By Dalphine Tagwireyi
Poverty is driving Zimbabwean children from rural areas, many under the age of 14, to look for work, mostly on farms.
As farm labourers, they are paid in maize or sugar or R180 (US$10) per month. Many children are dropping out of school or getting married at a young age, thereby giving up their constitutional right to education.
Sadam Mhiti, a 29-year-old father of two who relocated from Chivi rural village in Masvingo province in search of work, settled on a farm in Kadoma where his two boys, aged six and eight, had to work when he was not around as he gets paid per day.
He told Scrolla.Africa that his sons usually work during busy periods of the farming season.
“I lost my mother at the end of May and had to go home to Masvingo to bury her. This meant that I was losing days of work as I get paid by the day during harvesting season,” he said.
He said that the minors help during the harvest of maize, sunflowers and soya beans, and his portion of work was shared between his wife and two minor children during his two-week absence.
“My wife is heavily pregnant, so she couldn’t do a lot of hard work. This meant that my boys had to step in and work so that they had a meal at the end of the day.
“I have no choice but to let them work. That way they at least go to bed with a full belly. Then they have to work which also includes herding cattle and goats and tending to chickens after coming home from school,” he said.
Simon Ngwena, a cotton farmer at Shepstone in Kadoma, said that the increase in child labourers amongst farms in Mashonaland West is mostly due to poverty and child-headed families.
“It’s sad how fellow Zimbabweans are taking advantage of minor children and subjecting them to inhumane conditions where they get paid with a bucket of maize or sugar beans,” he said.
Vincent Majohonye, director of Child Rights Zimbabwe, said child labour is a direct consequence of grinding poverty.
“Children as young as 10 are seen on farms, working hard and not going to school. This usually results in psychological damage as a direct consequence of poor safety and health standards,” he said.
Pictured above: Two minor child labourers packaging dry maize cobs at a farm in Kadoma
Image source: Dalphine Tagwireyi
