But while others labour away in comfortable offices or mechanical workshops, Elizabeth walks the streets with a metal plate, joined by many thousands of children and disabled and visually impaired people who throng our cities to scratch a living from begging.
A blind mother of two, Elizabeth stands at busy intersections while her children Tatenda (12) and Tavonga (9) run from car to car begging for money. They also wash cars and sell cigarettes as a way of survival. Peter Makoni, also visually impaired, begs for money at the popular Meikles Park. He sings gospel tunes and plays a box guitar.
“Life in Zimbabwe is worsening by the day and there is no one to look after my children. I tried to get help from the Ministry of Public Service Labour and Social Welfare but to no avail,” said Elizabeth. She also tried to get assistance from various Non Governmental Organisations, but due to political interference many have abandoned their food relief programmes.
“We were labelled MDC supporters by the traditional leaders in my home area (Chivi). So when the relief food was distributed, they side-lined us. I became hopeless and desperate and decided as a last resort to come to beg here,” she said.
“I used to sleep in the backyards and sometimes would sleep in the shop verandahs in Chivi before I came to Mutare. I met a business woman, Sharon Dhliwayo who felt sorry for me. I lived in one room with my two children in Sakubva where Mrs Dhliwayo used to pay rent for me. But, sadly she has relocated to America and we are now surviving from handouts from well-wishers,” added Elizabeth.
“The government should ensure that the rights and other issues affecting the lives of people living with disabilities are uplifted. That is what I call independence. There are many issues that need to be addressed to improve the lives of people living with disabilities.”
She and Makoni, who is from Zaka, have now started selling boiled eggs.
Makoni felt that disabled people should have free access to health and education. “We cannot have people going to the Department of Social Welfare every time to be given letters so that they can access health services, but they never receive anything,” he said, adding that the absence of a law binding a specific ministry to take care of the needs of the disabled was disadvantaging them.
“I have witnessed cases were disabled people are being forced to move from one government department to another to have certain issues attended to. There is need for people living with disabilities to speak with one voice so that issues affecting them can be seriously addressed,” he said.
The Zimbabwe Handicapped Association said it had noted an increase in the number of disabled people flocking to urban areas in search of survival.
Simon Chipere, the Executive Director, said: “The increased advent of these vulnerable groups is a cause for concern to us. It clearly reflects the great tragedy that is in Zimbabwe today. There should be humanitarian mechanisms in place to assist the disabled. The government should know that disability is as old as creation, but what really has been done to improve the lives of people living with disability?”
He called for serious activism among members so that issues affecting them can be heard and addressed.
Post published in: News