Sello Motseta
12th November 2020
Not far from a semi urban slum called extension 27 bordering Tsholofelo Park and straddling an old semi derelict shopping mall, a small hoard of respectably dressed women are seen running periodically like bees after cars entering the parking lot offering various services to generate income.
Most of these ladies are undocumented migrants from neighbouring Zimbabwe hustling for piece jobs involving washing clothes, domestic work and other daily chores in an effort to irk out a meaningful existence. The effect is to build resentment from locals who feel illegals force prices down.
The old mall whose skyline is dominated by the Botswana Building Society(BBS) and Botswana Savings Bank(BSB) is home to struggling migrants who entered Botswana mostly as economic refugees fleeing Zimbabwe’s deteriorating economic situation in the hope of a better life in Botswana.
It is however not a bed of roses for many of these hard working migrants despite the calm disposition of Batswana in general who as a matter of practice shun violent confrontations often embraced by black South African’s who terrorize black foreigners accusing them of taking jobs away from locals.
“The difficulty is that people take advantage of the situation in our country. If I say I would like to charge a certain amount for a piece job they will ask me to drop it and tell me it is too high. They say you have poverty in your country,” reflected Bazili Mlongo, who attributed the difficulties in the current financial year to covid-19 and the negative impact it has had on business activity generally.
She said, “If I charge P500 to do cleaning services and washing. They will say it is too much. They will offer P200 and you are told to take it or leave it. You will do job because you have no money.”
Mlongo maintained that Batswana generally tend to honour payment commitments but she complained that the payments for informal labour were pitifully low.
“I have not done any piece jobs and had an employer who has not paid me. I do washing, cleaning and ironing household items. We are typically able to negotiate for payments of P200 a day,” said Mlongo.
Some migrants are lucky and are able to secure permanent free lance opportunities and can use their other free lance activities to supplement their monthly income. They are at least assured of a basic monthly income even if it is very modest. They will at least be able to toil gamely under the relenting African sun assured that every month a basic salary is a given.
“Sometimes there are permanent piece jobs like the one I have where I have work every Monday. But sometimes we are not paid and when you leave you have no legal recourse,” said a 47 year old mother of 2 whose father passed away recently and finds herself as the sole bread winner for indigent family members at home in Zimbabwe whose economic woes show no signs of receding.
The Botswana Building Society(BBS) mall area as it is affectionately called is a beehive of activity with cabbages sold from the back of trucks and a flourishing flee market for agricultural products like tomatoes, spinach, beetroot and onions operating on a daily basis.
It is an opportunists breeding ground with all sorts of purchaseables like artificial hair and sausage rolls for laborers and shoppers who litter pavements bordering retail giants like Spar and payless.
Plants and airtime are also sold on streets with the imposing structure of the local police station looming ominously in the background. It is here that many undocumented migrants pursue job opportunities by trying to secure jobs that will typically be shunned by locals.
It is however not all doom and gloom and some of these stories have had fairy tale endings.
“I immigrated from Masvingo in about May 2009. I left my family behind and crossed by myself to look for piece jobs. I had not been working and heard opportunities in Botswana were better,” said a 33 year old Zimbabwean who crossed into Botswana and found love.
After marrying a local she was able to convert her status and is now a Motswana citizen, who runs a small stall at the BBS Mall selling honey and chicken parts.
“I travelled to Gaborone by bus with about P300 in my pocket. I was with a group of friends who knew Botswana. I travelled with them to their house. We rented an apartment and I was able to get a job as a domestic worker and my employer was able to get me appropriate papers,” said the woman who did not want her name shared as part of the story.
She said, “I was earning P500 a month and I stayed at house of employer free of charge. They also paid for my electricity and food.”
Despite a modest existence she appears content with her life and is the doting mother of an 11 year old girl who she supports with modest returns of about P1,500.00 a month. With an English accent that is noticeably not localized she has only nice things to say about her stay in Botswana.
“If you compare Batswana with South Africans you can see Batswana are much better. South Africans do not care about other people’s problems. It is not a place I would like to live in. South Africa is a rough place if you do not know their language,” she said.
Other migrants like 43 year old Juilet Tsholofelo, are not as glowing about her stay in Botswana saying irking out a living as an informal trader is very difficult especially with the deteriorating economic situation caused by covid-19 and the associated melt down in business activity.
“I came to Botswana for the first time in June 2002. I took a long distance bus to Gaborone from Kadoma,” revealed Tsholofelo.
She said, “I came as an economic refugee. We would rent an apartment as a group of Zimbabweans near BBS. It was P30 per person per week. We were 20 in a room and there was no privacy.”
There was 1 toilet and no bathroom in a crowded room that would have made social distancing under current covid regulations impossible. Those in the room learnt to abandon desire to enjoy their privacy.
“We bathed in basin individually with no privacy. It was a bedroom, toilet, sitting room. It was only ladies during this period and between 2002 and 2005 we were not being harassed by Police,” she said.
She said, “They started harassing us in 2005 when they employed constables. They chase us away from where we usually look for customers. Even now they give us a hard time. But what I like about Botswana is that their people are not violet.’’
A seasoned hustler she maintained that if Batswana men come and ask you to sleep with them and you decline they will not force you. But she complains about the increased harassment of immigrants by police who do not consistently apply the laws dealing with undocumented migrants.
“These days Police are worse and occasionally crack down on undocumented migrants. You are charged P200 for loitering if you do not have a permit. Sometimes they will arrest you and deport you. It depends on the officer arresting you. Sometimes they want a bribe of P200,” she confessed.
With onset of covid-19 and retrenchments reaching record levels there is increased anxiety amongst undocumented migrants who benefitted little from Government wage subsidies during lockdown period. Tsholofelo’s personal experience mirrors that of many undocumented migrants.
Tsholofelo’s husband works as a landscape worker and earns a meager P200 a month. She therefore operates as a primary breadwinner for the family and is struggling to make ends meet.
“These days it is rough. In the beginning 6 months of this year with covid-19 slowing down businesses I have earned nothing. There is no assistance from the Botswana Government,” observed Tsholofelo.
She said, “Life is rough on the streets. We just hustle for food money so we can get on with our lives. If the Police arrest you – you stay in a cell for 2-3 weeks before you are eventually deported back to Zimbabwe. If you come back you will be charged.”
