Editorial comment: Gutu is not the only rogue one

THERE are some people who appear to specialise in destroying the dreams of young men and women in this country.

They don’t understand the harm they inflict on those innocent souls who will be chasing success in life.

In most cases, they dent many youngsters’ hopes by exploiting their situations.

Fresh from celebrating the Day of the African Child and Fathers’ Day, we should value our children and stop destroying their dreams.

It’s a fact that we still have many people who are exploiting our youngsters and, in turn, destroying their dreams, especially in the sporting fraternity.

This could be the case with former Warriors and Dynamos star Arch-ford Gutu.

He recently gave eight children a torrid time, under the guise of finding new opportunities for them in Dubai, where they ended up being stranded because of a number of issues.

The kids, who are all ambitious footballers, were convinced that new doors would open for them, thanks to this initiative by Gutu.

A role model and during his playing days, Gutu inspired many young footballers.

He came from a humble background and many, who looked up to him, were touched by his story.

Many never thought he was a crook, who would end up exploiting teenage footballers, and leaving them to endure a nightmare while on foreign soil.

Some of the youngsters, who endured the harrowing experience in Dubai, now need counselling.

It’s sad that this mess was created by a prominent footballer who simply exploited the vulnerability of these kids and their parents.

We haven’t heard about Guru, since the remaining students re-turned home, after the Government was forced to intervene.

We don’t know where he really is.

There is a need to ensure that football academies, which are sprouting around the country, are all monitored.

While it is noble to groom talent from the grassroots, we should al-so do a thorough research on the people we entrust our children with.

There are higher chances that we might end up entrusting wicked people with the future of our children.

There is a lot of exploitation in most sporting academies which need to be unearthed.

Our children’s safety should come first.

Failure to monitor some of these things has resulted in our children being vulnerable to exploitation.

This must be avoided at all costs before we kill our children’s dreams.

Children’s dreams must not be shattered by irresponsible people masquerading as mentors.

People who are destroying our children’s dreams must face the music or be blacklisted from carrying such operations.

As parents, we must prioritise the welfare of our children.

We need to also monitor the choice of people who are grooming them.

The same applies to other fields like arts, where we also have academies.

There is a lot happening at these academies, which needs to be unearthed, especially abuse and fraudulent activities.

As parents, we should encourage our children to speak out against these evil people.