90 children go missing at Independence celebrations

them yesterday.
Thousands of Zimbabweans on Wednesday thronged the National Sports Stadium and various provincial and district centres to mark the 32nd Independence anniversary.
Acting Harare provincial police spokesperson Assistant Inspector Tarirai Dube said of the 90 children, 83 were lost at the stadium while the other seven disappeared in various places in the city centre.
The 83 children were taken to a police post at the National Sports Stadium, while those who went missing in the city centre were at Harare Central Police Station.
“Of the 83, 76 were yesterday (Wednesday) taken by their relatives, while the other seven were taken to Mabelreign Police Station,” Asst Insp Dube said.
She said of the seven, six were collected yesterday morning by their parents and relatives except for one identified as Tinovimbanashe Taomera who is aged eight.
The other seven who went missing in the city centre were also located by their parents.
Asst Insp Dube said Tinovimbanashe said he was from Bob Farm in Mabvuku.
“We would want to urge parents to look after their children especially at gatherings. Several children have gone missing at gatherings,” she said.
Asst Insp Dube said Tinovimbanashe’s parents should contact Mabelreign Police Station and assist the police. She said parents should escort their children at gatherings.
Asst Insp Dube urged parents to write their names and telephone numbers and put them in their children’s pockets to make it easy to locate them in such cases.
Since last year, several children have gone missing in different parts of the country. Others were found alive, while others have not been found.
Police have also recovered some skeletal remains in several parts of the country.  In August last year, a three-year-old boy, Given Flint Matapure, went missing during the Harare Agricultural Show while in the company of his sister and a maid.
There are still no leads on Given’s whereabouts and the case is still being investigated by detectives from the CID Homicide section.
In October last year, another 11-year-old boy, Tapiwa Mboto, who was reportedly kidnapped at a church service was found dumped along a river near his Chitungwiza home.
In November last year, a Zimbabwe Agricultural Show Society worker discovered skeletal remains of a child while clearing a piece of land for farming inside the Exhibition Park.
Police took the remains for forensic examination to determine the cause of death and possible identity.
Police Commissioner-General Augustine Chihuri has since expressed concern over an increase in cases of children who go missing countrywide in suspected ritual murder cases.
Comm-Gen Chihuri said there were social misfits killing children for rituals.  He said information on the ground was that some body parts were removed from some of the children’s bodies for ritual purposes.