Plumtree –The Government of Zimbabwe, with funding support from the International Organization for Migration (IOM), on 03 September 2019, conducted a meeting in the border town of Plumtree to establish a local migration management coordination stakeholders committee.  The meeting was attended by 19 participants (4 females and 15 males) from Government Ministries, District and Local Authorities and IOM.  As a positive outcome, the key Government stakeholders including Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and UN agencies operating in the province agreed that they will meet quarterly to engage and coordinate on migration programming.

“We welcome the setting up of a coordination structure to promote engagements on migration management in our province, this has been long overdue. Since 2015, we did not have a formal platform to come together as stakeholders to share information and coordinate. This has great impact on migrants, as some fail to access information and assistance at times, and mostly their rights due to fragmented efforts by relevant organizations in this province.” Said Mr. Creswell Nyakudya, the Provincial Social Welfare Officer for Plumtree.

Mr. Nyakudya further noted that the committee will give stakeholders in the province an opportunity to share and understand migration challenges, coordinate and manage migration in a better way.

The Immigration Department highlighted a number of challenges faced by Zimbabweans as they migrate to Botswana, chief among them is lack of proper travel documents. Zimbabweans continue to use temporary travel documents which are no longer accepted by the Government of Botswana, this has resulted in an increase in human smuggling cases, as people are refused entry to the neighbouring country. “We encounter a number of challenges at the border which we feel are mostly a result of lack of awareness on safe and regular migration. This committee will be an enabling platform for th stakeholders to come up with effective information dissemination strategies to assist our people as they migrate.” Mr. Blessing Marwa, the Assistant Regional Immigration Officer said.

The Government of Zimbabwe will engage the Government of Botswana for the re-establishment of a Cross Border Migration Management Stakeholders Forum to discuss migration management issues between the two countries.

IOM continues to provide technical support to the Government of Zimbabwe to establish coordination platforms to engage stakeholders and promote effective human migration management through a regional project African Regional Migration Program (ARMP) with support from the US department of State Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration (PRM).

For more information please contact Varaidzo Mudombi at IOM Zimbabwe telephone +263242704285 email: vmudombi@iom.int