The new president tells the BBC thousands of illegal Zimbabweans should be given temporary permits.
Duma Boko, who made history last week after his party won the election, said Batswana could also learn skills from Zimbabweans
The decision is not likely to be popular in the diamond-rich southern African nation, but Boko, 54, who has just unseated the ruling party that was in power for 58 years, 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.
Statistics that are available show that Zimbabweans account for 98% of what is termed "irregular migrants". "In any and every construction site in Botswana the majority of people with those skills are from Zimbabwe, so we need to do a twin programme of allowing them to come in and we utilise the skills that they have and in the process of utilising these skills we also engage in some sort of skills transfer," he said.
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