Story by Providence Maraneli
COMMUNITIES in Beitbridge East are recording progress in the fight against child marriages, teenage pregnancies and child sexual exploitation, with dozens of school dropouts returning to class through community-led interventions.
The gains are being driven under the Not in My Village campaign, which has mobilised traditional leaders and communities to tackle child protection challenges affecting vulnerable children in the border district.
In Chief Matibe’s area, community leaders highlighted the case of a girl who completed Grade Seven in 2022 but failed to proceed to secondary school due to difficult family circumstances.
Her case mirrored the plight of about 80 children from the Matibe area who dropped out of school after being left behind by parents working in neighbouring South Africa.
The girl only managed to return to school this year following intervention by the community through the campaign.
Community members presented the progress achieved under the initiative during an engagement with Chief Matibe, where villagers cited improvements in addressing child marriages, teenage pregnancies, drug and substance abuse, and HIV/AIDS.
“The introduction of this programme has helped our community realise that every child deserves to be in school and not be forced into child marriages,” a community member said.
“We visited Madaulo School and discovered that 80 children had failed to proceed to Form One. Through this programme, many children have since returned to school,” the villager added.
Traditional leaders in the district say stronger community involvement has become critical in protecting vulnerable children, particularly those from child-headed households.
Chief Matibe warned that anyone involved in child marriages would face the full force of the law.
“We have made it a point that everyone involved in a child marriage should be arrested,” he said.
“We have faced problems with child-headed families being vulnerable due to the absence of parents, and efforts are being made on how best we can help these children.”
Beitbridge District AIDS Coordinator, Mr Edward Mlaudzi said the district continues to battle challenges linked to its high transit population, which has complicated efforts to end HIV/AIDS and child exploitation.
“We were battling child marriages, teenage pregnancies and HIV/AIDS through various strategies, and we were encouraged to see communities taking the lead in addressing these challenges,” he said.
Under the Not in My Village campaign, traditional leaders are intensifying efforts to curb child sexual exploitation, teenage pregnancies, HIV/AIDS and drug abuse across communities in Beitbridge East.
