Teenagers vending ‘thighs’ on a worrying RISE!

File Pic of teens

AS economic woes continue to dog the country, there is a growing trend in which teenage girls are selling s.e.x for as little as 50 cents in Caledonia, Harare.

In an interview with the Weekend Post during a tour of his constituency, Harare East legislator Terrence Mukupe said the practice was growing and extremely worrisome to neighbouring residents.

Caledonia is in the process of regularising its 23 000 residential stands following a massive land scam that unearthed fraud involving millions of dollars.

Mukupe said the trend was a result of acute poverty in the area that was forcing the girls into prostitution and help fend for their siblings and guardians most of whom are elderly and cannot work.

“There are no formal schools in the constituency, so the girls who are also in charge of some child headed families do not have any way of making a living, hence tend to resort to prostitution.

“Because of that lack of education, these girls are often abused and end up in prostitution. At the Gazebo area, the trading of s.e.x for money was very common among the young schoolgoing teenage girls,” he said.

Mukupe said girls in child-headed families were most at risk of being victims of s.e.xual abuse. He said apart from selling s.e.x for money, the girls also end up being targets of abuse from neighbours and close relatives due to a lack of support systems within the family.

We had a case of a girl who ended up in a diabetic coma because of lack of proper medication after she contracted a s.e.xually transmitted infection (STI).

“With formal schools slowly being constructed in Caledonia, we want to make sure that every girl attends school and if they cannot afford, they should be enrolled through the Beam programme,” he said.

He said to curb the illegal s.e.xual activities with minors, male youths have been deployed as neighbourhood enforcement agents and anyone caught would be arrested and prosecuted.

Tendai Chihota, a resident of Caledonia said what is disturbing about the prostitution in the area is that men old enough to be the girls grandfathers are the ones who frequent as clients.

She said apart from the youths in the area, the number of police posts should also increase as Caledonia is a large settlement.

“Shuwa sekuru vemwana iyeye ndivo vanonomubhinya zvakadaro. Siki dzazara vanhu vachingouraya vana zvakadaro. (A person old enough to be her grandfather is the one raping her. STI’s are too rampant in Caledonia and this is killing our young population),” Chihota said.

Source:Weekend Post