Minister of Labour and Home Affairs, Edwin Batshu says Economic Freedom Fighter (EFF) leader Julius Malema and some members of EFF are a security threat to Botswana. Malema has since been listed among a handful of South African citizens who will require VISA to enter Botswana.
Recently government of Botswana placed a number EFF leaders on the Botswa Visa blacklist.
“Whoever is listed, is listed because they are a security threat,” he said. Batshu was speaking to the Sunday Standard on the sidelines of the Bi-National Commission between the Republic of Botswana and the Republic of South Africa held in Gaborone on 20th November 2014. He said they will not compromise the safety of Batswana. “When we list a name of an individual or group of people to acquire VISA to enter Botswana it means that they are a security threat to the nation. The reason why we require them to apply for VISA is because we want to know when they are in the country so that we can monitor their movements during their stay in the country,” he said.
“We are not targeting any individual or a group of people. The nation should appreciate that we are doing this because we are concerned about their safety. There are things that these individuals or group of people do or bring as a threat to our security,” he said..
“We have personnel who are trained and who inform us about these individuals or group of people and the kind of security threat they are posing to the nation. We have a long list of individuals who require VISA to enter Botswana and the list will obviously continue if there are new individuals or group of people who might be a security threat to this nation,” he said.
Batshu furthered stated that listing Malema and some members of the EFF as the few South Africans who will require VISA to enter Botswana has not affected their relationship with South African Republic. “As far as I know we are in good terms with the South Africans. South Africa is a sovereign state, we are a sovereign state. At least they can appreciate that we will not allow our security to be threatened as they will also not allow theirs to be threatened. They have their own way of dealing with issues of security threats and we have our own way of dealing with issues of security threats,” he said.
Labour and Home Affairs listed Andile Mngixtama, Mbuyiseni Ndlovu, Floyd Shivambu, Dali Mpofu and Magdalene Moonsamy who are all senior officials in the EFF under visa restrictions on October 8. Mngxitama is the EFFs land commissar, Ndlovu its spokesperson, Shivambu its chief whip in Parliament, Moonsamy is the party’s head of international relations and solidarity while Mpofu is a renowned lawyer currently representing Marikana miners’ families who decamped to the EFF from the ANC last year.
