Online Reporter
SO far, 15 Zimbabweans have been killed after being conned into becoming part of what are, for all practical purposes, private mercenary armies, although legally they might be called something fancier like a security and logistics contractor.
This is a whole new level in the continual attempt by some of the most unscrupulous people on this planet and their accomplices, who might well include Zimbabweans or other Africans.
In the past, there were numerous scams in Zimbabwe to recruit what turned out to be cheap maids kept in virtual slavery and often sexually exploited, although the initial social media advertisements painted a far more glowing picture of good jobs and educational opportunities.
Often there was a Zimbabwean agent of the scammers, who was able to add what appeared to be some back up for the fictional jobs and schools. On arrival, those recruited had their travel documents locked away, and were frequently confined to the premises of the employer the recruiter had assigned. Usually they were told they had to slave away until all travel and recruitment costs were paid up out of their miserable salaries, if these were ever paid.
Zimbabweans can show some gumption, and after several of those trapped managed to get word to their embassy, the whole story started unravelling and the Government moved swiftly to look after our own, track down those still being abused and bring everyone home. The police moved against the local recruiters, and while some skipped across a border, others were charged in court and jailed.
Major awareness and educational campaigns were put in place and, while we cannot say that particular evil has been abolished, it has certainly been drastically cut back. One smart effective move by Government was to encourage people wondering about a magnificent advertisement to phone the relevant Government office. The few legitimate concerns were known and the rest were known or suspected to be scams.
More recently, however, these scams have moved into totally new territory as war and local conflicts spread beyond traditional limits. The scammers often use the language of the few legitimate security consultants and service providers, who usually, in any case, like to recruit higher-end expertise from those who have completed a spell of real military service and who know what they are getting into.
The social media platforms and other open and untraceable public recruiting platforms are far vaguer and promise very good jobs in security, logistics and other services.
Those caught up in the scams find out the hard way that they are no different from conned young women becoming almost slave maids.
Their travel documents are taken away. They are drafted into some sort of military unit, usually run by an unscrupulous contractor, given a very brief training course in weapons and then sent to what amounts to a battle or conflict against real soldiers. So they die. The recruiter has already been paid and vanished with the money, and even the final contractor is only interested in their fee, not in results.
As Government had noted, while there are international agreements forbidding the hiring of mercenaries, there are legitimate ways of recruiting foreigners. The actual provisions of the treaties demand that these foreign recruits cannot be paid more than the local national military, which is why the French Foreign Legion is totally legal, and have to be treated the same and trained the same.
There have arisen newer security companies, but only a few being legitimate and they certainly do not recruit on social media, rather using proper methods to find the sort of time-expired former military types they want, with no one being conned.
It is probably true to say that almost any job advertised on social media, is likely to be some sort of con, and certainly needs to be thoroughly investigated before any application is made.
Legitimate businesses rarely recruit on social media, although many companies and concerns now have a very-carefully worded page on their own web sites explaining how they recruit for different types of work and how anyone interested can learn more. These are normally backed by the names and email addresses of real people.
Sometimes even specific jobs are offered but again, almost always on a company website, not just floating around in social space. Again there is transparency and accountability, so people can check and find out whether the company is a reasonable employer.
People should also realise that targeted recruitment for the better jobs is the norm. IF you want to hire doctors, nurses, lawyers or engineers you will try to place legitimate advertisements, always on your own website and sometimes extended to the e-journals of the desired profession, where someone will have at least done a preliminary check.
