A sombre atmosphere engulfed the home of three-year-old Given Flint Matapure, who went missing at the Harare Agricultural Show last month, when Child President Anesu Rangwani and members of the Junior Parliament visited the family to show solidarity.
As the children arrived, holding placards with messages “Police, we are waiting to hear from you” and “Children in Solidarity with Given Flint Matapure and his family”, the missing boy’s mother, Wengesai, could not help, but weep uncontrollably.
“We tried to put up posters, but every effort to find him was in vain. I appeal to Zimbabweans and even President Robert Mugabe to help us locate the whereabouts of my child and other missing children. I still hope and trust in God that Given would be found,” she said sobbing.
Rangwani said Zimbabwe had become dangerous for children and together with his junior MPs, they were calling for police intervention to bring Given’s abductors to book.
“Today, we stand in support of the Matapure family, and we hope that they will find comfort in the Lord and our voice as concerned children, and we ask every Zimbabwean child to remember Given in their prayers and pray for his safe return,” he said. “Our country continues to get more dangerous for children with reports saying 126 girls were raped in the first 13 days of August and this is alarming and we demand new strategies to curb this as the cases are increasing at an unprecedented rate.”
Wengesayi said she had received many false leads about Given’s whereabouts, and at one time a woman was arrested in connection with the disappearance of the child, but was later released after police failed to gather sufficient evidence to nail her.
