Zimbabweans are now scrambling to marry Batswana in order to be granted citizenship in Gaborone.

In the past, people from Zimbabwe scrambled to enter South Africa in large numbers, seeking better life.

However, things are slowly but surely changing.

This time Zimbabweans would rather cross into Botswana to seek greener pastures there, acquire permanent residence and possibly also citizenship, even if they are compelled to marry in the process.

Reports from Gaborone indicate that Botswana has granted citizenship to more than 5,957 foreign nationals since 2018, with about 3000 Zimbabweans accounting for nearly half of all the successful applicants.

At least, this was among the discussions tabled during the Country’s National Parliamentary sessions.

The Botswana Minister of Labour and Home Affairs, the Retired Major General Pius Mokgware, disclosed the figures before Ntlo ya Dikgosi, revealing that 2,947 Zimbabweans have acquired Botswana citizenship during the period.

Mokgware was responding to a question from Kgosi Khama IV of Ga-Mmangwato, who wanted to know the number of foreign nationals granted Botswana citizenship between 2018 and the present.

The figures place Zimbabwe and South Africa overwhelmingly ahead of other nationalities, together accounting for 4,274 of the 5,957 citizenship grants.

The Minister indicated that most of the citizenship acquisitions were through marriage.

But the number is for Zimbabweans who have so far acquired Botswana citizenships, many others are still waiting to be approved.

There are a considerable number of Zimbabweans who are simply working in Botswana.

Some are looking for wives to marry so that they can use the marital arrangements to become citizens of Gaborone.

South Africans are also finding Gaborone to be a better place to work and live and have recently been migrating there as well.

There have been around 1,327 South Africans who have taken up Batswana nationalities as of now. Others are just living, or working there.

Indians are also seeking refuge in Gaborone, accounting for 320 newly granted citizenships, many running businesses.

Others are 209 Zambians and 142 people from Angola.

Other nationalities that have moved to Botswana include Malawi (103), Lesotho (101), the Democratic Republic of Congo (66), Namibia (64), Kenya (62), Pakistan (53) and Britain (50).

There are no reports regarding any Tanzanian acquiring citizenship in Botswana, though in the past the country used to supply medical doctors there.

But being a landlocked country, Botswana measuring 581,730 square kilometers, is essentially experiencing a low​ surge of immigrants with most of its newcomers being people from the immediate neighboring countries that it shares borders with.

Botswana directly borders Namibia, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe

The country’s population averages at 2.5 million, which is less-than half the number of people who live in Dar-es-salaam city of Tanzania.