The ManicaPost
Tendai Gukutikwa
Post Correspondent
SHE is an epileptic patient whose stepmother didn’t want her anywhere near her children.
Violet Chipupuro (not real name) was left with no option, but to move in back with her elderly maternal grandparents.
The 14-year-old’s mother died a long time ago and she has no one to turn to for comfort as her father is pre-occupied with the needs of his new family.
Violet was due to start her secondary school when she was forced by circumstances to look for a job as a domestic worker in Mutare.
Her quest to pursue education to tertiary level was thrown out of the window.
She had to provide for the family. Her sickly and elderly grandparents were looking after three other minor grandchildren, with another one of them also being forced to secure employment as a domestic worker.
Violet celebrated her 15th birthday (if we may call it a celebration) on the day she started working for a Mutare family in Chikanga suburb.
Among her job description is looking after a middle aged married couple and their four children, of which one is older than her.
Due to the sad circumstances, Violet is following in her mother’s shoes; she too was a domestic worker.
“Growing up, I had dreams of becoming a nurse. I wanted to be an independent person capable of looking after my parents, but my dreams were shuttered when my mother died. She had breast cancer and we did not have any money for treatment. She became a domestic worker after my father dumped her,” narrates Violet.
Like many other orphaned and vulnerable children in Zimbabwe, Violet has been forced by circumstances into child labour.
She said she is lucky because her employers understand her epileptic condition.
While Government is working tirelessly to combat child labour, a number of dubious employment agencies continue to traffic vulnerable children from rural areas to cities where they are subjected to hard labour, while being given pittances for their toils.
Some are even trafficked into neighbouring countries where they are subjected to child labour, sex slavery and dangerous living conditions.
The agencies operate on WhatsApp and other social media platforms and link employers with children from rural areas.
They do not shy away from advertising in social media groups that they have “very young maids who are still fresh and willing to work”, even though it is criminal offense to subject a child to child labour in Zimbabwe.
Upon connecting the young maid with an employer, a US$20 service fee is deducted for the agents on the child’s first salary.
In an interview with The Manica Post, one agent, Ms Chipo Maroso said she is lifting the young maids from rags to riches.
“You can get a maid as young as 14. These children are looking for employment as an escape route from poverty at their homes. By employing them, you are actually doing them a favour because they might end up starving as there is no food in their homes. My job is just to help the children secure employment and provide something for their families,” she said.
Asked on whether she did not know that what she does is criminal, Ms Maroso insisted that although the laws of the land forbids such acts, she is doing it for the good of the children.
“It is criminal, but it should not be. These children are actually looking after their families. If they are removed from those homes where they are working, how do you think their families will survive? They will die, the best thing is to make sure that they have favourable working environments. Otherwise removing them from work is a bomb waiting to explode at their homes,” she said.
Violet is paid US$40 monthly, most of which she uses to buy groceries for her grandparents back home.
She is left with absolutely nothing for herself.
Mutare lawyer, Ms Natsai Nyamwanza said Section 81 of the Constitution talks about the rights of children.
Children under the age of 18 have the right to be protected from economic and sexual exploitation, child labour, maltreatment, neglect and any form of abuse.
“Section 19 of the Constitution further states that the State must ensure that children are protected from maltreatment neglect or any form of abuse. Section 19 (3) states that the State must take appropriate legislative and other measures to protect children from exploitative labour practices and ensure that children are not required or permitted to perform work or provide services that are inappropriate for the children age. This then means that anyone found employing a minor is a criminal and should be prosecuted,” explained Ms Nyamwanza.
The labour law seeks to curb the exploitation of young persons by increasing the penalty for exposing minors to child labour.
Currently in terms of Section 11(5) of the Labour Act, a two-year sentence is imposed against persons who employ young persons.
However, the labour bill seeks to change this position and ensure that violators will be sentenced to 10 years with a view to providing a more deterrent sanction.
In an interview, Minister of State for Manicaland Provincial and Devolution Affairs, Honourable Nokhuthula Matsikenyere said Government has introduced social programmes to address child labour, one of which is the Child Protection Fund for National Action Plan for Orphans and Vulnerable Children which is running from 2016 to 2022.
The programme focuses on equity and access to quality education for children, while providing child protection services.
“The programme provides cash assistance for families to keep their children in school, psycho-social support activities. In addition, it has also provided family tracing and re-unification to many children who were living on the streets,” she said.
Government has also established policies related to child labour with the National Action Plan to combat child labour being one of the policies. It promotes understanding of child labour issues and creates an entity to coordinate responses to the findings.
The policy consists of three focus areas which include education assistance, poverty assistance through a cash transfer scheme and health assistance.
Another policy, the Trafficking in Persons National Plan of Action, aims to implement the Palermo Protocol through the development of strategies to combat human trafficking, with an emphasis of prevention, protection, prosecution and partnership.
Government also implemented the Zimbabwe UN Development Assistance Framework which ran from 2016 to 2020.
The policy integrated child labour prevention strategies in an Education for All campaign headed by the United Nations.
The policies seek to promote gender equality and reduction of HIV and Aids prevalence, and allocated social resources to address child labour.
Hope for Kids programmes manager, Mr Misheck Mlambo said most rural children are vulnerable and end up being victims of child labour.
“Child labour is taking advantage of children and Government has constantly urged everyone to ensure that children enjoy their basic and fundamental rights to education.
“There are a lot of vulnerable children who are abused due to poverty and sometimes it is exacerbated by the socio-economic factors resulting from their financial status. As Hope For Kids, we prioritise these cases and we have to date helped bring them over 120 children back to school in Manicaland alone. We do not condone taking advantage of children through child labour,” he said.
According to an International Child Labour and Forced Labour report published by International Labour Affairs Bureau (ILAB) in 2020, Zimbabwe made moderate advancement in efforts to eliminate the worst forms of child labour.
The reports reads in part: “The Government enacted the Education Amendment Act, which raised the legal compulsory education age to 16. It also significantly expanded the Basic Education Assistance Module (BEAM) to provide assistance with school expenses to over 950 000 orphans and vulnerable children, while providing humanitarian assistance allowances for vulnerable families affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.”
“Children also engage in child labour in agriculture, including in the harvesting of sugarcane,” further states the report.
Despite all the steps taken by Government to combat child labour, children continue to be subjected to commercial sexual exploitation, child labour in various households, mines, and farms.
