Botswana closes doors on foreign teachers, truck drivers

GABORONE, BOTSWANA — 

A Botswanan official said this week the nation will no longer issue work permits to foreign teachers and truck drivers in order to protect local jobs.

Minister of Labor and Home Affairs Pius Mokgware told a group of unemployed teachers protesting in Gaborone that the government already has stopped issuing permits to foreign educators and truck drivers.

He said that last month the government rejected 140 applications for work permits.

Thabang Kopelo, who was representing the unemployed teachers, said they want the new government, which took office in October, to go a step further.

“We now demand the cancellation and the immediate suspension of issuing of work permits to teachers who come from outside of Botswana. ... There are [already] thousands and thousands” of local teachers, Kopelo said.

The group’s actions weren’t xenophobic, Kopelo said, but a plea to the government to prioritize citizens in hiring teachers.

“In other countries ... they are being attacked,” Kopelo said. “Derogatory language is being used against them. We are not moving in that approach; we are fellow brothers and sisters."

In neighboring South Africa, clashes between migrants and locals have often turned deadly, with citizens arguing foreigners are taking their jobs.

Gaborone-based Congolese teacher Patrice Okomi said there is not much foreign workers can do except abide by the host government’s regulations.

"We are here at the mercy of the government, and it is entirely up to the Botswana authorities to decide our future,” Okomi said. “If the feeling is that we have overstayed our welcome, there is not much we can do except to prepare for our exit."

Botswana’s stable economy has attracted migrant workers, the majority fleeing hardship in neighboring Zimbabwe.

According to figures from the government office Statistics Botswana, there are 4,581 holders of foreign work permits in Botswana, with teachers comprising 18% of the total.