Child beggars for hire

15 Dec, 2019 - 00:12 0 Views
Child  beggars for hire

The Sunday Mail

Francis Mashinya and Veronica Gwaze

CLAD in a tattered pair of grey shorts and a greasy T-shirt, a boy dashes from one side of the street to the other at a robot-controlled intersection in downtown Harare.

Holding a cup in his hand, the boy, one of the many young beggars that are ever-present at almost every corner of the capital city, makes a passionate plea to a motorist, asking him to drop any amount of money into his cup.

The boy is not the usual street kid living off begging and looking after a blind or disabled parent.

Instead, he is one of the children who are hired out by their parents to beg on behalf of others for a “commission”.

The begging kids, some of whom are as young as six, are drawn from impoverished suburbs such as Epworth and Hopley, among others.

The new breed of beggars are transported into the city centre each day before being allocated places to beg from.

At the end of the day, the person who brings them collects his share from the youngsters before giving the parents or guardians their share of the spoils.

The child is often given a token for his toils.

The majority of the people who hire the youngsters are vendors, who monitorthe young beggars’ movements from a distance.

Investigations conducted by The Sunday Mail Society revealed that the youngsters are coached to lie that their handlers are their biological parents.

One of the street urchins who begs along Leopold Takawira Street confirmed this after he was asked about his parents.

On the first day, the youngster said the vendor who was selling her wares nearby was his mother.

However, the following day, the same youngster told this publication that his mother is late, before pointing to another vendor, claiming she was his mother.

“This is the worst form of child labour that I have come across. These children spend hours in the scorching heat o cold, only to be given  pittance. Something should be done to protect these vulnerable children,” said a vendor.

The vendor said some of the children were taken to ask for help at some upmarket shopping centres outside Harare’s central business district.

This new breed of beggars is often daring, aggressive and takes risks since they “work” under pressure.

Some parents even bring their own children to look for those vendors that are into this type of “business”.

Charges for hiring out a child are between $30 and $40 a day.

On a good day, the beggars can earn as much as $100.

The practice is a clear violation of children’s rights.

Said one vendor who preferred anonymity: “The child is given a specific target per day. Their commission is given to the parents.

“In the event that they fail to reach the target, the outstanding figure is deducted from the parents’ commission.”

The majority of the children begging on the streets of Harare are school drop-outs.

While the Government and civic organisations are fighting to remove children from the streets, it is sad to note that some parents and guardians are exploiting their own children and others for personal gain.

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