adminThe arid Limpopo Valley in southern Chikombedzi District, Masvingo Province, is not only synonymous with recurrent and devastating droughts due to the inclement climate but also remarkable for the close cultural and economic links of the Shangaan people with South Africa.
This proximity has led to continuous migration to and from South Africa by locals.
The Limpopo Valley is an arid belt that stretches from Tshovani and Gudo communal lands to the east to Sengwe communal lands in the south.
While traditionally able-bodied men would cross the Limpopo for greener pastures, recent years have seen teenage boys joining the great trek to South Africa in search of greener pastures.
This has had a devastating effect on the education system as school enrolment has dwindled, especially for final examinations with some drop-outs of 30 pupils per month.
Secondary schools in the Limpopo Valley such as Hlanganani, Dhumisani, Malipati, Gezani, Chilonga and Mupinga are some of the worst affected by falling enrolment owing to the great trek. The total student population at some of these schools has been in a free-fall, even hitting lows of less than 150 students in some cases.
While officials in the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education claim the number of students sitting for their O-Level examinations has been picking up of late in the Limpopo Valley, the figures are still appallingly low, with a handful of students sitting for their final exams at some schools.
During the 2011 O-Level examinations as few as 11 students reportedly sat for their final exams in one of the classes at Dhumisani Secondary school, with the rest having dropped out during the course of the year to join the great trek. This low enrolment is also partly the reason why the Limpopo Valley has the lowest density of secondary schools in Masvingo province.
Thomas Ndarwei of Mupinga village in Chiredzi is one of th e many boys that have dropped out of school.
“I did not write my exams at Hlanganani in 2012 because besides the fact that my parents did not have money to pay my fees, I had hardly attended classes that year after going to South Africa in February to look for work.
“I only returned around August of the same year after the going got tough in Limpopo Province where I was employed to feed chicks at a farm,’’ said the 18-year-old.
Justice Mukwinya (19) of Muteyo village says most teenage boys abandon school just after completing their Grade 7 and this partly explains why primary schools in the Limpopo Valley such as Gwaivhi, Benzi, Mwenje, Dhavata, Muteyo among others have generally high enrolment which however does not spill into secondary schools.
“I stopped going to school after completing my Grade 7 and I am surviving on piece jobs and very soon I will be going to South Africa where I am sure I will secure a job to pick grapes in the vineyards. I want to come back and buy cattle and then marry a wife,’’ he says.
The mass movement of teenagers from the Limpopo Valley to South Africa has created brisk business for cross-border small truck drivers who are bagging tens of thousands of rands transporting them across the border – and making a killing out of it.
A small pick-up truck can carry between ten to twelve boys meaning about R12 000 for the owner per trip. Those who struggle to raise enough money for transport have to brave floods and crocodiles while crossing Runde and Mwenezi rivers using home-made canoes to make their 150km journey through Malipati in the southernmost tip of Chikombedzi from where they illegally enter South Africa.
The majority, however, use the highway which takes them through the Beitbridge border post where they are smuggled out.
James Mvalume (42) of Masekesa village in Tshovani said the great trek to South Africa by teenagers was a worrying trend he thinks will continue for the foreseeable future.
“We are alarmed at the rate at which young people are leaving school to work in South Africa and they risk their lives crossing big and crocodile-infested rivers. All they need to do is raise the 1000 rand that is charged by ‘deliveries’ and they are gone,’’ said Mr Mvalume.
Chief Tshovani, Mr Hlaisi Mundau, said traditional leaders have given up hope of stopping the migration of young boys and girls who are leaving school to look for work in South Africa.
The chief said they even introduced periodic meetings with parents to convince children on the importance of completing education to no avail.
“There are no more young men and women. All of them are going to South Africa, very few care about school. It’s everyone’s dream to go and work in South Africa and bring back a bicycle, clothes, groceries and marry a wife and then go back again. This has been a long standing tradition passed from generation to generation since time immemorial,” he said. He attributed the trek to the relative ease with which Shangaan people could be assimilated in the South African society. Masvingo provincial education director Mrs Fadzai Jirivengwa echoed the same sentiments saying the close cultural and economic ties between Shangaan in the Limpopo Valley and South Africa were partly to blame for the great trek.
“We are very much concerned with the low enrolment because of the high number of young people who are leaving school to work in South Africa.
“While most girls drop out because of early marriages in the area (Limpopo Valley), boys take a cue from their seniors who would have made it by going to South Africa and they think they can also do the same,’’ she said.
Mrs Jirivengwa, however, said over the past few years there had been a gradual drop in students leaving school for South Africa in the Limpopo Valley, a situation she attributed to interventions to change the mindsets of local towards education. She says the ministry and other organisations will continue to conduct workshops teaching communities in the Limpopo Valley about the importance of education.
- Feedback:[email protected]
Online Reporter