10 Jul 2022

The Zimbabwean Embassy has received credit for an initiative aimed at legalising documents for Zimbabweans   residing in Botswana.

Maun Administrative Authority acting deputy district commissioner, Mr Ramogaupi Gaborekwe hailed Zimbabwe ambassador to Botswana, Mr Batiraishe Mukonoweshuru who paid a courtesy call to appraise the district leadership about the embassy’s initiative.

The initiative entails a range of services such as application of new birth certificates and passports for children born in Botswana, renewal of identity documents and passports, obtaining of temporary travel documents and extension of days among others.

Legalisation of documents, he said was important as it helped people to be sanction as permissible. He said that Maun was a tourism hub with a lot of activities adding that the area was also known to welcome foreigners to stay, work and do business.

Mr Gaborekwe said the recent  national population census, indicated that Maun population had increased drastically and he believed that Zimbabwean nationals would make use of the mobile consular exercise for their benefit. For his part, Mr Mukonoweshuru informed the leadership that documentation was key because with legalised documents, those assisted would stay freely without fear of being caught by law enforcement officers.

He said the exercise fell within the framework of Botswana-Zimbabwe Bi-National Commission (BNC) which provided a platform for the two countries to discuss implementation of agreements as well as explore other areas of bilateral cooperation.

The consular exercise, he said was symbolic of their commitment to strengthen the already existing bilateral relations and added that the exercise was necessary since most could not travel home due to COVID- 19 pandemic.

He said some children were born in Maun and were without relevant documents such as passports, identity documents and other travel documents.

“We decided to bring the embassy closer so that our community can do the right thing and stay here freely,” stated Mr Mukonoweshuru.

Mr Mukonoweshuru said they intended to conduct the last phase of the exercise towards end of the year, covering some areas in the Southern part. He urged the Zimbabwean community to fully utilise the exercise.

Acting senior council secretary, Ms Kebalepile Horatius thanked the embassy for the exercise saying it would strengthen the existing relations between the two countries.

She said documentation was important as it proved that their certificates were authentic and could be allowed in the country. “This exercise will benefit the Zimbabwean community as they will be able to do things easily and legalise their stay in Botswana,” she stated.

Zimbabwean came in droves to access the services.

Commitment Plan former chairperson, Mr Vengesai Nduna thanked the embassy for the initiative and said that many experienced challenges of staying in Botswana without proper documents.

Commitment Plan is a Zimbabwean group representing other Zimbabweans during unfortunate incidents as death and Mr Nduna explained that they experienced problems when repatriating bodies to Zimbabwe as some did not have legal documents.

The exercise, he said came at an opportune time, just after a raid by law enforcement officers and wished the embassy would consider conducting it quarterly, to save many the costs of travelling to Gaborone and Zimbabwe to regularise their documents. Ends