A Botswana Member of Parliament has called for the banning of Zimbabwean shoppers, saying they are causing food shortages, according to reports by The Chronicle on Thursday.
Zimbabweans have been flocking to the neighbouring country, especially its second largest town of Francistown to buy basic commodities for consumption and in bulk for resale at home.
Retail shops in Zimbabwe have empty shelves due to poor industrial production and the effects of illegal economic sanctions, the newspaper said.
The staple mealie-meal, sugar and cooking oil, which are in short supply locally in Zimbabwe, are some of the commodities that are highly sought after.
The newspaper said Francistown West MP Tshelang Masisi complained that his country could not sustain Zimbabweans at the expense of Botswana residents.
He said this during a debate when Botswana President Ian Khama was delivering his state-of-nation address.
"The food situation is a serious cause of concern because Zimbabweans hoard mealie-meal, which they take to their country at the expense of Batswana," he said.
Masisi then called for the deportation of those caught buying the scarce commodity in bulk.
Zimbabweans who bought mealie-meal in bulk from Francistown were last week left licking their wounds after the Botswana authorities at the border confiscated the commodity.
Botswana has restricted to two the number of bags of mealie-meal that can be bought by foreigners.
Batswana is facing tough times as mealie-meal was quickly disappearing from shelves at supermarkets and stores. Francistown supermarkets and wholesalers are recording brisk business as Zimbabweans scramble for the commodity.