The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

I am deeply traumatised that the Zimbabwean Government is in a struggle to end the persistent scourge of child Labour.

In Zimbabwe, more than 13 percent of under aged children farm and are used as house maids.

These children under 18 face the major problems such as low wages, extra work, long working hours, lack of holidays, harassment, sexual exploitation, physical torture, ill treatment, lack of welfare facilities, absence of social security measures, lack of rest, development of fatigue and lack of freedom.

It is painful that many of these children are forced to take jobs in the farming sector where living conditions are extremely harsh.

Poverty, high school dropouts, early marriages are forcing under-age children to work in Zimbabwe. The heartless Zimbabwean government has failed to end child labour. Some of these children may end up crossing river Limpopo seeking work in neighbouring South Africa. President Emerson Mnangagwa should step up efforts to end child Labour in Zimbabwe or step down from his leadership role.

KUDZAI CHIKOWORE

London,

June 8, 2021.