By James Mutasa

Botswana’s new president has said his government would recognise undocumented Zimbabweans to be legalised by granting them temporary work and residence permits as part of a wider strategy to revive the economy.

"They do jobs that would otherwise not get done," said Duma Boko while speaking to  the BBC Africa Daily podcast before his inauguration.

Botswana, second to South Africa hosts the region’s second-largest community of Zimbabweans.

The decision is not likely to be popular but Boko, said it was part of his plans to revive the economy.

President Boko said it was a challenge when thousands of Zimbabweans entered Botswana through the long and porous border between the two countries.

"They come in and are undocumented. Then their access to amenities is limited, if it is available at all, and what they then do is they live outside the law and they commit crimes - and this brings resentment," he said.

"So what we need to do is to formalise, have a proper arrangement that recognises that people from Zimbabwe are already here."

It is unclear exactly how many Zimbabweans are in Botswana, but thousands have been coming back and forth since Zimbabwe's economy imploded because of hyperinflation two decades ago. Some have also sought political refuge.

Statistics that are available show that Zimbabweans account for 98% of what is termed "irregular migrants".

Responding to a parliamentary question earlier this year, a minister said that from 2021 to 2023, out of a total of 13,489 recorded, 13,189 were Zimbabwean nationals.

Every day, police stations around the country organise deportations of Zimbabweans arrested for not having papers or involvement in crimes.

They tend to work doing cheap labour often as domestic workers and farm workers.

"A lot of these workers from Zimbabwe perform tasks that the citizen finds unattractive... they do jobs that would otherwise not get done and so there's no conflict there," Boko said.