Zimbabwe has been under serious and challenging situations, which has caused many Zimbabwean nationality to flee to other countries in hopes of getting better jobs and secure better living conditions for their families.
Throughout the years many people left their homes and country because of poor living conditions, Natasha Yase (38) from Orange farm and a Zimbabwean nationality said, she arrived in South Africa in 2005 during the Operation Murambatsvina, where thousands of houses were destroyed by the police, leaving many people homeless and without any shelter.
“l remember one day me and my friends decided that we are going to South Africa without any money or passport, it was around 01:00 am when we crossed to South Africa, from then on l have been living in South Africa and it is way better than home” Yase explained.
Workers in Zimbabwe are still getting low wages that isn’t even enough to support their families, that is why many citizens are still leaving their country. Tatenda Mahachi (33) a male street vendor in Johannesburg and a Zimbabwean citizen said, “l arrived in South Africa in 2008 when things started getting worse in my country, the money (Zim dollar) no longer had value, the food had increased horribly, and it was difficult for my family to survive”.
l came to South Africa to get a job, but it was hard for me without any school papers even passport, that’s when l decided to sell fruits and vegetables in the streets, Mahachi added.
For many years people experienced a country with political instability, violence, corruption, and human rights violation. Whoever tries to oppose the ruling government in Zimbabwe is sent to prison. The economy in Zimbabwe remains weak and vulnerable, the country continuous to faces food shortages, lack of job creation and lack of better infrastructure in cities including rural areas too.
This has all happened under the ruling party called Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic Front (ZANU–PF), the party have been in power for more than 44 years, yet the people are still struggling. The school fees are paid in the US dollars and if a parent fails to pay, the learner will be kicked out of school until the parents pays the school fees. The children in Zimbabwe are badly affected by the situation in their country, they experience child labour, gender-based violence, child marriage, lack of access to nutritious food and proper shelter due to poverty in the country. These issues are also made worse by police brutality, police abuse people in Zimbabwe especially when they stand up against the Government.
These issues should be solved as Africans, we should work together, treat each other with compassion and understanding as Africans to find tangible solutions in Africa. We cannot watch humans suffer, we must unite as humans and Africans, and come together to solve human crises, we must bring end to inhumanity actions once and for all.
This article was submitted on 03 August 2024. You may republish this article, so long as you credit the authors and Karibu! Online (www.Karibu.org.za), and do not change the text. Please include a link back to the original article.