees had been reversed as result of the laws governing refugees’ stay in refugee camps.

As per the UN regulations governing refugees’ stay in refugee camps, he said they were supposed to be protected and guarded within their abode at all times. As such, he said they should remain in the camp and be issued with permits in cases they request to go outside the camp.

The current arrangement, he said was that permits would come with conditions that they could only be outside the camp for a maximum of five days. In cases they exceeded that period, he noted they would be considered to be illegal immigrants.

“In cases whereby a refugee is married to or is in a relationship with a Motswana, the law says only the refugee partner can stay in the camp and not their spouses or partners, including their children who are not refugees,” he said.

The refugee camp chief said however, in cases of the maintenance of such children, concerned partners should make arrangements of how to care for them.

However, he said refugees were allowed to operate businesses within the camp, although there were some exceptional cases where some had been allowed to operate outside the camp. “It is against this background that I am appealing to the council leadership to sensitise Batswana so they understand the basis behind the change,” he said.

Mr Mmese also said entry at the camp would be controlled. “The intention is to monitor and control movement in and out of the camp by security personnel,” he said.

He assured the law makers that the camp’s health facility and the resident doctor would continue to serve the community. BOPA