Botswana November 2006 |
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| 6,000 Zimbabweans beaten in Botswana, (Zimbabwean, 2006-11-29):-Xenophobia-driven brutalities committed against Zimbabweans in Botswana are orchestrated by the members of the Botswana Police Service and the traditional chiefs, CAJ News can reveal. An estimated 6 000 Zimbabweans were severely assaulted in Botswana during September and October this year, some of them sustaining permanent injuries. Botswana's Police Service has a paramilitary wing called Special Support Group (SSG), which deals with cases of violence and undertakes border control duties. The semi-literate SSG police squad manning the Botswana-Zimbabwe border told CAJ News that they were assigned to shoot first to any Zimbabwean seen in Botswana before asking questions later. There was no immediate comment from the Botswana Police Commissioner, Edwin Batsu, who was said to be out of office when CAJ News phoned him. "This country must treat us fairly because we are managing their economy," said Mafa Ndiweni, an international haulage truck driver. Recently, Sibongile Ndlovu, a pregnant women from Bulawayo, died at a rail-road crossing in Francistown when she allegedly jumped from a stationary police vehicle taking her and other illegal immigrants to Gerald Holding Centre, a concentration camp building along the lines of the South African Lindela Holding Centre. When Senior Assistant Commissioner Mazwiduma, who commands the Francistown and the Northern Region was contacted for a comment, his office referred this reporter to the National Police Spokesperson Senior Superintendent Solomon Mantswe whose office refused to comment. Botswana Police routinely arrest Zimbabweans in the capital, Gaborone, and transport them to distant rural areas where the traditional chiefs sentence them to lashing in the most brutal manner. "The Magistrates Courts are manned by Zimbabweans, so they are hesitant to take us there because of the possibility of a fair trial," said a taxi driver from Plumtree. In a court case still pending in Gaborone, six soldiers of the Botswana Defence Force have been remanded in custody for having forced 10 Zimbabwean women and men to have sexual contacts against their will. The Zimbabweans complied after a thorough beating by the soldiers. Geographically Botswana shares a 624-km boundary with Zimbabwe. A few years ago, the Botswana authorities began construction of an electrified fence along this border under the disguise of controlling the spread of foot and mouth diseases. The erection of the high voltage fence started in Shashi area two years ago is almost complete. However, it has been suspended after reaching Plumtree Border Post because of vandalism by the locals and the massive costs involved. Botswana has a population of 1.5 million people. More than 90 percent of its health institutions are manned by Zimbabweans. Sixty percent of the schools are run by Zimbabwean teachers. Eighty percent of the construction and transport sectors are run by Zimbabweans. According to the World Health Organizations Southern Africa's AIDS statistics, Botswana's labour force 400 000 is 60 percent hit by the virus. | |
South African Migration Project (SAMP) - Queen's University - http://www.queensu.ca/samp |