The ManicaPost
Tendai Gukutikwa Post Correspondent
CHILD rights groups have raised the red flag on the increasing number of street urchins from Mozambique who have flooded Mutare and Chipinge creating social problems in the two urban settlements.
The homeless youths — some as young as four years — are crossing into the country on a daily basis.
This was revealed by Simukai Child Protection Programme director, Mrs Francesca Matsanga, during the belated Day of the Street Child in Mutare last Friday.
She said the minors were running away from poverty and a litany of other social ills they are being subjected to back home. Mrs Matsanga said the obtaining situation has degenerated into national disaster which should be quickly addressed.
In Mutare, the homeless teenagers have turned into vendors and they retire to bed on the pavements, exposing themselves to the cold weather.
Mrs Matsanga said her organisation was working together with Zimbabwean and Mozambican authorities to provide shelter for the children as well as unite them with their families.
“We are working with the immigration authorities of both countries and the Ministry of Social Welfare in order to take care of the plight of these children. They need rehabilitation so that at the end of the day they are able to make sound decisions on whether they should go back home or continue working and living in the streets.”
She said the children were fleeing poverty and an array of abusive situations prevailing in their country.
“These children are fleeing countless abusive situations from their homes and to them the streets are a safe haven. It is our duty to help lessen the number of children living in the streets.
“In some instances, the street children are subjected to all forms of societal ills like prostitution, drug abuse and sexual harassment, but we do everything possible to see that there is a roof back on their heads and they are counselled and rehabilitated,” she said.
