Staff Reporter

President Emmerson Mnangagwa and his Botswana counterpart, Mokgweetsi Masisi are set to discuss the possibility of scrapping passport requirements between the countries to allow for the easier flow of people and goods.

A source from the Embassy of Botswana informed this publication that the two Presidents would soon meet to discuss an agreement of eliminating the use of passports between the two countries.

"President Masisi is planning to meet his counterpart, President Mnangagwa to discuss scraping of passports as a requirement to cross the borders of our two countries. The scraping of passports will see citizens using their national identity cards as travel documents. The same bilateral initiative will be rolled out to other countries that share the border with Botswana," said the source.

A Plumtree resident, Marvelous Matanha, who is a general dealer, expressed his opinion on the elimination of passports as a travel requirement.

 "This is a very good initiative for both countries as it will be easy for business people to travel for business. The initiative is likely to enhance business cooperation between the Zimbabwean people and those in Botswana,” said Matanha.

An immigration expert, Trevor Moyo indicated that the scraping away of passports would reduce border hustles and would also curb the scourge of illegal migration of citizens from both countries.

"The scrapping of passports will be a good development as this will ease the problems which citizens face when crossing border posts. This will also contribute to the free movement of people, a move towards the adoption of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA)," said Moyo.

Meanwhile, President Masisi's push to engage neighbours on opening up borders is in line with the Africa Union's Protocol on Free Movement of Persons.