‘Every child has a right to family or parental care’

Leonard Ncube, Victoria Falls Reporter
AT only 14 years, Simbarashe (surname withheld for ethical reasons) has already assumed full roles of a grown-up man as he takes care of his 73-year-old maternal grandmother and nine-year-old cousin.

Simbarashe’s mother, Thokozile abandoned him at the age of eight when he was in Grade Two and she is based in Kadoma. The boy said he does not remember seeing his mother, let alone speaking to her. He doesn’t know his late father who abandoned him and his mother soon after birth.

Growing under the care of a sickly grandmother who can no longer do heavy household chores because of ill health and advanced age has taught Simbarashe to be self-sustainable as a ‘man’ before he comes of age.

Every morning he helps sweep the yard before tending to some flowers, fruit trees and garden at his grandmother’s un-electrified one-roomed house in Mkhosana’s Mfelandawonye suburb in Victoria Falls.

Unfortunately, all his efforts often count for nothing because elephants constantly destroy the garden and trees. But, Simbarashe is not deterred, according to his grandmother.

“Simba is the one who tends the garden but unfortunately elephants regularly destroy the vegetables. He sweeps the yard and prepares the lawn and trees. He has managed to fence the garden using tree branches and everyday picks elephant dung which he hangs near vegetables to try and stop the elephants from the garden. I had given up on tending to the garden but we still have it because of Simba’s resilience,” she said.

She shares the incomplete one-roomed house with Simbarashe and her other granddaughter, Elizabeth aged nine.

Simbarashe did Grade Seven at Chamabondo Primary last year but failed to collect his results because he owed the school $335. He had also been removed from the Basic Education Assistance Module under unclear circumstances at Chamabondo hence owed fees.

As a school drop-out, Simbarashe focused on making sure his grandmother has firewood for cooking.

At 14, he has already learnt the art of evading arrest by Victoria Falls Anti-Poaching Unit rangers better known as Scorpions as they play cat and mouse in the bush while poaching firewood.

“He goes to fetch firewood in the wildlife-infested bush as we have no electricity. Because of the Scorpions he sometimes cuts small bushes nearby but still they can pounce anytime. Sometimes we buy from firewood vendors but municipal police have also raided us and took away the firewood. Just a few days ago Simba went into the bush to cut firewood with some neighbours and Scorpions chased after them,” said his grandmother.

Victoria Falls-based poet Mr Obert Dube who has paid school fees for more than 200 learners across Matabeleland North Province, identified Simbarashe and has cleared fees arrears for him so he could collect his Grade Seven results.

Mr Dube has also helped Simbarashe to secure a Form One place at Mosi-oa-Tunya High School and is mobilising to buy him uniforms and pay for his school fees.

The small boy aspires to be an agricultural extension officer.

“I want to be an extension officer and venture into farming because that is the only profession that can earn me a living. I want to be serious with agriculture at school,” he said with a ‘sad’ smile on his face.

While Simbarashe’s case is far from any form of abuse, some children in his situation have deserted their homes to become street kids or engage in crime.

Section 81 of the Zimbabwe Constitution 2013 states that every child (anyone below the age of 18) has a right to family or parental care, or to appropriate care when removed from the family environment, to be protected from economic and sexual exploitation, from child labour, and from mal-treatment neglect or any form of abuse, to education, health care services, nutrition and shelter.

The Children’s Act Chapter 5:06 defines neglect as including but not limited to failure to maintain a child and leaving the child or young person in the care of some other person or an institution and thereafter showing inadequate interest in the well-being of that child for a period in excess of one year, or failure to provide adequate supervision of that child.

The Convention on the Rights of a Child states that State parties shall take all appropriate legislative, administrative, social and educational measures to protect the child from all forms of physical or mental violence, injury or abuse, neglect or negligent treatment, maltreatment or exploitation, including sexual abuse, while in the care of parent(s), legal guardian(s) or any other person who has the care of the child.

Simbarashe sleeps in a toilet because the single room that his grandmother and Elizabeth sleep in is too small for the three of them.

A well-wisher had tried to build an adjoining room but stopped midway because of challenges with resources.

Elizabeth’s father Moses is based in South Africa and last visited two years ago.

Simbarashe’s grandmother was born in Mandawe near Solusi outside Bulawayo. She moved to Victoria Falls some 50 years ago.

She is one of the widows that benefitted from Mfelandawonye Housing Cooperative which assisted them acquire residential stands after they lost their houses to a clean-up operation in 2005.

“Moses works as a security guard in South Africa. He used to come home or send some money to take care of his daughter (Elizabeth) but now he hasn’t returned for the past two years. Simba’s mother Thoko is in Kadoma where she stays.

“She left some years back and doesn’t even call to check on her son. Simba doesn’t even remember talking to his mother who left him when he was in Grade Two and I struggled to get a birth certificate for him. I haven’t seen Julia (another of her children) who is in Lupane and I don’t even know her children.

“We get donations from well-wishers and we have come up with a timetable whereby we cook only once a day. We cook supper and leave something to eat the next morning as we wait for the next supper. I don’t remember when we last ate something for lunch,” said the 73-year old.

Some churches used to donate groceries to the family but have also been hampered by the lockdown.

“We want to thank Mr Obert Dube as he also brought us mealie-meal and for paying Simba’s school fees. I used to sell vegetables but got sick from a strange disease a few years ago when I started vomiting uncontrollably. For three months I would struggle even to go to church as I vomited non-stop especially if I tried to eat or drink anything. I couldn’t walk and was being carried to church or hospital.

“Doctors said I had hypertension and had developed wounds in my chest. I was almost dead but survived by the Grace of God. The problem is I can no longer work. Up to now I don’t take fizzy drinks and oily foods,” she said.

Her eldest daughter Lizzy who also stays in Victoria Falls sometimes visits to cook for the three, but said she was also constrained to help them financially as she is not working.

Life is usually difficult for children who live outside parental care as such children often struggle with access to basic needs including food and health services.

Some end up resorting to prostitution, child labour or drug abuse or criminal activity in order to fend for themselves.

Matabeleland North Provincial Social Welfare Officer Mr Macnon Chirinzepi said there are systems and structures on the ground to help such situations which need intervention of social protection as outlined in the National Social Protection Framework. — @ncubeleons