Poverty drives pupils to gold panning

Factmore Dzobo
UNDER the blistering heat, children with mud caked faces work in red waters alongside elderly men and women drenched in perspiration in search of gold.Children as young as 13 carry buckets of wet sand for sifting a spitting distance from the river while two youngsters stand on a high beacon with their eyes roving, ready to alert others of any police approach.

After hearing the sound of our approaching vehicle, everyone downed their tools and scurried for cover, fearing it was an impending police raid.

Such is the life of people living in the drought-prone areas of Insiza in Matabeleland South Province where day-to-day survival has become a full time struggle.

Many pupils in the area have dropped out of school to join gold panning as a result of grinding poverty.
This is despite efforts by government to fulfil Goal 2 of the Millennium Development Goals to achieve unimpeded universal primary education.

It seems gold panning has become their only common weapon of fighting starvation.
Insiza river banks and Damkhaya area in Ukuzwisisa village ward 2 have become synonymous with abandoned deep pits and mounds of residual gold ore left by gold panners.

Gogo Kezi Mlala of Ukuzwisisa village ward 2 said she was facing starvation together with her three grandchildren whose parents died in 2005.

“I am a widow looking after three grandchildren after their parents died of HIV and Aids related diseases. These children (pointing to one of her grandchildren) dropped out of school and we are going together to search for gold along Insiza River. We have no money for schools fees or food. I am finding it difficult to engage in gold panning given my age but I have no option,” said Gogo Mlalazi.

She is one of the many widows that are struggling to fend for their families following successive poor harvests.
“I am appealing for assistance in the form of food and cash to send my grandchildren to school. Last year we did not harvest anything because of poor rains and we are in urgent need of food.

“Panning is no longer viable because of incessant rains which are making it difficult to continue panning,” said Gogo Mlalazi.
Chief Ndube, under whose jurisdiction wards 1, 2, 14 and 15 fall, lamented the increase in the number of school drop-outs in the area as a result of poverty.

“Parents have no money to send their children to school and many children have since joined elders engaged in gold panning. It is now difficult for most of the elderly parents to fend for their children as gold panning (ukutsheketsha) is now the only source of income. Most of the elderly parents are widows solely looking after their grandchildren after their parents succumbed to HIV/Aids related diseases,” said chief Ndube.

The chief appealed to government to fund self-help projects such as irrigation and poultry schemes as a way of helping the poverty-stricken communities.

“Government should avail funds to enable communities to venture into income generating projects. This is the only way government can stop gold panning and prostitution,” said the chief.

Some girls that have dropped from school have found the going tough in gold panning and have therefore resorted to prostitution.
“The problem of poverty and long distances to school is forcing many children to drop out of school. They cannot afford to walk long distances to school due to hunger. Most of our children walk about 15 to 20km everyday to Filabusi and Tshazi High School which are the only nearest secondary schools in the district,” said Phikelela village head, Margret Gumbo.

She said another problem was that of high fees being demanded by schools. She said many parents were relying on gold panning could not afford the astronomical fees.

“Schools are very expensive, with most of them charging fees ranging from $70 to $100 for secondary education. Most of the parents are failing to raise it despite panning, resulting in many children dropping-out of school,” she said. The Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education recently said plans to reduce distance between schools were on course after it secured $17 million for the project.

At least 30 new primary and secondary schools are expected to be constructed countrywide. The government hopes to reduce the distance walked by pupils to between 3km and 5km.

The initiative which is also in line with the Zanu-PF manifesto which states that the party intends to build 300 schools in five years is also expected to reduce the number of school drop outs.

A teacher at Msithi Primary School in ward 2, who requested anonymity, said poor attendance had become the norm at most of the schools in the district.

“Some pupils come to school once or twice a week because most of the days they will be panning for gold with their parents.
Some pupils faint in class and we suspect it is because of hunger. Efforts are also under way to engage parents and the legislator to pave the way forward on what should be done to solve this problem of low turnout at most schools,” he said.

Norman Simango (14) who said he was staying with his grandmother following the death of his parents said he dropped out of school when he was in Form One because of financial constraints.

He said he was now a breadwinner for his two siblings after his neighbour who is working in South Africa employed him as a herd boy.
“My grandmother is a vendor at Theleka Business Centre. I dropped out of school when I was in Form One because my grandmother failed to raise the school fees. Now I am a herd boy, looking after my grandmother and my two siblings.”

A widow, Modecai Ngwenya, a mother of five, said drought had reduced them to beggars and gold panners.
“We want the government to help us with food  and school fees. My three children failed to go to secondary because I cannot afford the fees,” said Ngwenya

Many of the villagers are expecting the newly elected Member of Parliament for the Insiza South constituency Malachi Nkomo (Zanu-PF) to start fulfilling his promises to improve their welfare.

Malachi Nkomo has promised to assist the starving communities to start self-help projects.
“I want to assist the people in my constituency to start income generating projects as part of efforts to fight poverty. I have already held meetings with councillors and the district administrator to map the way forward as I have already identified donors that are willing to assist,” he said.

Nkomo however appealed to people in his constituency to be patient as he puts in place mechanisms to roll out his development programme.

According to last year’s school dropout statistics for Matabeleland South province which were presented by an official from the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education, at least 3,000 children dropped out of school in the province during the year.

Gwanda District has the highest number of school dropouts with 1,130 of which 455 were from primary schools and 675 from secondary.