Chronicle Editor
Yoliswa Dube-Moyo, Matabeleland South Bureau Chief
There is growing concern among people living in the West Nicholson area, Gwanda District, over some guardians who are said to be forcing minors under their care into sex work.
Locals said as a result, the minors, some as young as 14, end up dropping out of school in order to fend for the family.
Some of the minors are shipped to Beitbridge where they stay for months before they can be allowed to go back home.
A local who spoke to Chronicle said many parents were leaving their children in the care of guardians who then introduce them to sex work.
“Many parents would have made the great trek to South Africa to look for work. In some cases they go for years without ever coming back to check on their children. Some of these children are orphans and their guardians just exploit them. In order to keep the household running, some of these guardians who are unemployed take advantage of these children and get them into sex work,” said Ms Eunice Mthombeni.
Sadly, she said, many of the girls get pregnant within a few months of starting the sex work.
“These girls are so young and they don’t know about contraceptives. I doubt they can negotiate for safe sex such as insisting on the use of condoms. They are as a result exposed to HIV and STIs,” said Ms Mthombeni.
She said most of these children face a bleak future because of this abuse.
“Imagine bringing another mouth into a family that’s already struggling. It’s really sad to watch. Interventions are needed to save such children,” said Ms Mthombeni.
Another local, Mrs Nomathemba Ndlovu said the community has failed to save young girls involved in sex work.
“We know them and we know where they stay. We know their guardians, some of them spend the whole day everyday drinking at the bar here. People are however, scared to confront them while in some cases, efforts have been made to try and involve the police to no avail,” said Mrs Ndlovu.
She said a significant number of community members watch helplessly.
“There are no youth programmes in this area that can keep our children busy such that it becomes easy to sway them into sex work and other criminal activities,” said Mrs Ndlovu.
In addition to rampant sex work among young girls, West Nicholson is notorious for high murder cases and illegal gold mining.
Gwanda Central MP Mr Patrick Dube said stakeholders need to come together to address the challenges in the area.
“These problems are as a result of the business activities in the area. If you go further down, there’s a place called Mbembesi, just after West Nicholson. There are lots of people there and the set-up is uncontrolled. You can’t control all those people as an individual. All stakeholders need to come together and come up with solutions. The situation is similar to what’s happening at Greenland in Gwanda town. So many criminal activities are happening there,” said Mr Dube.
According to Msasa Project, nearly 41 percent of females and seven percent of males aged below 18 had unwanted intercourse on the first sexual experience.
Between the period 2020 to date Musasa Project has handled 604 reported cases of teen pregnancies.
Statistics from The Ministry of Health and Child Care show that from January to June, of the 267 teenage pregnancies recorded in Matabeleland South, a majority of them were reported in Umzingwane (61) and Beitbridge (60) followed by Bulilima (58), Matobo (57), Gwanda (51) and Mangwe (48).
The lowest pregnancies were recorded in Insiza, which had a total of 31 girls aged below 16 giving birth.
Besides the high number of teenage girls getting pregnant, Matabeleland South also has the highest HIV prevalence in Zimbabwe. – @Yolisswa
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