The Sunday News
Rumbidzai Mbewe, Sunday News Correspondent
At the tender age of 13, most parents aspire for their children to receive an education, excel in their studies, and build a promising future. However, in Gwayi, Matabeleland North province, young girls are facing a distressing reality.
Truck drivers have illicitly set up a truck stop at the Cross Gwayi Shopping Centre along the Victoria Falls Highway, where they are engaging in various illegal activities, including exploiting under-age children.
There are reports of these drivers, leveraging their financial influence on the economically disadvantaged community, engaging in extramarital relationships and disrupting marriages while asserting impunity due to their monetary contributions to the area.
With no designated overnight parking truck stop in place, the drivers have encroached onto an open area at the shopping centre, to establish their makeshift stop, prompting villagers to voice concerns and alert the local community about the dangers posed by the trucks.
“Besides the immorality that the truck drivers are fuelling, the trucks are a danger to the community. Recently, my child was knocked over by one of the trucks and had his leg broken four times.
“I had to spend more than US$2 000 for my child’s treatment, as I had to take her to a specialist doctor in Zambia,” said the area councillor, Senzeni Sibanda.
Clr Sibanda said the trucks are parking on roadsides and sometimes encroaching onto the road causing accidents.
She said there is a need to work on bringing sanity to the shops, to avoid the occurrence of road accidents.
“If these trucks parked properly and respected road regulations, we would not be talking about this but we notice that they are not worried about the safety of the people in this area. I am a living testimony of this carelessness and I would not want anyone to go through what I went through,” she said.
The councillor revealed that the truck drivers were now leading to the decay of morality within their community, noting that young girls were now turning into prostitution after being misled by the truck drivers’ financial muscle.
“These young girls who are exposed to this life, no longer respect their elders. This is because they now think they are adults and some of them are providing for their families, hence they think they can do as they please.
“This night-life is depriving us as a community of future lawyers, doctors, engineers and nurses because these children do not see the need to further their studies but are relying on these men for money,” she said.
One of the villagers said the truck drivers should not be allowed to park at the shops overnight but a truck stop should be built by the local authority for them to park overnight.
“Our young girls are being exposed to sexual activities by these older men, who lure them with money. So much immorality is happening at the shopping centre and not only is it our girls, but our wives are also sleeping in those trucks,” said Mr Lawrence Moyo.
Mr Moyo said when they first moved to the area, trucks did not park there but just passed through.
He went on to say that he was not against the truck parking for a short while and in a proper manner, but they should not sleep over at the shops.
“We are not saying these trucks must not park here but they must respect the community and road rules. Commuters can’t even stand by the roadside to catch lifts because these trucks would have blocked even bus stops. Road regulations are not being observed as these truck drivers are just doing as they please.
“Besides parking in undesignated places, they are destroying families, even married women are also venturing into this immorality because these men are very generous when it comes to giving out money. We all know that everybody requires money and who would say no to that,” he said.
Mrs Shelter Vengesai, said another solution would be for the local bars to close earlier.
“The bars close late and that is one reason that causes the truck drivers to stop over and prey on these young girls as well as married women. If the business community can look into this issue and have their bars close at a reasonable time maybe this problem can be minimised,” she said.
