Mugabe orphanage looted by war vets

Chonyera, the assistant matron of the orphanage, relates vividly the horrors she and more than 100 children faced in 2008 after the government failed to provide assistance as expected. The orphanage degenerated into a Dickens-style homeless centre where the children would go for days without food and many died due to nutrition-related complications and other diseases.

There was no food and we used to fight a lot. Some of the bigger boys would beat you and take the little food that you were given and you would go to bed hungry, said one of the children.

Chonyera said: Sometimes a well-wisher would provide some vegetables but there was no mealie meal and the children would go to bed after eating vegetables only. It was heart-rending.

She said many of the children coming to the home had already been weakened by living on the streets, which is why they succumbed to diseases. Many were emotionally unstable after suffering sexual and other forms of abuse on the streets.

A lot of them did not trust or respect authority and were sure they had been brought here to be starved to death as punishment for their crime of vagrancy and begging on the streets of Harare. Many of the children fled back onto the dirty streets to scavenge for scraps of food, even if that meant losing a roof over their heads.

Condemnation

Hastily set up as a childrens home some 35 kilometres east of Harare in 1986 by the former First Lady and former Harare mayor Charles Tawengwa to rid the streets of homeless children ahead of an international conference, the orphanage initially received widespread condemnation from rights groups.

Many suspected the children were being taken to a labour farm similar to those set up in the Soviet Union during the days of communism. A lot of the children rounded up fled soon after being deposited at home set up on a farm previously used by demobilised female combatants of Zimbabwes 1970s independence war.

The official version of events, still touted to this day, is that out of compassion, the then First Lady decided to host a Christmas Party for the children. It is claimed that many of the children who attended the party decided to stay on at the farm as they had nowhere else to go.

That is far from the truth. The correct version, verified by experts at the time, was that the government was nervous about the ugly state of Harare as it prepared to host an international conference.

According to this version of events, officials were worried that foreign dignitaries would be exposed to beggars, thieves and vagrants, giving a bad impression of the Mugabe and his government. Tawengwa, it is said, then masterminded a clean-up of the capitals streets. This resulted in dozens of children being arrested in a joint city council-police operation.

However, following protests that the childrens rights had been violated as they had been removed to a place far from their original location, churches were allowed to take part in running the institution. They provided food, counseling and education. But most of groups that used to assist the childrens home have long since stopped.

Looting

According to a recent UN World Food Programme report, the orphanage was able then to sustain itself through farming operations.

The report says: From the time the institution started operating as a children’s home in 1997, it was self-sufficient, operating lucrative piggery, poultry and cattle-rearing.

Crop production was also a major source of food and income since the institution is sitting on a 12-hectare farm that was donated to the First Lady at the time by a white commercial farmer. Proceeds from the farms diversified activities were enough to cover all the requirements for the institution, from salaries for employees to food, fees and clothes for the inmates amongst other costs.

The situation changed drastically in 2000 after the government initiated its controversial land reform programme.

Activities took a downturn after the departure of the British-born farm manager during 2000 land seizures. Production ceased, farming equipment and animals were stolen and vandalised and considerable donations stopped since the farm manager was also instrumental in sourcing funding from donors. On the other hand, contributions from central government were eroded by inflation, the WFP report says.

The relief agency adds that unfavourable weather conditions in combination with lack of technical farming skills, shortage of agricultural inputs worsened the situation as crop yields were drastically reduced.

The home had to rely on a market riddled with shortages for supplies. When the food supply situation improved, they still faced shortages of hard currency to buy food.

The home survived on begging from local farmers, churches and well-wishers but donations were not enough to feed over 100 people housed in the home whilst employees went for months without salaries. As a result, food security at the home continued to deteriorate, justifying the intervention by WFP through its co-operating partner Help Age Zimbabwe, the report said.

World Food Programme

The WFP working with partner organisations has since stepped into to assist the 115 children staying at the Nehanda home. Each of the children at Nehanda receives a monthly ration of cereals, pulses, vegetable oil and corn soya blend, an enriched flour used to make nutritious porridge.

Although food shortages now appear to be a thing of the past at the centre, the home is still saddled with numerous problems. Deaths and illness remain the biggest concern, with officials saying many of the children are already infected with diseases by the time they move into the home.

Many of the children are sick when they come here. You know how it is on the street. Some are living with HIV/AIDS. Two boys who died here had been sodomised and they were very sick when they came, Chonyera said.

Adonis Faifi, an official with the Help Age group said the children, especially girls, lacked things that could make their lives more comfortable, such as clothes and sanitary pads which food donors could not provide, but which were essential for life.

Rodwell Chitewe, a worker at the farm for 19 years and now employed by the orphanage showed this correspondent the horrific carnage caused by war veterans and senior Zanu (PF) officials.

We used to grow maize, beans and vegetables for our own consumption and for sale. In 2002 we used to have 38 cattle, mostly dairy cows. We could sell the milk and buy vaccines and other supplies. Today we are left with four cows producing only 10 litres of milk a day. Many of our calves die because we cannot afford vaccines, said Chitewe.