A combined team of officers from the Department of Social welfare, Community Development, Zambia Police and the Drug Enforcement Commission yesterday swung into action and captured street Kids from Kitwe City town centre.
Over 20 street kids were captured during the operation after which some children were reunited with their families while those whose families could not be traced were taken up by some orphanages.
The health department also offered screening services to the captured kids so that those that may have contracted some disease while leaving on the streets could be treated.
The departments of Social Welfare and Community Development provided K10 million for each of the three orphanages that took up the children.
The two government departments further provided beddings and other essentials to the orphanages for them to easily maintain the kids.
The three orphanages that shared the captured the street kids include Twapalwa, Beautiful Gates and Friends of Kids.
The operation was part of the government funded pilot programme aimed at removing street kids from the streets in the cities.
The project is expected to be rolled out to other districts in the country if its implementation will be successful.
Meanwhile, Kitwe District Community Development Officer, Michael Miyoba ,who was also among the combined team of officers in the operation, told ZANIS in an interview in Kitwe that several other kids that are above 18 years were left on the street because the programme was only targeting those below the age of 18 years.
Mr Miyoba called on govern to find a way of removing them also from the streets because they were posing a security challenge as they were later turning into dangerous criminals.
Last year, government released a grant of K200 million to the departments of Social Welfare and Community Development in Kitwe for the purpose of removing street kids from the streets.
ZANIS
This is so good. Its hurts when you in town then they come begging for some money & the ladies will move freely in their mini skirts atlast
if they were the one stopping ladies to wear mini skirts,leave the kids inthe streets then.
The one who undress women in mini-skirts are still there, they are above 18yrs old.
Begging its ok, its only hurts when the kids keeps following asking “.. Ba Dad mpeleniko 10pin!” Those kids, they even put figure of begging….10pin?? K10,000 free!?
hey, hey, hold on. why are there alot of bemba speaking throught zambia… go around the country anywhere, e.g you find bemba speaking street kids in choma but NO tonga speaking street kids in kitwe, bemba speaking street kids in chipata and No njanga speaking street kids in ndola.. same in kaoma, solwezi, even sesheke, mongu, etc, yes you will find these bemba speaking streets kids in mongu and NO lozi speaking street kids in chingola…the question is why?
It is because of inter-marriage, ask about their names, you will hear others are musonda situmbeko, Mukuka Daka, Chama habenzu, etc. Others are totally not even Bemas but they express themselves in Chibemba better than any other language. So it is not the Bembas. Why don’t we have street kids in Luapula, Muchinga, Northern and N/Western provinces?
why not arrest the parents as well..these bemba chaps are so lazy and careless..
Arresting dead parents?
Nostradamus, that funny. Many people just write the way they speak here. They think afterwards!!! LOL!
Good move. Those children also deserve a decent life
Pity, please get rid of your stereotypes and do not blame Bembas for everything based on what the world throws at you. Some of the above allegations might hold true but do not believe what you see or hear. Examine everything closely and do not believe the surface of a given situation. An indepth insight of a given aspect in most cases reveals the opposite of what the surface throws at you, or at best it might shade more light than originally thought.
I am not a Bemba but a Bemba speaker and I speak the language very well infact better than most Bemba people.
The issue of the so called street kids is not an ordinary issue nonetheless it is very sensetive. These human beings should not be subjected to our ‘usual’ labelling theories. The right term is ‘community children’ they belong…
The issue of our community children otherwise they are commonly labelled as ‘street kids’ is an issue which all stake holders namely the community at large, different govenment depts. NGOs and Zambians in the diaspora should all attempt to tackle meaningfully. Our community children are viewed as criminals and nuisances. This is wrong because it obscures one from seeing the underlying problems, thereby the stigma against our community children is upheld. The only crime which these children commit is that they are minors and this places them in a vulnerable position. Anyone can abuse them including government officials and the police. They are among the most marginalised members of our society. They live on the peripherals of our communities & crimes are committed against them, shame.
There is something wrong here with the word “capture”. Surely, rescue and/or outreach would be a better way of dealing with the problem. Right?
And about returning the kids to their parents….. OK…… but in many cases I think it’s abuse the children suffered at home that chased them to the streets in the first place.
And actually the PF government plan was to remove the young out, before they come back to fight battles with the +18yr, who they plan to CAPTURE and enter the “boat”, wherever they will be taken….. HH told us.
Are you sure the healthy department screened kids from diseases of from injuries incurred during the CAPTURE.
Its “sustained” ba Nos, not “incurred”. Thats not money, they are injuries.
Cum at Devine Foods you will find 100 of them pls remove these fools make town very dirty
The Zambian government should be mindful about how it is tackling the plight of our community children. The bruising matter of forced removals of 18 yr olds which is still pending, is an issue which has the potential to place Zambia at crossroads in terms its human rights record. The government has a moral obligation to provide basic human needs to its citizens such as shelter, water, land, food, education in line with the UN and other bodies’s requirements as a member country.
For Sata’s regime to be seen a government using an iron fist against the 18 yr olds, is another nail to brutal coffin. It risks facing stark criticisms both from abroad and at home. It is an issue which can also force investors to withhold much needed investments because of the would be bad human rights record.
Ba Boom naimwe, bushe mwalyenda imwe? If you ill treat your own child in the USA and they report you to police, the government takes custody of your children. hats the law. And you are not allowed to see them until they grow or sometimes forever. So, if the parents to these kids are alive, what do you think Sata’s regime is doing? They are just doing what was supposed to be done time immemorial.
@BOOM & WHATEVER#11, minor errors
…… has the potential to place Zambia at crossroads in terms of its human rights record.
For Sata’s regime to be seen as a government that uses an iron fist against unarmed begging 18 yr. olds, is another nail to its brutal coffin.
Thank you.
Yours truly
BOOM & WHATEVER
Bemba is just an easy a common language to understand its not that everyone who speaks Bemba is Bemba by tribe, u tribalists!!!
One pertinent issue need clarifaction here; Bemba as a tribe and language, Out of 72 tribes in Zambia 24 of them speak Bemba but are not Bembas by tribe. Actual Bembas hail from Kasama, Chinsali, Kaputa, Mporokoso and Luwingu. Even President Sata is Bisa not Bemba by tribe. The whole of Luapula, Muchinga and most of Northen province use Bemba dialect, but are not Bemba by tribe, and they are too mobile and sociable people most of them were the majority when the Mines opened up while Lozi rushed on Wenela to South Africa, Bemba speaking people joined the Army, Police and Railways enmasse and spread their dialect that now in all the 100 districts you find an influencial Bemba speaking person. Other tribes are too local and least mobile and fear integration
like lozis and tongas…..
they would rather be near a cow than a human being.
how do you expect to go to plot 1 when cows do not vote.
Okay….lets be clear here, saying they were ‘captured is disingenuous as it implies they are criminals; in this case these orphaned and ‘homeless’ kids were rescued and reunited with family were possible. I do commend them for actually doing something progressive. Hopefully the orphanages can prove to be a better alternative to the squalor of life on the street for them. Hey Minister, here are candidates for the ZNS that can learn those valuable life skills you were touting. Now, when are they going to clean up the streets of Zambia? Hmmm, here’s a radical idea, hire these street kids at city council and get them to work by cleaning up the streets. And get rid of the street vendors. I know you can’t multitask so take your time.
Get rid of street kids like they are animals which are putting the ecosystem in danger. Give them a solid future basis not sending them to military training atase where is the social minister sleeping or what have future solution not games.