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Thupeyo Muleya, Beitbridge Bureau
THE Government has come up with a raft of interventions to fight the scourge of human trafficking across its borders, a senior official has said.

The Director of Media Services in the Ministry of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services, Dr Anywhere Mutambudzi, said an inter-ministerial committee made up of a number of line ministries and other actors had since been set up to look into issues of anti-trafficking.

Addressing journalists in Beitbridge on Thursday, Dr Mutambudzi said the committee had four pillars — Protection, Prosecution, Prevention and Partnerships — and that its secretariat fell under the Ministry of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage.

The media briefing was meant to update journalists on preparations for the World Anti-Trafficking Day commemorations set for today at Dulivhadzimo Stadium where Vice President Kembo Mohadi will be the guest speaker.

He said a total of 176 cases of human trafficking had been reported in the country with most of them at various prosecution stages.

Dr Mutambudzi said over 100 victims had been successfully re-integrated into society.

“The Government is working on a number of interventions to ensure that we prevent and deal with cases of human trafficking with the urgency they deserve. You will note that I am the chairperson of the prevention pillar, under the inter-ministerial committee which is charged with raising awareness to avoid a recurrence of such issues.

“The World Anti-Trafficking in persons Day is commemorated on 30 July, but this year it was pushed to October 6 because the country was seized with the matter of harmonised elections,” he said.

“Since the enactment of the Anti-trafficking in Persons Act, the Government has been addressing this troublesome scourge. So far one of the kingpins linked to the Kuwait saga, Norest Marume, has been jailed for 50 years. This should serve as a warning to other would be offenders.

“At the same time we want to urge people to be wary of people who promise them Heaven on earth in other countries in the name of seeking greener pastures. In most cases these people turn out to be dangerous criminals running modern day slavery syndicates. They trade the victims to prostitution, body parts harvesters, and labour exploitation cartels”.

Dr Mutambudzi said a lot of actors in the anti-trafficking sector had been capacitated with various information and tools to effectively deal with the crime.

He said the human trafficking crime was very complex and delicate since the perpetrators had sophisticated ways of executing their nefarious missions.

“It is important that there is coherence among all the actors and partners so that we continue to prevent and effectively administer justice for the victims where such crimes are detected,” said Dr Mutambudzi.

He said efforts were being made to address issues of irregular migration across the country’s borders where some illegal crossing points were being used as routes for human trafficking.

Dr Mutambudzi said they were also concerned with cases of domestic trafficking with people being taken from different parts of the country to other places within Zimbabwe’s borders for labour exploitation.

“Where domestic or transnational cases of trafficking are detected the criminals should be dealt with ruthlessly.

“I also want to urge those involved in the business of migration to have conscience. By aiding such at times you will be aiding the selling of another person for exploitation or ritual murders or body parts harvesting,” said Dr Mutambudzi.

In June last year Zimbabwe moved from the tier three ranks (the worst cases of human trafficking) to the two tier status (this lists countries that are not meeting the minimum standards set by the Polamo Protocol to fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking, and tier one is for countries with the best practices).