Selebi-Phikwe Police Station Commander, Superintendent Victor Nlebesi says the Zimbabweans were rounded up during a joint operation code-named ‘Operation Jungle’.
Nlebesi said the police, immigration and labour officers swooped on areas suspected to be harbouring illegal immigrants on Monday and Tuesday.
He said 129 people were nabbed during the operation with two Chinese nationals found working without work permits. Two locals were fined for employing illegal immigrants.
Nlebesi said the operation, which also targeted recovering stolen property, was a success. Some immigrants were lashed at the customary court while others paid varying fines before they were deported.
Nlebesi said most of the offenders crossed into Botswana illegally. Some had overstayed.
“The majority of the illegal immigrants were found in residential areas. We urge Batswana to desist from harbouring or employing illegal immigrants,”
Nlebesi said. Last week, a grouping of 26 non-governmental organisations, the Botswana Civil Society Solidarity Coalition for Zimbabwe (BOCISCOZ) called on SADC and AU member states to halt mass deportations.
During a meeting to discuss Zimbabwe’s power-sharing agreement in Gaborone recently, BOCISCOZ expressed concern at South Africa and Mozambique’s mass deportation of Zimbabwean nationals. The two countries argue that a power sharing deal has been concluded.
BOCISCOZ appealed to SADC and AU states to stop the deportation of Zimbabweans from their countries on the basis of the signed agreement as talks over cabinet posts remain deadlocked.
Millions of Zimbabweans live in neighbouring countries after fleeing the country’s worst economic meltdown since attainment of independence from Britain in 1980.
Botswana authorities have blamed rising crime statistics on the influx of Zimbabwean illegal immigrants. The cost of deporting illegal immigrants has drained government coffers as the exercise has proved almost futile.
Police admit that most of the deported immigrants immediately find their way back into the country. Efforts by the government to erect an electric fence along the Zimbabwe frontier have hit a snag as vandals continue to wreak havoc.
The fence caused an uproar as Harare authorities argued that it was meant to bar its citizens while Gaborone maintains that it is meant to keep out animals to curb the spread of the foot and mouth disease.
Mmegi Botswana
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