28 Oct 2020

Residents of Maitengwe have been advised to desist from employing illegal immigrants.

Nkange MP, Dr Never Tshabang cautioned the residents in a kgotla meeting on Monday in response to concerns raised by Kgosi Shadrack Mphala-Mengwe of Maitengwe, that they were troubled by illegal immigrants from neighbouring Zimbabwe.

Kgosi Mphala-Mengwe said despite COVID-19 movement restrictions, they continued to witness large numbers of illegal immigrants in the village.

He said some of them crossed into the country in search of employment while others came in to commit crime.  

He said recently, there had been growing reports of vehicle theft and some of the vehicles had been found stuck in the Maitengwe River.

This, he said, was a clear indication that some of those illegal immigrants might be involved in such criminal acts.

In his response, Dr Tshabang advised residents against employing illegal immigrants as cheap labour, adding that some Batswana had lost lives at the hands of such people who had been employed without any legal documentation.  

He said unless the locals stopped employing such people, the problems would continue.

He noted that illegal immigrants came to Botswana because they knew jobs were available, as they were hired as herd boys or farm labourers.  

He noted some Batswana had a tendency of claiming that such people were their relatives and only reported to the police when such working relationships turned sour.  

MP Tshabang said people should stop blaming the law for the problems they had created for themselves.

“It is important to deal with the problem you have created for yourself rather than blaming the police for not doing work when crime has been committed by an unknown person you employed,” he said.

Furthermore, the MP urged residents to revive crime prevention committees and ensure that they reported all criminal activities to the police and not put a blind eye to such. Ends