Across the busy streets of Harare, a troubling sight has become all too familiar. Young boys, many of them hailing from Mozambique, can be seen weaving through traffic, clutching small bundles of airtime cards, sweets, and cigarettes.
Dressed in branded bibs, these children have become a fixture in the city's informal economy. Yet their determined faces belie a much darker reality: are these children simply trying to survive, or are they victims of exploitation hidden in plain sight?
Upon cursory inspection, their endeavours might be misconstrued as manifestations of entrepreneurial spirit or tenacity. These young boys, frequently distanced from the embrace of familial bonds, endeavour to carve out a semblance of legitimate sustenance in a metropolis that proffers scant avenues for those adrift.
They vend airtime on behalf of Econet intermediaries, accruing paltry commissions that scarcely suffice to procure their quotidian sustenance. For numerous individuals, this represents the singular path to survival amid a landscape where formal employment is a rarity and social security frameworks are tenuous at best.
However, a meticulous scrutiny unveils a disquieting ethical and juridical conundrum. Zimbabwe, akin to numerous nations, is governed by statutes that expressly forbid the employment of minors and safeguard them from economic predation. Section 11 of the Labour Act [Chapter 28:01] unequivocally stipulates that no employer shall engage a child or young person in any occupation or endeavour that could imperil their health, safety, or moral integrity.
This edict is congruent with international accords, such as the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention No. 138 regarding the Minimum Age for Employment and Convention No. 182 addressing the Most Heinous Forms of Child Labour. By such benchmarks, the plight of these Mozambican youths engenders profound legal and ethical quandaries.
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The impetus for their exodus to Zimbabwe is ensconced in a labyrinthine amalgam of humanitarian exigencies and economic malaise. A significant proportion of these children emerge from regions in Mozambique ravaged by Cyclone Idai, which obliterated domiciles and livelihoods in 2019. Others have fled the relentless turmoil in Cabo Delgado, where violent upheaval has uprooted myriad families.
Compounding this crisis are chronic economic adversities that thrust families into destitution, compelling children to traverse borders in pursuit of survival. The majority of these boys arrive in Zimbabwe bereft of appropriate documentation, rendering them susceptible to exploitation and elusive to formal safeguarding systems.
These children endure protracted hours of labour beneath oppressive conditions, perilously exposed to the hazards of traffic, capricious meteorological extremes, and the incessant exigency to fulfil sales quotas. Their earnings are scant, often merely sufficient to purchase sustenance for a single day.
Reports indicate that many reside in overcrowded and perilous dwellings, stripped of access to adequate sanitation, healthcare, or educational opportunities. This grim reality usurps their entitlement to a secure and nurturing childhood, egregiously undermining their fundamental human rights and developmental prospects.
The role of Econet agents introduces an additional layer of complexity to this intricate issue. While the corporation itself may not directly engage these minors, the intermediaries who provision them with airtime derive profit from their labour. This circumstance invokes critical inquiries regarding corporate accountability and the ethical scrutiny of commercial practices within the informal sector. By wilfully averting their gaze from such arrangements, corporations perpetuate a cycle of exploitation masquerading as opportunity.
Moreover, the predicament elucidates broader societal and policy deficiencies. The migration of children from Mozambique to Zimbabwe epitomizes entrenched economic disparities and the glaring absence of efficacious cross-border mechanisms for child protection. Both sovereign entities bear a shared obligation to ensure that migrant children are not coerced into exploitative labour due to the dual scourges of poverty and displacement, or the lack of proper documentation.
To grapple with this conundrum necessitates a nuanced and variegated methodology. Law enforcement entities must meticulously scrutinize and regulate the engagement of juvenile vendors by mercantile agents. Social welfare institutions ought to discern and bolster these youths through avenues of rehabilitation, enlightenment, and secure domiciles.
Civil society collectives can assume a pivotal role in advocacy and consciousness-raising, ensuring that the populace perceives this predicament as an infringement upon child rights rather than a mere economic enterprise.
In the end, the sight of youthful Mozambican boys vending airtime on the thoroughfares of Harare ought not to be rendered as a banal norm. Their existence epitomizes a profound systemic dereliction and economic desolation. While their fortitude is commendable, no child should be compelled to barter safety, education, and dignity for mere survival. The demarcation between survival and exploitation is perilously thin yet in this instance, it is a boundary that society cannot afford to overlook.
Confronting this intricate dilemma will demand a concerted endeavour from a multitude of stakeholders, encompassing governmental bodies, civil society entities, and the private sector. Only through the recognition of the intrinsic dignity and rights of these children, alongside the execution of holistic solutions that tackle the fundamental causes of their tribulations, can we commence the metamorphosis of this disconcerting reality into one wherein all youth are afforded the opportunity to flourish.
Ngoni P Jemwa is a seasoned development practitioner with a deep understanding of the complex challenges facing the Global South.
Nicholas Aribino is a gender conscious writer and commentator whose work explores intersections of identity, culture and social change.