THE Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) is assisting a Bulawayo woman to have her three-year-old daughter returned to her after the toddler was smuggled to South Africa by her father without the woman’s consent.
Southern Eye understands that the child was trafficked to SA after she had visited her paternal grandmother in Pumula South during the Christmas holiday.
ZLHR lawyer, Prisca Dube, yesterday confirmed the matter. She told Southern Eye that their client is a 24-year-old mother of two.
“She has a child with a gentleman currently residing in SA, and the child’s paternal grandmother requested to see the child over the festive season. She willingly gave the child to her with the hope that the child would come back in preparation for 2023 to start Early Childhood Development classes,” Dube said.
“She later received a WhatsApp message with pictures of the child from her father’s relative. The message said she will be spending the festive season in SA. She was concerned because at the time they had not yet processed her birth certificate.”
Dube said the mother tried to contact the grandmother who told her that she had travelled to her rural home in Buhera. She then called the child’s father who told her that the child was no longer coming back to Zimbabwe.
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“Unfortunately, she was misdirected; she got advice to make an application for custody of the child, which she did. Because the parties were in SA and the other in Buhera, the court could not assist her. This is when she was referred to ZLHR,” Dube said.
“As ZLHR we have been seeking to address issues of statelessness, particularly in the southern region. We have realised that there is limited knowledge among our people in terms of the Trafficking in Persons Act [Chapter 9:25] because this Act came into operation in September 2016. So there is a need for people to know what it contains. We have developed a culture where people think it’s normal for Omalayitsha (cross-border transporters) to transport children to and from SA without documents. This is what the Trafficking in Persons Act seeks to curb.”
She said when they were engaged by the child’s mother, they got worried because this was a three-year-old undocumented baby girl taken away without the consent of the mother.
“We engaged the Pumula police where the matter had been reported, and the police assisted with pictures of the child, her birth certificate copy, and promised to liaise with Interpol to bring her back soon.”
“Omalayitsha should know that the business of trafficking children to SA is an aggravated criminal offence. We are assisting the mother, and are working with the police to have the child brought back to her,” Dube said.