14 Zimbabwean Children Detained In Botswana For 48 Days Are Finally Reunited With Their Families
The parents of 14 Zimbabwean children from Tsholotsho, who were detained in Botswana for 48 days while trying to travel to South Africa without proper documents, said that they deeply regret the incident.
They said they have learned a valuable lesson and are committed to obtaining the necessary travel documentation in the future.
The children, who missed three weeks of school, were reunited with their families last Friday.
One parent, Milikani Moyo, originally from Sasedza Village and now residing in South Africa, told the Chronicle that he had nearly lost hope of ever seeing his child, a Form One student at Tshithatshawa Secondary School, again. He said:
I was overjoyed when my wife sent pictures of my child after the children were handed over to them. I was even beginning to doubt if they were alive because they did not want us to see them when we went there.
I will never take another chance again; I will try and put money together so that I get my child a passport.
Another parent, Nomalungelo Ndlovu from Msigwana Village said it was hard for her to imagine how her six-year-old child was coping without her. She said:
It is a risk that we had taken, but it backfired hard on me. My child is only six years old, and I do not know how he survived without me all this time.
We now have to work hard with their teachers to assist the children to catch up with others.
Councillor Esau Siwela said they will educate their community about the dangers of making children travel without relevant documents.
However, Criswell Nyakudya, the Matabeleland South Provincial Social Welfare Department Officer, said the parents of the children should have been arrested for facilitating their trafficking. Said Nyakudya:
It is illegal to go outside the country without proper documents and to let children travel without any adult accompanying them.
The parents and the omalayitsha who do that must be arrested for breaching the Children’s Act. Before they departed from Botswana, the director of social welfare in that country should have communicated with our director to alert us of the move.
The children should have been placed at the immigration centre so that proper profiling and investigations are done.
We could not turn them back when they were already in the country, but the law of dealing with the matter was not followed.
Zimbabwean parents frequently send their children to South Africa unaccompanied for various reasons.
One significant factor is the high cost of obtaining a passport in Zimbabwe. An ordinary passport, which takes seven days to process, costs US$150, while those in South Africa must pay US$250 at the Consulate in Johannesburg.
This financial burden makes it difficult for parents to secure proper documentation for their children.
During holiday periods, particularly in December, many Zimbabwean parents prefer their children to visit them in South Africa rather than return to Zimbabwe themselves. This leads to children travelling alone.
More: Pindula News
