HARARE – At least 139 Zimbabweans fell victim to human trafficking in 2022 after being lured with promises for well-paying jobs in and outside the country, parliament’s defence, home affairs and security services committee has heard.
Director for Legal Services for the Inter-Ministerial Committee on trafficking in persons, Prisca Madziviridze told the committee that a total of 69 cases of human trafficking involving 139 Zimbabwean victims were recorded and investigated last year.
“In 2022, the country experienced an upsurge in cases of trafficking in persons, both local and transnational.
“A total of 69 cases of trafficking in persons involving 139 victims were recorded and investigated.
“Seven accused persons, who are all Zimbabweans, were arrested for trafficking in persons in 2022 and are currently in custody pending trial.
“Of the seven accused persons, four were arrested for Oman (a country in Western Asia) cases while three were arrested for domestic trafficking cases.
“Four accused persons who were linked to the Oman trafficking cases were arrested and they are being prosecuted,” she said.
She said the majority of human trafficking victims were recruited through social media.
“Most victims in the Oman cases were recruited through social media platforms (Whatsapp and Facebook groups).
“It is in these social media groups that they were offered lucrative jobs with good salaries and good working conditions.”
In one of the cases which occurred in May 2022, Ivy Nyashano was said to have lured seven victims, six of whom were girls aged between 12 and 16 years and a boy aged 13 from Chikangwe in Karoi after offering them employment as shop attendants at Buffalo Downs in the same town.
The victims were transported to Chitungwiza and got introduced to alcohol and drugs and forced into prostitution.
Three of the victims managed to escape and reported the matter to police.
Nyashano was subsequently arrested, tried and later convicted in the same month.
Zimbabwe came onto the spotlight as a source country for human traffickers when cases of women who were lured to the Middle East on promises of lucrative employment opportunities only to be sold into slavery were unearthed.
The plight of the women came to light in 2016, prompting the government to order a comprehensive investigation, as well as to rescue them.
Last year, it also emerged that scores of women were trafficked to Oman to work as domestic workers under deplorable conditions which included being paid between US$60 to US$80 per month.
