05 Aug 2025

 Statistics from Ministry of Labour and Home Affairs indicate that from 1995 to date, which accounts for 30 years, a total of 6,288 people were granted Botswana citizenship.

Answering a question in Parliament on Friday, the Minister of Labour and Home Affairs Major General Pius Mokgware indicated that the Citizenship Act provided that foreign nationals married in Botswana might apply for Botswana citizenship having stayed in Botswana for five years. He said Section 14 of the Act further provided that the minister might waive the above residence requirement and accept a lesser period in respect of foreign spouses.

However, he pointed that he did not have statistics readily available for foreign nationals  married in Botswana for the past 30 years, 20 years, 10 years and under 10 years who had not yet been granted Botswana citizenship despite persistent efforts to obtain one. Maj. Gen. Mokgware therefore requested to be afforded an opportunity to gather the necessary statistics and respond at a later date.

He further clarified that persons who applied for Botswana citizenship, including spouses of citizens were subjected to an interview by the Citizenship Committee in accordance with the provisions of Section 3 (4) of the Citizenship Act. The minister added that there was also a Point Based System that applicants were subjected to and the pass mark was 70 per cent, noting that although some applicants at times failed to meet the set pass mark, he often waived the score so that they could become citizens.

Furthermore, he said in terms of Section 14 (2) (c) of the Citizenship Act, the spouse of a citizen must amongst others, be of good character. However records indicated that some spouses did have criminal records and some were sometimes declared prohibited immigrants having been sentenced to imprisonment without an option of a fine.

In such circumstances, Maj. Gen. Mokgware said his ministry often advised those who had not committed heinous crimes to apply for pardon. He further said regarding the issue of quota, Presidential Directive CAB19 (b)/2002 provided that applicants to be granted citizenship in any one year should not exceed 200.

The minister highlighted that in terms of the Directive, the quota was to be reviewed every third year and it further provided that “applications by spouses of citizens be dealt with outside the quota,” which therefore meant the quota system did not affect applications for spouses of citizens in any way. In addition, he noted that Section 13 (1) (c) of the Citizenship Act provided that the qualification for neutralisation of any person shall be that he/she had been resident of Botswana for periods amounting in the aggregate of less than 10 years.

However, he said Section 14 (1) (a) of the Citizenship Act provided that spouses of citizens shall be eligible to acquire Botswana citizenship if they had been residents in Botswana for period of or for periods amounting in the aggregation of not less than five years. The minister also added that Section 14 (3) further provided that the minister might in the special circumstances of any particular case, waive or accept a shorter period of the residence requirement mentioned above.

Furthermore, he pointed out that Section 14 (3A) provided that the minister might, where special circumstances existed, award citizenship to the foreign spouse of a citizen who did not satisfy the language requirement (proficiency in any other language spoken in the locality where the spouse was ordinarily resident) and this provisions were primarily geared at making it easier for foreign nationals married in Botswana to acquire Botswana citizenship.

The minister was responding to a question from the Bobirwa MP, Mr Taolo Lucas who had asked the minister to state the total number of foreign nationals who have been married in Botswana for the past 30, 20, 10 and under 10 years and yet, have not been granted Botswana citizenship despite persistent efforts to obtain one. 

He also wanted to know how the interviews and quota for citizenship affected the application for citizenship of foreign nationals married in Botswana and if there were any plans to assist foreign nationals married in Botswana for a continuous period of five years or more to obtain Botswana citizenship. ENDS