Gaborone - The Botswana government has warned South African tourism industry operators who have been accused of routinely calling locals “k****rs” that they will be charged with crimen injuria and deported soon after prosecution if they continued “degrading and impairing” the dignity of the Batswana.

Addressing tourism workers in the tourism capital of Maun in the north of the country, Labour and Home Affairs minister Edwin Batshu said as crimen injuria was a crime back home in South Africa, offenders should not expect to get away with it in Botswana.

The k-word is a derogatory term used to describe black people.

“We have received several reports from Batswana workers in the tourism sector in the Okavango Delta area who are routinely called k****rs and referred to in other f-words by their employers. Any expatriate found to be responsible for this will face the relevant criminal charges and deportation soon after prosecution,” Batshu said.

The minister said in Botswana it is a crime to call anyone a “k****r”, which he defined as a degrading word used unlawfully but intentionally as hate language to demean and impair the dignity of other persons.