The Sunday News
Tinomuda Chakanyuka, Senior Reporter
HOME Affairs Deputy Minister Cde Obedingwa Mguni has warned Zimbabweans to be on the lookout for dubious employment and studying opportunities offered in foreign countries as they are used by human traffickers to prey on their victims.
His warning comes in the wake of a number of Zimbabweans having been forced into prostitution, drug trafficking and forced labour in foreign countries after being offered fake university scholarships and employment opportunities.
Cde Mguni said this while speaking at the World Day Against Trafficking in Persons commemorations at Large City Hall in Bulawayo yesterday where he was the Guest of Honour. He also spoke against Zimbabweans who work in South Africa who invite their juvenile children who do not have passports to visit the neighbouring country during school holidays.
“We have Zimbabweans who were trafficked to India and are now being charged with drug trafficking there. They were offered jobs and as they were travelling to that country they had their bags stashed with drugs. Some had been offered scholarships to study abroad, only to realise that the scholarship does not exist upon arriving in that foreign country. They end up being forced into prostitution, forced labour and some into drug trafficking. When the traffickers are done with them they report their victims as illegal immigrants and they end up being locked up in those foreign countries,” he said.
Cde Mguni said people should check with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the authenticity of scholarship and employment advertisements that come out in the media. He said some of the adverts for scholarships were being placed by agents with pending human trafficking cases at the courts. Cde Mguni added that the country’s human trafficking laws should be amended to allow expeditious prosecution of perpetrators and remove bail options for suspect.
“We urge our people to be careful and not follow these agencies. We have the Ministry of Foreign Affairs which people can always check with whenever an advert for a scholarship to study abroad comes out. Some of these adverts are put in the media by agents who will be out on bail. They continue with their criminal act and we are saying no, the laws should be amended. Suspects of human trafficking should not be given bail,” he said.
Cde Mguni reiterated the Government’s commitment to protect citizens from human trafficking. Speaking at the same function, the principal director in the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Mr Simon Masanga who was standing in for Minister Prisca Mupfumira said the Government was prepared to rehabilitate victims of human trafficking. He said the Government was already assisting some of the women who were trafficked to Kuwait and were rescued early this year.
“The Government is working with various partners to support victims of human trafficking to rehabilitate them. We have assisted the women who were rescued from Kuwait to start income generating projects. Each has been given $1 500 to start their projects. Such programmes should continue and we need to mobilise more resources to continue supporting victims of human trafficking,” he said.
Representative of the United States Ambassador to Zimbabwe Mr Harry Thomas, at the commemorations, Ms Krista Fisher said Zimbabwe’s rankings in human trafficking had improved this year, moving from tier three to tier two.
Tier three ranks the worst cases of human trafficking, while tier two lists countries that are not meeting the minimum standards set by the Polamo Protocol to fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking, and tier one is for countries with the best practices.
“On behalf of the US Ambassador, I’d like to congratulate Zimbabwe on the work done so far. The work you are doing for survivors is commendable. Zimbabwe was upgraded to the tier two watch list. In the coming year we hope to see more traffickers being convicted under the Trafficking in Persons Act of 2014. We also hope that the law will be amended in line with the Polamo Protocol,” she said.
International Organisation for Migration (IOM) chief of Mission to Zimbabwe Ms Lily Sanya, representatives from UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), members of Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Defence and Home Affairs and senior Government officials, among other dignitaries graced the event.
The commemorations were held under the theme “Let’s Act Now To Protect Victims of Trafficking”. -@irielyan
