Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai addressing Zimbabwe Workers May Day rally in Harare on May 1, 2009. Zimbabwe's unity government is broke and cannot afford to match union demands for higher salaries, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai told a May Day rally.
Zimbabwe traditional dancers perform during May Day celebrations at Gwanzura Stadium in Harare May 1, 2009. Zimbabwe's new unity government is broke and cannot meet union demands for higher wages, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai said on Friday. Picture taken May 1, 2009.
Zimbabwe's Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai addresses workers gathered at Gwanzura Stadium Highfield, Harare May 1, 2009, to commemorate May Day. The event was organised by The Zimbabwe Congress Of Trade Union (ZCTU).
Zimbabwean traditional dancers perform to an unidentified visitor during May Day commemorations in Harare, Friday, May, 1, 2009. Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai who addressed the gathering said that the government was broke and could not afford high wages for general workers.
Zimbabwe's Prime Minster, Morgan Tsvangirai, addresses the crowd during May Day celebrations in Harare, Friday, May, 1, 2009. Tsvangirai said that the government was broke and could not afford high wages for the general workers.
Zimbabwean traditional dancers perform for an unidentified visitor during May Day commemorations in Harare, Friday, May, 1, 2009. Zimbabwean Prime Minster Morgan Tsvangirai who addressed the gathering said that the government was broke and could not afford high wages for general workers.
Zimbabwe's Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai (L) and Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Union (ZCTU) leader Lovemore Matombo attend May Day celebrations at Gwanzura Stadium in Highfield, Harare May 1, 2009. Zimbabwe's new unity government is broke and cannot meet union demands for higher wages, Tsvangirai said on Friday. Picture taken May 1, 2009.
A nyau dancer performs during May Day celebrations at Gwanzura Stadium in Harare May 1, 2009. Zimbabwe's new unity government is broke and cannot meet union demands for higher wages, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai said on Friday. Picture taken May 1, 2009.
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe (L) and Zambian President Rupiah Banda (R) arrive in Bulawayo for the official opening of Zimbabwe International Trade Fair in Bulawayo on April 30, 2009. Zimbabwe is trying to have more investors come to invest in the country to help resasitate the economy, Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai said there is need to restore rule of law in Zimbabwe to insprire investor confidence.
Zimbabwean President arrives in Bulawayo for the official opening of Zimbabwe International Trade Fair in Bulawayo on April 30, 2009 which was officially opened by Zambian President Rupia Banda. Zimbabwe is trying to have more investors come to invest in the country to help resasitate the economy, Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai said there is need to restore rule of law in Zimbabwe to insprire investor confidence.
Tsvangirai: Zimbabwe is broke
Zimbabwe's unity government is out of money and is unable to meet demands by unions for higher wages, the country’s prime minister has said at a May Day rally.
Morgan Tsvangirai said on Friday that the new government, which he formed with President Robert Mugabe in February, can only afford annual salaries of $100 for workers.
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SOUTH AFRICA: Zimbabwean migration camouflages human traffickers
Sibelo Sibanda, of Lawyers for Human Rights in Musina, with two children suspected of being trafficked
MUSINA, 1 May 2009 (IRIN) - To the untrained eye, the human tide surging through the South African border town of Musina is just that: a mass of people leaving behind Zimbabwe's collapsed economy to seek job opportunities and a better life, or refuge in a neighbouring country.
Sebelo Sibanda, of Lawyers for Human Rights in Musina, is a more acute observer; he sees changes taking place in a migration that is believed to number between one million and more than three million people.
"A trend started in the last two or three months, where you see more and more women coming in with groups of children - the children are too numerous and often too similar in age to be from one mother," he said.
The Zimbabwean migration, comprising asylum seekers fleeing political persecution, economic migrants from a shattered economy, traders, shoppers and unaccompanied minors, provides ample camouflage for human traffickers.
The border between South Africa and Zimbabwe is a fertile ground for criminal gangs. The "magumagumas" prey on migrants, robbing and raping them as they make their way to South Africa, while the "malaicha" arrange safe passage for migrants, but do not always keep to the contract.
Nde Ndifonka, the southern African spokesman for the International Organization for Migration, told IRIN: "The conditions are there. We believe there is a high incidence of human trafficking happening there [the South Africa-Zimbabwe border]".
Parents living in South Africa often pay a malaicha to bring children across the border, Sibanda said, and it was a "small step" to becoming a human trafficker.
Ndifonka said the malaicha were part of trafficking rings and targeted "specifically, vulnerable young children, as there is a demand for labour and sexual exploitation in South Africa".
In mid-April 2009, during a spot check, police found two unaccompanied minors - boys aged about four and five - in a car en route to Johannesburg. "The woman at first said they were her children, but when I interviewed the children separately they said they did not know who she was," Sibanda said.
The unseen crime
"The woman then maintained that she was their mother's sister, but the children did not know who she was, but were told by her to call her 'aunty'. The woman then said she was taking them to meet their mother in Johannesburg, but the children said their mother was living in Cape Town."
The woman is expected to be charged with kidnapping or a lesser charge of smuggling, as South Africa has yet to adopt human trafficking legislation.
An international children's agency, which declined to be identified, fearing it might attract human traffickers to its offices, told IRIN it had begun trying to trace the children's relatives. The aid worker said people claiming to be the relatives or friends of parents had tried to lure children away from the shelter.
"Human trafficking is difficult to detect, as people are generally not aware they are being trafficked. We know it [human trafficking] is happening but cannot detect it," Jacob Matakanye, CEO of the Musina Legal Advice Centre, told IRIN.
"The only way to prevent trafficking is to educate people about it in the country of origin ... Zimbabwe is an ideal opportunity for traffickers, as it is next to South Africa [the continent's richest country]," he said.
The UN defines human trafficking as "The recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons by means of threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability, or of the giving of or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person for the purpose of exploitation."
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