“… because we are African, we should be able to walk into Botswana, walk into Zambia, walk into Kenya and we have just agreed when we were sitting there that, Ao my brother, why do we restrict ourselves? Somebody said that in the past when we were together, then the Global North came and made boundaries where the family’s kitchen became on the other side of the border, the bedroom on the other side of the border. So why should we continue to respect these? Let’s open borders among ourselves and move freely.”
The words were uttered by President Emmerson Mnangagwa when participating in a high-powered panel discussion at the recent Kusi Ideas Festival which was held in Tlokweng. The brother is question is his Botswana counterpart, President Mokgweetsi Masisi and in terms of a deal that was never was, Botswana and Zimbabwean nations would have adopted national identity cards as travel documents.
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