Zimbabwe MP says a country that cannot protect its people is not a country at all

HON. J. TSHUMA: On a point of order Mr. Speaker Sir, Hon. Maridadi is coming with very interesting and good news here and as Parliament we want straight things. He said that he knows the Hon. Members who are doing such corrupt activities and we are trying to curb such behaviour. Can he say them now, otherwise ngavatomira kudebater kwacho. Ngavataure – [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear.] – because we want to know the individuals.

THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER (HON. MARUMAHOKO): He is bringing that tomorrow. I have ruled on that point. I am chairing and have ruled on that point.

*HON. MARIDADI: Mr. Speaker, you have made a ruling on the issue and I will follow your ruling. On the issue of our diplomatic relations with Kuwait, what Hon. Nyamupinga said is that the agents that perform these activities, once the case goes to court, nothing is done. The agents are there and we know them. The reason why these are not brought to book, I do not even know. If you go to Chitungwiza at 5 o’clock, by 5.30, you will have arrested them. I am not even aware why these people are not arrested and yet the victims actually say out the names of the people they dealt with.

On the issue of prayer requests for jobs, we always say that Zimbabweans are hard workers and that is why we are appreciated abroad, but are you aware of the fact that there are men who are also being treated as slaves abroad. There are men who are used as sex slaves as well. If you go to England and see the children from Zimbabwe who are living there, you will be surprised when you realise that they do not have anything. If they are to come back to Zimbabwe, they will not come back with anything because they are living in poverty.

So, Mr. Speaker Sir, we are saying that the issue of taking children to Kuwait, those are just symptoms. The root cause is the issue of unemployment. The unavailability of jobs is what is enhancing human trafficking. We realise that as people go abroad, for them to sell, they are beaten by the police. Today I was listening to the radio and there is a song called Hapana that says, ‘We went to school and have qualification but there is no employment, we have degrees but there is no employment, we can sing and dance but there is no employment’. The song is called ‘no opportunity’. If we were to listen to eat as adults, it really pains. Once you see children singing such songs, it is a sign that things are not okay in Zimbabwe.

Mr. Speaker, today as I was driving, a kombi driver cut in my way and I talked to him. The driver said, Hon. Maridadi, I was the President of ZICOSU which is a grouping of university students and he studied food sciences, but that young guy is a loader for kombis. He is a tout. If you go on the internet, a person with food science gets about US$22 000 but here in Zimbabwe that person is shouting Mabvuku-Tafara as a tout. Those people who are degreed are busy selling airtime but they are holders of BSc degrees in Computer Sciences from NUST and UZ but once they leave the university, they go and sell airtime. If I were to go to a 22 year old guy with a BSc degree, you know they get a profit of $2.50 and if I were to say to him, let me take you to South Africa to work in a restaurant where you will get R250, will he refuse. Obviously, he will not. So, let us deal with the root cause of the problem. There is no employment in Zimbabwe.

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