The News
Botswana’s new government plans to legalize undocumented Zimbabwean migrants, with the country’s recently elected president arguing such workers “do jobs that would otherwise not get done.”
Duma Boko’s remarks came after his historic election win last week, which saw him unseat the party that had ruled Botswana since its independence in 1966.
Botswana is host to the second-biggest Zimbabwean diaspora in the world, with many employed as farm laborers or domestic workers, the BBC noted, and the country had previously organized periodic deportations.
It followed a similar move by Thailand, which earlier this month approved a pathway to residency and citizenship for a half-million stateless people in the country — the largest reduction of statelessness by any country, ever.
SIGNALS
First new Botswana government since 1966 seeks to revive a slumping economy
Botswana’s elections last week saw power change hands for the first time in almost 60 years, but the new government will face severe economic challenges. Boko’s party won a landslide victory on its promises to combat widespread unemployment, income inequality, and plummeting diamond sales — the backbone of Botswana’s economy that has struggled after an “explosion” in lab-grown diamonds lowered the price of natural gems, a consultant for the Pretoria-based Institute for Security Studies told the Financial Times. More than one in four in the country are unemployed, something Boko called a “ticking time bomb” for one of Africa’s wealthiest nations.
Botswana’s move contrasts with immigration backlash in the West
Botswana’s move to legalize its undocumented migrants stands in sharp contrast to the US and Europe, where populist leaders are increasingly threatening tougher controls on migration, But there are some immigrants that European governments “quietly” want more of: skilled foreign workers. “The reason is necessity,” said the Economist; while Italy’s far-right leader Giorgia Meloni is sending migrants to Albania for processing, her country’s agriculture faces an annual shortfall of 200,000 workers, for example. In 2023, Poland’s former far-right government quintupled the number of work permits it issued to Asians and Latin Americans. “The end result is that Europe is nuttily deploying barbed-wire fences and “workers wanted” banners at the same time,” a 2023 Economist article argued.