EPWORTH North lawmaker Zivai Mhetu has called on the government to adopt policies that allow Zimbabweans to travel easily across regional borders.
Mhetu raised the matter during a question-and-answer session in the National Assembly on Tuesday this week asking whether Harare intended to pursue such arrangements with neighbours like Botswana, South Africa, Malawi and Mozambique.
He pointed to recent moves by Namibia and Zambia to permit entry with only national identity cards.
“Schengen countries in Europe have boosted trade and mobility through the introduction of the Schengen visa, enabling citizens to travel freely within member States using just ID cards,” he said.
“Closer to home, Namibia and Zambia have recently implemented a similar system, removing the need for passports when travelling between their countries.”
Acting leader of government business in Parliament and Lands minister, Anxious Masuka, said President Emmerson Mnangagwa prioritised regional integration during his tenure as Southern African Development Community (Sadc) chair.
“The government policy, and in particular our President, is to enhance regional integration, be it industrialisation, agriculture and travel of people,” he said.
Masuka cited existing negotiations with Botswana and highlighted the UniVisa arrangement already in place for the Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area, which covers parts of Zimbabwe, Zambia, Botswana, Namibia and Angola.
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He said the Mnangagwa administration hoped to see Africans being able to travel freely across all 54 countries on the continent, describing current talks as “a start to gather momentum” towards that goal.
Mhetu pressed further, asking whether the government had a timeline for implementing such agreements with neighbouring countries.
Masuka did not provide specific dates.
Botswana President Duma Boko expressed his country’s willingness to open borders between his country and Zimbabwe during a meeting with Mnangagwa in Gaborone last year.
