The parents of the 14 Zimbabwean children who were detained by Botswana authorities without passports for 48 days are ruing their guts.
The Chronicle reported that the children from Tsholotsho were travelling to South Africa. They planned to go there through Botswana as they went to South Africa for the holidays.
Botswana Authorities Detained Zimbabwean Children Without Passports For 48 Days
The 14 pupils were travelling with a cross-border operator. The parents paid R1,000 each for their children to travel without documentation. According to some of the parents, the youngest of the children is doing Early Childhood Development.
Migration authorities in Botswana intercepted the 14 children on 10 August and noticed that they had no passports or any travel documents. The children were then detained and stayed in custody for 48 days.
While in detention, the parents were barred from seeing the children. Botswana authorities even demanded DNA tests from the parents to prove they were their children.
Because of the detention, the children missed three weeks of school. Some of them were to write Grade 7 examinations, and they missed some exams. Botswana released the children on 27 September.
Parents Speak
The children’s parents spoke to The Chronicle and expressed regret for making their kids travel without passports.
Milikani Moyo, based in South Africa, spoke of his Form One child:
“I was overjoyed when my wife sent pictures of my child after the children were handed over to them. I was even beginning to doubt if they were alive because they did not want us to see them when we went there. I will never take another chance again; I will try and put money together so that I get my child a passport.”
Another parent, Nomalungelo Ndlovu from Msigwana Village, said:
“It is a risk that we had taken, but it backfired hard on me. My child is only six years old, and I do not know how he survived without me all this time. We now have to work hard with their teachers to assist the children to catch up with others.”
