HARARE Children are silent victims of the chaotic land reform programme in Zimbabwe with the government conveniently keeping mum over the plight of children, most of whom are left homeless after reallocation of farmlands. Here at Chigwell Farm, just outside Chegutu, along the main Harare-Bulawayo Road, life has become a daily nightmare for seven year-old Lazarus Kabefu (not his real name). He should be spending the day with other children in a grade two class. Instead, he is helping his brother work on the neighbouring farms. Lazarus parents were displaced from a nearby farm at the height of the land reform programme in 2005. Unfortunately, they succumbed to the AIDS pandemic two years ago, leaving the little boy in the care of his two brothers, both under the age of 18.
Nothing guarantees the Kabefus settlement here at Chigwell, a farm now owned by former deputy minister of Information, Bright Matonga. Together with another 150 people also displaced they have made abandoned tobacco barns their home. Lazarus, wearing a mucky grey cotton t-shirt and a pair of tattered shorts, is busy digging the ground in hopes of finding mice to sell along the busy roadside.
His day like any other started at five oclock in the morning. Along with his brothers, he went out into the now idle fields to search for mice holes. Again, there are no guarantees there will beenough catch for them to eat and to sell. On a good day, they make US$5 enough to buy sugar (2kg), cooking oil (750ml) and salt. We sell the mice at 50cents each so that we can get some money to buy food, he says.
At least 1000 Lazaruses live in Zimbabwe, silent victims and sufferers of the pain of eviction and retrenchment on Zimbabwes farms. A survey conducted at 10 farm schools in Chegutu by the General Agriculture and Plantation Workers Union of Zimbabwe (GAPWUZ) revealed that about 400 children had dropped out of school mostly because their parents were victims of displacement caused by a wave of farm invasions, some as recent as 2009.
Currently rural schools are charging between US$10 and US$30 per term.
Then there is an additional US$1 per day incentive for teachers. But even if one is employed, US$55 per month is not enough to send one child to school.
The sun sets on Chigwell Farm, burying Lazarus dreams of a Big City life.
What is the child labour issue in your area, what can community, government and civic society organisations do to end child labour?
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Post published in: Opinions