Localisation cuts expatriate posts by 367 %

Botswana is one of few African countries where the government takes an active role in funding tertiary students. The government's investment in the education of the local workforce is paying off as more citizens are being absorbed into job positions which were previously held by expatriates. All foreigners require work permits, which are essentially permission to legally work in Botswana. The number of work permit holders is therefore an indicator of how many expatriates legally are employed in the country.

A recent report released by Statistics Botswana titled “Work Permit Holders Fourth Quarter 2020” shows a significant decline in foreign labour in favour of citizen employees. The statistics show that between 2011 and 2014, there was a significant decrease in employee work permit holders, from 10,054 to 4,092, a decrease of 59.6 percent.

Although between 2014 and 2017 the number of employee work permit holders increased from 4, 092 to 5,045, (an upsurge of 23.3 percent), the number further declined by 34.1 percent from 5,045 to 3,324, between 2017 and 2020. This means that ultimately, between 2011 and 2020, work permit holders have decreased from 15,529 to 3,324, representing a 367 percent decline. Of the 3,324 work permit holders, 2,591 were new applicants while 733 were renewals.