The surging number of street kids in Harare’s central business district has rendered most streets unsafe for pedestrians and motorists who are constantly losing valuables to the menacing gangs.
Hardly a day goes by without incidences of mugging of unsuspecting pedestrians going about their business in town by these street dwellers in full glare of the public.
Distressing is the fact that hardly any of these cases are reported to the police as tracing the perpetrators is widely assumed to be a futile exercise as most of them don’t even have identification records.
During the day, women in particular are falling victim to these street kids who normally move around town in gangs, snatching food, hats, wigs, umbrellas, cellphones and other smaller but valuable items.
Late in the evening, the modus operandi changes as they start unleashing violent attacks on anyone regardless of age and sex.
“I have lost two pizza boxes at once to these street kids in full glare of the public and no one intervened,” narrates one Tafadzwa Gore, who works in the CBD area.
“The moment they snatched the boxes I couldn’t fight back. They were shabbily dressed, with a heavy stench. I just thought I should let it go,” she added.
On selected street pavements they have established permanent residing spots.
Along Leopold Takawira Street, opposite Harare City Council town house, the area has literally become a haven for street kids.
Here they can be seen inhaling glue, constantly harassing passersby and spitting vitriol at passersby all day long. Drug abuse is very rampant in their spaces.
Lately, there has been growing talk of vicious attacks of robbery on pedestrians around the area late evening.
Two weeks ago, an unidentified man was left for dead, after being severely attacked and robbed of all his belongings before the gang of street dwellers escaped into the dark near Copacabana around 10 pm, witnesses said.
Other hotspots that have become synonymous with street kids mugging are Harare Gardens, Kwame Nkrumah and Julius Nyerere Streets.
263Chat contacted ZRP national spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi for a comment on the matter but was told he was in a round of meetings with ZRP Harare spokesperson Inspector Webster Dzvova said to be on leave.
The number of street children has been growing over the years as a result of the desperate economic situation obtaining in the country.
In 2017, a report from the Ministry of the Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare estimated 4 701 children living and working on the streets of the country’s major cities such as Harare, Bulawayo and Mutare.
The number is feared to have multiplied several times during the past three years as Harare alone has seen an incredible upsurge of these street dwellers.
Some are now grown men and women who have endured the rough street life over the years while some are young men and women who have been raised at foster care and children’s homes only to be released upon reaching the maximum age of 18 years with nowhere to go.
But observers are blaming government for lack of clear guidance on how to tackle the rising number of street dwellers in the country.
“The problem we are having is that upon reaching 18 years, we are required by the law to release them from foster care to create space for minors. So there is no place for them to stay and they enter into a whole with nothing but themselves to survive,” Shammah Children’s home founder, Abel Malate told 263Chat.
