Zim, Botswana scrap passport requirement for citiz...

Zim, Botswana scrap passport requirement for citizens entering either country

Zim Now Writer

Zimbabwean and Botswana citizens will no longer need passports to travel between the two countries, President Emmerson Mnangagwa has said.

This comes as President Mnangagwa and his Botswana counterpart, Mokgweetsi Masisi met in Gaborone for the fifth edition of the annual Kusi Ideas Festival and agreed to scrap the passport requirement for citizens of the two countries travelling between the two Southern African Development Community nations.

The Kusi Ideas Festival, which is running under the theme: “Africa’s Agenda 2063: Making the Dream Come True”, is a presidential roundtable discussion that is being co-hosted by Kenya’s Nation Media Group and the Government of Botswana to discuss challenges facing Africa, as well as possible solutions and innovations needed to promote inclusive and sustainable development.

Said President Mnangagwa:

“I was talking to my brother after he was making a statement here and we have agreed that from now on we shall instruct our officials that they will be no question of how to enter Zimbabwe or how to enter Botswana that we cleared.

“The two of us have agreed, realising that Africans should be able to walk into Botswana, Zambia, Kenya or any other country in Africa freely,” he said.

https://zimbabwenow.co.zw/articles/6330/8-zimbabweans-flogged-at-botswana-traditional-court-for-border-jumping

Incidents of Zimbabweans being ill-treated after entering Botswana illegally have been rampant in the past with the most recent being the eight who were flogged for entering the country illegally.