In a bold move to safeguard employment opportunities for its citizens, Botswana has announced it will no longer issue work permits to foreign teachers and truck drivers. Minister of Labor and Home Affairs, Pius Mokgware, revealed the decision during a meeting with unemployed teachers protesting in Gaborone this week.
Mokgware confirmed that the government stopped granting permits to foreign educators and truck drivers and rejected 140 work permit applications last month.
Thabang Kopelo, representing the unemployed teachers, urged the government to take even stricter measures. “We now demand the cancellation and immediate suspension of issuing work permits to teachers who come from outside Botswana. There are already thousands of local teachers,” he said.
Kopelo clarified that their protest was not xenophobic but a plea for prioritizing citizens. “In other countries, foreigners are being attacked or spoken about in derogatory terms. That is not our approach; we see them as fellow brothers and sisters,” he said.
Botswana’s decision contrasts with neighboring South Africa, where tensions between locals and migrants over job opportunities often escalate into violence.
Botswana’s stable economy has long attracted migrants, especially those fleeing economic hardship in Zimbabwe. According to Statistics Botswana, the country currently has 4,581 holders of foreign work permits, with teachers making up 18% of that number.
