BEITBRIDGE senator Tambudzani Mohadi has urged the government to monitor informal border points saying there is rampant abuse of young girls.
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Contributing to debate on the report of the Thematic Committee on Peace and Security on the status of the country’s borders, human trafficking and smuggling in the Senate last week, Mohadi said children were abandoning school to seek jobs on South African farms where they were abused.
“The informal border posts are at undesignated points which were agreed upon bilaterally through the states which share the borders, because we have relatives across the river, we can go across the river,” she said.
“We could go across the river and see our relatives, but this does not end there.
“People end up using those informal border posts as crossing points whenever they want to smuggle through their stuff such as cigarettes and drugs.”
She said the government was losing a lot of revenue due to smuggling through the undesignated crossing points.
Mohadi said gangs behind the smuggling of contraband such as cigarettes were also dangerous.
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“You will find that if one person sees another person carrying his cigarettes or drugs going to cross the river, instead of assisting that person they end up shooting each other and then the winner takes the loot,” the senator said.
“Again, you find that a lot of our school-going children end up not going to school.
“They cross the border at the age of 12 to 13 years, into the farms seeking for jobs. As a result, you can imagine what kind of a community we are raising; a community which has got children under the age of 15 not going to school.”
She said sexual abuse was rampant at the entry points and on South African farms where girls sought employment.
“You find that the girl child that we are talking about mostly, when they go to cross these rivers, the first port of call when they get to the river, there should be somebody who will assist them to cross the river and this someone who assists this girl to cross the river, the girl has to fall in love with him or get raped because she will not be having money to pay the person who will assist her to cross the river,” Mohadi said.
“They will be assisted to cross the river and as soon as these girls get to the other side of the river, they know no one there and they have to find shelter to sleep.
“The girls go there seeking for jobs in the farms and for them to get employment, they have to fall in love again. The girl has zero education and secondly, the issue of HIV and Aids is another problem because through these three men I have talked about, you do not even know how safe that sex was.
“It is a very pathetic situation and really, the government has to try and do something to curb this issue.”
Matabeleland North senator Sithokozile Mathuthu (Zanu PF) said most of the border jumpers never return home alive.
“One of the honourable senators highlighted that, especially the girl child who works very hard is exposed to vulnerable conditions in search for a better future,” she said.
“When they migrate to other countries in search of greener pastures, they come back in coffins.
“It is saddening because perpetrators of this crime are known, but nothing is done to them.
“Our children continue to migrate and are exposed to these criminals.”
She said female border jumpers were often sexually abused at the illegal crossing points.
“I do not agree that the girl child will be in love with the people who abuse her. She is raped and has no choice because of the circumstances,” Mathuthu said.
“ She will be raped by the driver, the one who will help her in crossing, the one who will give her shelter and also the employer.
“Even when they are supposed to be paid, you realise that they will arrest everyone without a permit staying in that country towards pay days.
“The same person who will arrest you will also rape you. At the end of it all, when you are released, you would not have survived from HIV and Aids.
“Most of our children have died because of such diseases and back home, parents will be receiving bags full of rice and cooking oil, not knowing that the girls sacrificed their lives to please their parents back home.”
She added: “Many times a girl child will be intimate with different men all in the name of trying to eke a better living.
“This is disgusting in the eyes of God and even in the eyes of the people.”
Matabeleland South senator Watchy Sibanda (MDC-T) said the reason most people resorted to crossing borders illegally was lack of access to travel documents.
“For someone from Chikwalakwala to get travelling documents, they should travel all the way to Gwanda while in Beitbridge constituency, there are offices that issue travelling documents,” he said.
“Why can people not get their travelling documents from any office in their constituency?
“As a nation, we should consider devolution of power because it is difficult for someone to travel all the way from Chikwalakwala to Beitbridge or to Gwanda.”
The Senate committee noted that at least 2 000 illegal immigrants from Zimbabwe are thrown out of Botswana and South Africa every month.
