Industrialisation is the way, says Namibian President ‘CHANGE MENTALITY, WORK TOGETHER’
Truckers fuel child prostitution
VISITING Namibian President Cde Hage Geingob yesterday implored African governments and the private sector to aggressively champion industrialisation and avoid overreliance on exporting raw materials.
Officially opening the 58th edition of the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF) in Bulawayo, President Geingob said the challenges facing the continent and the rising youth unemployment could only be addressed through harnessing regional linkages and pursuing a robust regional industrialisation agenda that is anchored on value addition and beneficiation.
He bemoaned low intra-regional trade and reliance on imports from developed economies, which he blamed for the continued use of economic models that serve colonial interests.
“Trade between African governments has generally been low. This is so because our trading patterns have been aligned to service the requirements of former colonial powers and partly because many African countries essentially produce similar goods, mainly agricultural and mineral commodities.
“Little or no beneficiation takes place in many of our countries and the bulk of finished goods are imported from Europe and Asia. This must change,” said President Geingob, who was the guest of honour.
“There is not a single advanced economy in the world today that did not go through the industrialisation process. African economies will be no different. To address burning challenges in particular rising youth unemployment, we will have to expand our industrial base and manufacturing capabilities.”
President Geingob said Zimbabwe’s economy was poised to register robust growth following good rains which resulted in a bumper harvest, which he said laid a solid foundation for growth in other processing sectors.
He said agricultural exhibitions at the ZITF demonstrated that the country was indeed the bread basket of the region.
“Zimbabwe, as the bread basket of Sadc, is expecting a bumper harvest this year. From what I have seen before we came here and touring the stands particularly the agricultural sector, I must state that Zimbabwe is indeed the bread basket of Sadc and this positive outlook should bolster our hopes and encourage our business people to get ready to capitalise on the opportunity presented by this development,” he said.
Similarly, Cde Geingob said the Namibian economy was recovering and said this presented opportunities for trade and investment in the two countries.
He said Namibia recorded trade in goods worth about $13 billion in 2016 but so far trade in goods worth $24 million have been recorded.
“This low level of trade presents a huge opportunity for the two countries,” he said.
President Geingob, however, commended President Mugabe for taking the lead in advocating for an industrialised Africa. He said it was under President Mugabe’s able leadership as chairman of SADC that the regional industrialisation policy and implementation framework was adopted in 2015. Zimbabwe has already domesticated the value addition policy under Zim-Asset.
“We must work hard to ensure that this important roadmap does not collect dust on the shelf but is implemented with a sense of urgency,” said Cde Geingob.
He stressed the need for regional economies to work together to derive economies of scale and high levels of competitiveness, which could not be attained at individual country level.
As such Cde Geingob called on all Africa states to embrace regional economic integration, break all regional barriers to trade and specialise on unique competitive advantage to create regional value chains that will be able to compete globally.
He said removing barriers should cover eradicating restrictions to labour mobility and general movement of people.
“It is only through the unhindered movement in Africa that one day we will harness the full industrial capacity and capabilities of our economies,” said President Geingob.
He said Namibia has already started working on enhancing ease of movement by abolishing visa requirements for all Africans holding diplomatic official passports and that ordinary travellers who seek visas were able to get them upon arrival. To address economic inequality in the country he said his government has adopted a programme code named “Harambee Prosperity Plan”, which aims to fast track implementation of empowerment programmes.
President Geingob challenged the private sector to —
lead economic development processes saying the role of governments was to only provide a conducive macroeconomic environment.
“It is up to the private sector to identify opportunities and turn those into viable businesses. You, the private sector are the ultimate creators of wealth,” he said.
President Geingob, however, warned businesses against seeking super or excessive profits saying such an approach was not sustainable in the long run.
He commended Zimbabwe’s efforts to reform the doing business framework to attract investment and urged the private sector to take advantage of the process as well as utilise platforms like ZITF to improve their businesses.
“Together Namibia, Zimbabwe and the rest of Africa can harness increased opportunities for industrial development. If we pull together with the private sector as Africa we can make it,” said President Geingob. LONG distance truck drivers plying routes along the Beitbridge-Harare-Chirundu highway are fuelling child prostitution by targeting school children and teenage sex workers operating between Lutumba and Ngundu Halt.
