13th January 2021
Sello Motseta
Migrants were left stranded during the first lockdown in March 2020 owing to the outbreak of COVID-19 because they could not get assistance from Botswana Government despite the creation of a database of individuals who needed food assistance after being compelled by authorities to stay indoors.
Migrants were asked to submit their names but when the food came assistance was restricted to local Batswana and they excluded migrants mostly from Zimbabwe who were undocumented and had no means of irking out a meaningful existence because economic activity was restrained.
“About 600 migrants in the Gaborone area got assistance with food hampers from retail outlets through the work of Ditshwanelo-The Botswana Centre for Human Rights,” said Fisher Murambasvina, Migrant Workers Activist who is working with Ditshwanelo – The Botswana Centre for Human Rights.
He said, “In March 2020 we also assisted old age pensioners and disabled migrants from Zimbabwe with food hampers. Many of them do not have days even though they crossed border with passport because 90 days period is over. We asked them to produce ID’s and Passports to show they were Zimbabwean.”
There is an issue of political and economic hardship which has forced thousands of Zimbabweans to flee to South Africa and Botswana. This has precipitated a humanitarian crises caused by hordes of Zimbabweans crossing into neighbouring countries looking for greener pastures.
Murambasvina conceded that constitutionally the Botswana Government cannot accommodate illegal immigrants. They have been generally lenient and understand the situation in Zimbabwe. It restrains authorities from taking a hard line on undocumented migrants in Botswana
“Batswana are peace loving people and we do not experience xenophobia in Botswana. It is not like migrants are subjected to acts of violences,” said Murambasvina.
He said, “The solution for all these problems is for SADC region to stand for peoples vote. Zimbabwe does not have a diaspora vote.”
Murambasvina, a political refugee fled to Botswana in 2008 with the former Movement for Democratic Change(MDC) leader Morgan Richard Tsvangirai after an attempt on Tsvangirai’s life.
He got involved in human rights activities assisting a number of undocumented migrants to access ARV’s with money from a Trust Fund between 2008 and 2013. “We got information from children who ran away from Zimbabwe to escape abuse inflected by state apparatus,” said Murambasvin.
He said, “In 2008 schools were closed in Zimbabwe and lots of children followed their parents into exile. These children crossed border illegally and were not able to access good shelters. A number of them got accommodation at Methodist Church in South Africa and a number at Tlokweng Refugee Camp.”
This plight of migrants also led Ditshwanelo – The Botswana Centre for Human Rights to identify a need for undocumented migrants to get legal assistance because of their precarious situation.
Florah Kedibonye, Programme Officer for Ditshwanelo – The Botswana Centre for Human Rights said “We have access to justice programme at Disthwanelo. We give legal advice and provide mediation services. Our focus is on those earning minimum wage and below.”
She said, “We also have a project for domestic workers who do not earn a lot of money. There is often a tendency for them to be fired without notice and asked to perform additional chores not specified in employment contract. They also never get severance benefits.”
In this project for domestic workers there were a lot of foreign nationals from neighbouring Zimbabwe. During the lockdown in April 2020 there were a lot of complaints from domestic workers who were not paid. They had nothing to eat and so Ditshwanelo solicited support from local retailers.
A typical food hamper included a combo comprising 10 kg rice, 5 kg flour, 2 liter cooking oil, Soup, Sugar, Tea, Macaroni and Maize Meal. The focus was on undocumented migrants who survived on piece jobs and who could not work during lockdown and therefore had no means of income.
“We assisted about 150 families in April and July 2020. In November and December we helped about 30 families. We realized that there are families with small children and some have disabilities,” said Kedibonye.
One family had two disabled children with one 14 years and the other 5 years who could not walk. There were also donations of blankets and clothes for winter period.
Ditshwanelo – Botswana centre for Human rights also helped Batswana families, with specific emphasis on informal sector groups like taxi drivers association, cleaners and indigent students.
Another vulnerable group are mineworkers in Botswana who are slowly learning to bargain collectively around key key issues like compensation for injuries suffered during the course of gainful employment. It is estimated that about 30,000 mineworkers were employed in South Africa from the 1970’s.
The different policies and legislation guiding provision of health and compensation services in Botswana and regionally for miners, ex-miners, their families and communities is not harmonized making access to adequate compensation for documented and undocumented mineworkers very difficult.
“The system of law in Botswana and South Africa is different. Miners in South Africa were employed under a different legal system from the one at home. We use customary law for rural constituencies and this is not the law used by mines in South Africa. In Botswana most miners would go to the kgotla because they reside in the rural areas but the Pension Act in South Africa prescribes under what circumstances you can access your social security benefits,” Kitso Phiri, Executive Secretary of the Botswana mineworkers Union.
He said, “Some widows do not know the mines where their husbands worked and are not aware of entitlements to social security benefits. Others do not have documentary proof to support their claims. It is a difficult and intricate process and the Botswana Government is not assisting them to expedite process to claim benefits.”
Botswana Labour Migrants Association(BOLAMA) maintains there is also poor or inadequate community mobilization and engagement. It however hopes to build on success of test case in South Africa to lobby for compensation of their members who worked as documented and undocumented migrants in South Africa, for injuries suffered during course of their work.
