Chief Fortune Charumbira has accused legislators of failing to appreciate the impact of human trafficking, saying that was the reason for their delay in bringing the matter to Parliament.
Charumbira, who is a member of the Senate, made the remarks while debating a motion on ratification of the United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons which had been brought before the Senate by Home Affairs co-minister Theresa Makone.
“I feel that sometimes, for whatever reason, the government delays in bringing to Parliament what is obviously an excellent piece of work, an excellent protocol that we should support ordinarily and I do not expect anyone to stand up and oppose such a good move,” said Charumbira.
“As I do that, once again, I want to raise this issue of the delay. You mentioned 2003, then 2007. Why would it take five years to bring such a good proposal to Parliament? What would be the apprehensions? What are the doubts? What caused the delays?”
Charumbira further said it was necessary to look into the root causes of human trafficking in order to come up with lasting solutions to the problem.
He said women and children were more vulnerable to human trafficking because of their economic circumstances.
“One would assume that it is to do with economic circumstances. Their situation makes them victims of trafficking, but are they going willingly, or are they volunteering to be victims of trafficking? Why would they be willing and then when they end up somewhere then some people have to be arrested so that they are brought back?”
Charumbira further said Zimbabwe’s porous borders were partly to blame for human trafficking since people were being smuggled in and out of the country without any documentation.
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“There are those known as malayitsha who you just pay. There are these vehicles that are known to move people from one country to another. It then baffles me, honourable minister, how porous our borders are.
“A whole vehicle with probably 15 people being seen through the border means there are a number of accomplices in the process.
It means our own staff assist and there is a whole network of people belonging to various departments such as ZRP, which is yours and is involved, Immigration, which again is yours and is involved, and other government departments.
Everybody is involved so is it impossible for us to arrest these evil practices,” said Charumbira.