Lutumba is a growth point in Beitbridge district while Ngundu Halt is in the neighbouring Masvingo province. The Beitbridge-Chirundu road corridor is a trans-African highway network.
The highway, which is also part of the North–South Corridor Project, is the country’s busiest and is the gateway to neighbouring countries.
The Chronicle newscrew recently visited the Lutumba and Ngundu and established that young rural girls as young as 12 years were falling prey to truckers.
Investigations by this paper revealed that some truckers were exploiting the girls by offering them money, old clothes, empty bottles of soft drinks and beer in exchange for sex.
In some instances, school-going girls are now absconding classes to frequent night spots.
A teacher in Ngundu, who requested anonymity, said some children from surrounding schools were engaging in sex work to raise money for lunch and school fees.
“It is no secret that these truck drivers are now taking advantage of poor kids to sexually exploit them. We are saying authorities should do something about it because it is getting out of hand,” said the teacher.
In Ngundu, elderly sex workers who spoke to The Chronicle said some of the teenage prostitutes were charging as little as 50c for a short session and between $2 to spend the night with a client.
“It’s a shame that these truckers are taking advantage of these minors to sleep with them in return for empty bottles or useless coins. Sadly most of them are opting to engage these immature young girls for casual sex,” said 30 year-old Nomsa, a self-proclaimed prostitute operating in Ngundu, who identified herself with her first name only.
The girls, mostly from the surrounding rural communities of Mutimurefu, Rutenga and Chiredzi in Masvingo province are also lured into unprotected sex by the truckers offering “high fees” ranging between $15 and $20.
Most of the teenage hookers who spoke to The Chronicle said they were forced to venture into the dangerous business due to the tough economic situation.
Rudo Gumbo (name changed to protect the identity of the minor, a teenage sex worker at Ngundu Growth Point, said she was forced into the world’s oldest profession following the death of her parents between 2012 and 2014.
“I was 10 years when my mother died in 2012 and my father followed two years later. As the eldest child I was left with the sole responsibility of taking care of my siblings. My friend who was already into sex work invited me to Ngundu and she introduced me to a Malawian truck driver who became my regular client,” she said.
“The trucker enticed me into having unprotected sex with him under the guise that he would marry me. When he learnt that I had fallen pregnant, he disappeared and also changed numbers and that was the end of it. I am now a full time sex worker who has to fend for my two year –old son and two young brothers aged 13 and 11.”
Another teenage sex worker operating in Rutenga who declined to reveal her identity said she has no other means for a livelihood.
At Lutumba, girls who spoke to The Chronicle said business is brisk due to its strategic position as it is along the country’s busiest road, which connects Zimbabwe with South Africa, Zambia, DRC and other countries to the north.
“Business is brisk here I get a lot of long distance truck drivers engaging us for sex and they pay us good money unlike locals. I shuttle between Lutumba and Ngundu targeting truckers,” said the girl who only identified herself as Rudo from Maranda in Mwenezi district.
Hookers are trooping to Ngundu, Rutenga and Lutumba from all parts of the country to entice truckers connecting to these countries.
National Aids Council director for monitoring and evaluation, Mr Amon Mpofu said the issue of young sex workers needed a strategic approach as it was fast becoming a crisis.
“We need to critically find a solution to this before gains made so far in the fight against HIV could be eroded,” he said.
According to Real Opportunities for Transformation Support, an organisation involved in the fight against teenage prostitution, there are at least 2 000 underage girls engaged in commercial sex work in Zimbabwe.
Previous research has shown that as much as 50 percent of commercial sex workers in Zimbabwe are infected with HIV.
According to a report released by children’s rights campaigner, Zimbabwe National Council for the Welfare of Children (ZNCWC), young girls are pushed into prostitution by poverty after dropping out of school.
The report said the country’s highways have been turned into corridors of horror, with sexually transmitted diseases, gender-based violence and outright exploitation of defenceless and vulnerable teenage girls spreading like a veld fire.
The report gave evidence of sexual exploitation by sex predators, 10 percent of whom are transnational haulage truck drivers. — @mashnets.