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Farai Dauramanzi–Herald Reporter
Along series of ill fortune now keeps an 82-year-old man and his adopted mentally-challenged daughter, whose age is unknown but is believed to be in her 50s, in a shack along Seke Road, reliant on well-wishers for food since neither is able to work.
The family has been living in a plastic shack along Seke Road at the industrial area south of Hatfield’s Maruta Shopping Centre since 2015 when they lost their home on a farm that was sold.
The Herald tracked the family to its base. Mr Zachariah Kaunde said he finds himself in the situation he is currently in due to the turn of events in his life as well as what he said were recurring misfortunes which have trailed him since childhood.
The octogenarian, who seems to be now senile, said he was born in 1941 in Kadoma to parents of Zambian origin and does not know any of his relatives.
“I am the only child in my family. My father died when I was still young, in 1951 and my mother died in 1952.
“I then came to Harare in 1959 in search of greener pastures. I secured a job as a tobacco picker at Arlington Farm where I worked until 2015, when the farm was sold.”
Mr Kaunde said he bumped into his adopted daughter Ms Judith Maphosa, who was then aged 10, by coincidence in 1982 at Mbare Musika after she had been dumped by her mother due to her mental challenges.
“I have never been married all my life and have no children. I did not get married due to the challenges I have been facing all my life.
“I picked up Judith, who was a young girl then, at Mbare Musika in 1982. I felt pity to see a mentally-challenged young child living alone at the rank and decided to adopt her.
“I went with her to the authorities and they gave me approval to take her in as my child and we have been living together since then,” said Mr Kaunde.
After the sale of Arlington Farm in 2015, he did not receive his pension under unclear circumstances.
Zachariah Kaunde and Judith Maphosa outside their shack. – Pictures: Kudakwashe Hunda.
“I do not know why misfortunes keep trailing me because all my other workmates received their pensions while I did not get mine.
“The former farm owner requested that I remain behind for three months looking after his property which he had left behind.
“Thieves then came one night and ransacked the property. I was injured on the leg when I tried to fight back. After the attack, I requested to get my pension, but my boss refused to give me,” he lamented.
He tried in vain to recover his pension. “I even went to the labour office and NSSA and was seemingly making some progress. However, the final nail came when I lost all my documents after my house was burnt down.
“I was then evicted from the house by the new land owners in June 2015 and have been staying here (along Seke Road) since then as I have nowhere else to go. If I had managed to get my pension, I would not have been here and living a better life,” he explained with tears swelling up in his eyes.
Mr Kaunde said that the two are currently surviving on the benevolence of well-wishers who bring them food and other necessities.
“We get food from well-wishers who will be passing by, but sometimes we go for days without eating.”
One of the well-wishers Mr Tafadzwa Karukuni (34), who lives in the adjacent Retreat suburb, said the homeless family’s situation was dire.
“I have befriended this family since last year and their situation is very sad. I visit them regularly and always bring them anything that I get. I am the one who also helps with plastic sheets to repair their structure.
“I hope they can be able to get help, in terms of accommodation, so that they live normal lives. They also need to be helped with food because they no longer work for themselves,” said Mr Karukuni.
Online Reporter