The newly-appointed Police Commissioner, Keabetswe Makgophe, has called on Batswana to refrain from giving piece work to illegal immigrants as part of an effort to discourage their influx into Botswana.
Makgophe made this call when he met with the media on Friday.
The Botswana government’s repeated attempts to curb the influx of illegal immigrants seem not to be bearing fruit, as it has emerged that the number of illegal immigrants coming into Botswana continues to soar.
As such Batswana have been called upon to collectively make life difficult for illegal immigrants in Botswana to reduce the influx of these immigrants into the country.
“Illegal immigrants have become a perennial problem and fighting this crime is a real challenge,” said Makgophe, adding that, as police, they are devoted to fight this crime.
“Stop giving them piece jobs and they will go back to their countries,” he said.
Makgophe said Batswana are making life very comfortable for them by giving them work to do, hence they stay illegally. He pointed out that they would not allow towns, or country, to be occupied by illegal immigrants.
Illegal immigrants are still a headache to the government. Large numbers of illegal immigrants who flock into Botswana from different countries continue to financially drain the government. Despite spending a lot of money in sending them back to their countries, they still immediately find their way back into Botswana.
Meanwhile statistics show that Zimbabwe offers most of the immigrants who illegally cross over into Botswana, with some from South Africa, Kenya Namibia and Zambia.
Entering Botswana through ungazetted points, overstaying in the country, shoplifting, are allegedly some of the offences commonly committed by the illegal immigrants. Makgophe said most of the illegal immigrants would not be content with doing the piece jobs but would go on to steal from locals. “My focus is to intensify war against this crime,” he said.
