Online Reporter
ZIMBABWE is confronting a deeply disturbing rise in child kidnappings and disappearances, a trend that should alarm every parent, guardian and community across the country. Each time a child goes missing, a family is plunged into unimaginable fear, anguish and uncertainty.
Yet as a nation, our collective response remains worryingly subdued, as though this crisis is distant or exceptional. It is not. It is here, it is real, and it is happening far too often. Our children are no longer safe, and pretending otherwise only emboldens those who prey on them.
Parents and guardians must now adopt an uncompromising level of vigilance. A child can disappear in seconds — a momentary lapse in supervision at a shop, a clinic, a commuter rank or even outside the home can be all it takes for an abductor to strike. Caregivers must be alert at all times, no matter how familiar a place may feel.
Children should never be left unattended, even briefly. The old assumption that “nothing will happen” is no longer valid. Criminals exploit exactly that assumption. Every public outing, every transition from one place to another, every interaction involving children must be treated with heightened caution.
Even within extended families, neighbourhoods and trusted circles, awareness is essential. Sadly, not every threat comes from strangers.
But the burden cannot rest solely on the shoulders of parents. The police must demonstrate far greater urgency, consistency and co-ordination when a child is reported missing. A missing child is a national emergency — not an ordinary case to be handled through slow, administrative processes. Every minute matters.
The response must be swift, structured and visible. Communities should receive immediate alerts, officers should mobilise without delay, and different stations must co-ordinate seamlessly. Criminal networks involved in kidnapping, trafficking and child exploitation must be pursued with relentless determination.
The country needs dedicated units trained specifically to handle child related crimes, supported by modern investigative tools and rapid response strategies. Anything less leaves families exposed and criminals empowered.
Communities too must refuse to remain silent. Suspicious individuals loitering near schools, cars repeatedly circling residential areas, unfamiliar adults approaching children, or cases of neighbours suddenly seen with unexplained infants — all such signs must be reported immediately. Silence shelters kidnappers.
Vigilance protects children. Schools, churches and community groups should amplify awareness continuously, teaching both parents and children how to recognise danger and how to respond.
Awareness campaigns must become part of everyday community life, not only revived after a tragedy.
Child kidnapping must be treated as a national crisis, because that is exactly what it is. A united, loud, consistent response is the only way to fight the growing threat. Parents must be vigilant. Communities must be alert. And law enforcement must be proactive, decisive and uncompromising. We cannot continue reacting only after a child has already disappeared.
Prevention must be prioritised, and when cases do occur, the response must be immediate and intense.
A country is defined by how it safeguards its most vulnerable. If we cannot protect our children, then we are failing in the most basic moral duty entrusted to any society.
We must raise the alarm loudly. We must speak openly about the dangers. We must demand stronger policing, stronger community action and stronger national awareness.
This is not a problem that will disappear on its own. It will not pause. It will not wait. Unless we act— all of us —more children will vanish, and more families will be shattered.
The time to act is now. Not one more child should be lost.
Peter Tanyanyiwa