Source: WORRY OVER MISGUIDED LEARNERS | Sunday Mail
Veronica Gwaze
IT is Friday evening, and Joina City and surrounding areas are a hive of activity.
Eateries within the area are busy as patrons select and buy their favourite food. Orders are taking a bit longer to clear due to the sheer number of customers.
Meanwhile, vehicles — mostly posh ones — are dangerously parked, blocking sections of surrounding roads, particularly Angwa Street.
At face value, this looks like a normal busy day, with people enjoying themselves. However, this is not entirely the case.
This picture collage shows a learner before and after she had changed her school uniform at a local eatery
Investigations by The Sunday Mail Society reveal some “unholy” activities taking place within the area have become a major drawcard, particularly for perverts and paedophiles.
Some of the supposed patrons are, in fact, high school learners who are dabbling in prostitution.
The area around Joina City has become a convenient pickup point for some learners, particularly weekly boarders, who allegedly engage in drug- and prostitution-inspired hook-ups.
Weekly boarding learners spend four nights at school and are expected to go home every Friday for the weekend.
Trend
After checking out from school, some wayward learners are capitalising on the time to connect with potential clients.
Reports suggest they initially linked up through social media, before physically meeting at Joina City.
But with the passage of time, the area has become infamous for illegal hook-ups. It is now easy for one to visit the place and walk away with a “date” without prior arrangement.
To avoid easy detection by school or other relevant authorities, the learners quickly change from their school attire into plain clothes in toilets in the vicinity. At times, they pay a small fee to access the facilities.
Older men driving fancy cars could be seen picking up the young girls for different destinations for a “weekend getaway”.
“This is sad. It is now not unusual to see these learners going into the toilets to change from their school uniforms. They are involved in high-class prostitution. Some of them have become regulars here,” said an employee from a reputable eatery.
With many parents migrating to the diaspora for the proverbial greener pastures, most children have been left exposed to many social ills.
While some are said to book into lodges and hotels for their shenanigans, others allegedly use their parents’ homes as they are now under caretakers.
Some children are said to get full-time boarding fees from their parents but covertly pay weekly boarding fees, which is relatively cheaper, and pocket the difference.
“From regular interactions with them, we have realised that some of the learners are paying weekly boarding fees when their parents believe they are full-time boarders.
“This then gives them time to engage in unnoticed mischief throughout the term. It is a case of the schools wrongly assuming learners are at home and parents thinking their children are safe at school.”
One of the learners, only identified as Shylet, said: “I was introduced to this place by a colleague from school. Since then, I frequently meet with my associates for fun.”
It gets worse.
Unscrupulous accommodation providers have teamed up with the juveniles as they are seemingly boosting business through increased bookings.
Apart from providing them with bases for their hook-ups, some lodge operators are “selling” the girls online through various social media platforms using tag lines like “a weekend out with fresh souls”.
Erick Serima, who owns a lodge in Milton Park, said their hands are tied as they find themselves between a rock and a hard place.
“It is difficult to restrict clients based on age. Besides, the bookings are made by the older men and sometimes women whom they come with, pretending to be a family. However, the older women, after being paid, later sneak out, leaving the pair alone. It is difficult for us to be too strict since we are in business,” he said.
Hotels and lodge operations are regulated by the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) but criminal cases should be reported to law- enforcement agents.
“Our mandate is to license establishments but we do not control their operations. It is the operator’s responsibility to have clear-cut rules in their operations. They know what is right or wrong based on prescribed laws of the nation. However, we always encourage ethical behaviour among operators,” said ZTA spokesperson Godfrey “Chief” Koti.
Loopholes
Learners from two popular schools in Harare (names withheld) have been identified as major culprits.
An official from one of the affected institutions acknowledged the challenge.
“Yes, we have received reports and we are trying our best to deal with the issue. The challenge is, once a child leaves our school premises, it becomes difficult for us to monitor their activities,” said the school official.
Most schools interviewed by this publication said they were only accountable for learners on their premises and those caught offside in school uniform, regardless of the place.
But there are also cases of seasoned prostitutes who are now capitalising on the trend, masquerading as schoolchildren.
“There have been suggestions that we do not release learners unless a known parent or guardian comes to collect them, and we are seriously considering implementing that.
“Something needs to be done urgently because the rot is spreading. I had to call a colleague from a local school recently, reporting two of their learners, after spotting them in a compromising position. The learners have since been suspended.”
The Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education said it is yet to receive official reports as most of the cases have been addressed at school level.
However, director of communications and advocacy in the ministry, Mr Taungana Ndoro, said it is not the responsibility of schools to monitor children’s activities outside learning premises.
“Unfortunately, if a learner is not in school uniform, we do not have the powers to question them. Therefore, we need to work together with the public; let us expose and help stop such ills. The older men, who are the perpetrators, need to be reported so that they face the law,” said Mr Ndoro.
A learner caught engaging in prostitution or consuming drugs/alcohol while dressed in school uniform, he added, faces expulsion.
Zimbabwe Schools Development Association/Committees’ secretary-general Mr Evaristo Jongwe said most educational institutions are battling these challenges.
He attributed this to loopholes in the country’s laws and broken-down family ties.
“It is now difficult to reprimand a neighbour’s child due to the child protection laws and this has created room for bad behaviours to thrive,” notes Mr Jongwe.
“We need pressure groups in the community and push for amendment of the Constitution to allow for communal parenting.
“Our policies say a school is only accountable for learners within the school parameters, so everything that happens thereafter becomes the sole responsibility of the parents.”
He encouraged parents and school administrators to work jointly to address the menace.
“Some of these situations are caused by the fact that some learners come from broken families and it is difficult to have open communication about the child’s whereabouts.”
Remedy
Education expert Ms Nomathemba Sibanda notes the need for school development committees to establish platforms to teach parents, at various levels, how best they should look after their children.
She encourages schools to have an arrangement where learners are picked up from their premises by their parents or legal guardians.
“These parents/guardians should have their names in the school database and this should be synchronised all the way up to the ministry,” she said.
“Schools, together with law-enforcement agents, should also consider revisiting the old system where learners had specific routes to wherever they intended to go and if one was caught off route, then disciplinary action would be taken.
“We also need to normalise questioning any school-going age kid we see in a sinister space. Find out what they will be doing there and report if need be.”
Ms Sibanda added that stakeholders should join forces to address the situation.
Psychologist Dr Nisbert Mangoro argues child prostitution may result in severe physical and psychological effects.
“Most of these older men who prey on young girls barely open up or even address their health issues.
“As a result, the teenagers risk attack from many sexually transmitted diseases like AIDS and syphilis.”
Psychologically, prostitution at a young age may cause post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and depression.
The behaviour, said Dr Mangoro, may have been caused by peer pressure and low self-esteem. “It is also associated with drug and substance abuse. This is addictive, hence there is need for proper counselling if the problem is to be dealt with,” he said.
Harare Residents Trust director Mr Precious Shumba weighed in.
“Schools and the ministry should establish toll-free hotlines that make it easy for the public to report these cases, at times anonymously. These things are happening within the public. As such, it is only the public that can help solve the issue.”
X: @verongwaze
