Zimbabwe January 2005 |
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| Poverty drives many onto the streets, (The Standard, 2005-01-16):-With tattered clothes draped around his skinny and greasy body, he begs for food and money from passers-by at the footbridge across Julius Nyerere Way in Harare. Despite his loud pleas for help, most passers-by do not seem to notice him as they go about their business. Some see him as a social outcast, others think he is mentally unstable while others still are convinced he is possessed by evil spirits. He says his name is Ras. “I am Ras, what do you want? Go and ask your mother,” he shot back in Shona when a Standard journalist tried to strike a conversation with him. When he is not at the footbridge, Ras is foraging in rubbish bins in Harare's dirty sanitary lanes in search of food. Because of prevailing economic hardships people are no longer that generous with food donations and there are hardly any leftovers from restaurants. However, around mid-day everyday, the bearded Ras heads for the Anglican Church at the corner of Kwame Nkrumah and Sam Nujoma Avenue, where he gets free lunch, courtsey of the church. Ras is one of hundreds of destitute people who live on Harare's streets, parks and alleys, where they beg for money and scavenge for food in the fly-infested garbage bins, oblivious to the health hazards they expose themselves to. Some of them are blind or mentally ill while others are homeless children. Other destitute people are normal — and may even have families — but are driven onto the streets by acute poverty and stress-related problems. While in the early years of independence, most destitute Zimbabweans returned to their rural homes where relatives could look after them, the majority of people living on the streets were of foreign origin — mostly Malawians, Mozambicans and Zambians. However, presently Zimbabweans now constitute the majority as the economic downturn takes its toll. Most of them live in shacks at the Railway station, along Mukuvisi River and under bridges. To most residents of Harare, the destitutes have become a menace and a nuisance. Apart from pestering shoppers in the city centre — begging for money and food — they also defecate and urinate in sanitary lanes, posing a health hazard. “I have stopped using this footbridge because the area stinks to high heaven. There is human waste everywhere,” said Chris Dube in disgust. University of Zimbabwe sociology lecturer Claude Mararike conceded that the number of destitute people had generally increased and he attributed the upsurge to social, political and economic problems bedeviling Zimbabwe. “Urbanisation and socio-political and economic problems are driving a lot people to destitution. Some of them can lead a normal life if they get proper counseling. They are so many these days,” said Mararike, who however, could not estimate the number of destitutes in Harare. With unemployment at over 70 percent and rising, the cost of basic commodities escalating on a daily basis and inflation skyrocketing, most people are failing to cope with the demands of life forcing them onto the streets, he said. According to the Consumer Council of Zimbabwe a family of six now requires $1,7 million up from $1,6 million in November last year. That amount is beyond the reach of most families in the country, where 75 percent of people live below the poverty datum line. The director of Social Welfare Department in the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare, Sydney Mhishi, had not responded to questions submitted to him by the time of going to print. But an official with the department said they had no money to take care of destitutes and other disadvantaged people. The department has since stopped paying school fees for disadvantage children because it lacks financial resources for the purpose. “We have an obligation to support destitute people, including the elderly but because we don't have any money we can not do anything,” said the official. Last year, the government rounded up destitutes and street children in Harare and dumped them at farms outside the city. But this has not helped as they were soon back on the streets. The burden of taking care of destitutes has since been taken up by charitable and church organisations that offer them food, clothing as well as shelter. One such organisation is the Anglican Church in Harare. Reverend Josephat Muzambi of the Anglican Church said they feed between 30 and 40 elderly people a day in Harare. Some of them are ex-soldiers who served in the Rhodesian army during Ian Smith's regime. “The privileged social net for whites and coloureds that was there before independence is no more. That is why we have white destitutes on the streets these days and we also help them,” said Muzambi. A few months ago, he said, hordes of people including able-bodied youths would throng the church premises for free lunch but that had since stopped after the institution introduced thorough vetting procedures to determine the really needy. “Even security guards in uniforms and unemployed youths used to come here for free food but they are not any longer ,” Muzambi said. Other church organisations assisting destitutes in Harare include the Roman Catholic and Presbyterian churches. Alice Chikomo, the director of the Presbyterian Church's Children's Club, said the institution was assisting 40 elderly people, half of them blind. They are being taught courses such as sewing, knitting and jam-making. Apart from that, the church also provides uniforms and pays school fees for about 90 disadvantaged children, some are born of destitute parents. “It is overwhelming. There are so many destitute people in the city and the number is increasing by the day. We need to find a lasting solution,” Chikomo said. Independent commentators said the influx of destitutes into the streets of Harare was a result of the chaotic land reform programme, which drove hundreds of people from their sources of livelihood at the farms. “Others are victims of the land reform while some ran away from their homes due to political violence during the past elections,” said one commentator. Harare City Council spokesperson, Leslie Gwindi, could not be reached by the time of going to print. | |
South African Migration Project (SAMP) - Queen's University - http://www.queensu.ca/samp |