DC condemns youths migration to South Aftica as economic immigrants

Mzimba District Commissioner (DC) Thomas Chirwa has, in strongest terms, condemned growing tendencies  by  youths in Mzimba who migrate to Republic of South Africa, ostensibly is search of greener pastures,  trends  he said greatly contribute to  socio-economic challenges rocking some communities in the district .

Chirwa: Sto trekking to South Africa for greener pastures

Chirwa challenged that  youngsters, who trek to South Africa, most of them teenagers,  contribute nothing to the development of their communities which brought them up, besides perpetuating poverty in their families they dump in Mzimba.

The DC made the outburst during a meeting organized by Help  a Child (HAC) Malawi, held at Mame Motel, at Mzimba Boma.

HAC, a Child welfare affiliated international organization, organized the meeting to brief  M’mbelwa District Council officials and stakeholders on the pre and post assessment results of a  Parenting Challenge Project which is being piloted at Edingeni area, in Paramount Chief M’mbelwa 5, in Mzimba  and in Traditional Authority Zilakoma, in NkhataBay and was launched in 2017..

The objective of the project is to improve parenting skills for  mothers, fathers and care givers, through practical parenting group sessions, where child care, nutrition security, health and education of a child, among others,  become subject matters.

Mzimba DC, who has suddenly taken a tough stand on migration issue, said the biggest crime  youths who opt to seek jobs in South Africa commit is to push responsibility of looking after their  children in the hands of their parents, some too old while others without slightest capacity to  provide quality care to their grand   children for their proper  growth and development.

Said Chirwa, “ These  teenagers leave behind their expectant wives  and children in their tender ages, who are in dire need of proper care, in terms of provision of food and clothes, for the enhancement of  their proper growth and development so that they become responsible community members in their adulthood.”

He said it becomes worst when the young men who migrate to South Africa decide to marry in  a foreign land, a situation, he said, forces most of them to completely abandon families  in Malawi, which are eventually plunged in misery and  abject  poverty.

The DC emphasized that proper child  care  is the responsibility of both, a woman and the husband, which he said begins right at the time of conception.

“The type of care the expectant woman is given, in areas of nutrition, medication, love  and environment, coupled with how the newly born baby is subsequently taken care of, up to an age of 18 years or so, determines the caliber of a person the baby will graduate into, in adult hood,” said Chirwa

Meanwhile, Chirwa said he has already engaged Chiefs and other traditional leaders to seriously scrutinize the youths seeking their authorization to travel to South Africa, in terms of their ages, marital status and plans on how to manage their families once they grab a job in Zulu Land.

“My office which receives  thousands of passport applications from youths, most of them below 20 years, will intensify vetting of applicants to flash out youths not  eligible for the passport”. Said Chirwa.

Besides the harm inflicted to  families and communities at large, Youths migration to South Africa, to a larger extent, is blamed for the dwindling education standards in primary schools in MZimba.

For three years now, Mzimba South has performed horribly poor in primary school leaving certificate examinations which has become a major concern to  education authorities.

Mzimba South District Education Manager (DEM), Fanwel Chiwowa said there is serious erosion of interest in education by both, parents and learners.

“Mediocre performance by learners is a result of lack of encouragement from parents who have lost interest in education of their children way back since most of them can not appreciate the benefit of  investing in education at the moment .” Said Chiwowa.

Random interviews with parents who spend  resources, like cows, goats and other belongings, to finance trips for their young boys to South Africa, revealed that youths migration to RSA is the easiest way for their children  to amass wealth than they could if they  remained in class.

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Patrick
6 years ago

Mr DC,create economic opportunities for the youth before you open your mouth.You look overweight due to being employed and overpaid.There are millions of Malawians here,will your govt employ them all? It is natural for people to move towards better opportunities.Just thank God that SA is not far,there would have been chaos there by now

#DzukaniAmalawi
#DzukaniAmalawi
6 years ago

This just shows how shallow those n leadership positions are. Here so called leaders have no problem-solving skills. They don’t even understand the real problem. I will break it down for you Mr DC. Malawi has zero economic opportunities for the millions of youths. These youths are unable to feed their families as there are no jobs and no business opportunities. There are only 5,000 people who really have money flow g out of their pockets and this is from looting. This is a Venezuela situation happening in Malawi. Millions of Venezulans are crossing the border because their country is… Read more »

Kholowa
Kholowa
6 years ago

Kunenepa kumeneneku mmesa mukanawagailako achinyamata atatu kuti asathawe
Ask them they are not happy to live the land bit if they can see food in SA you epect them to stay and die after chaponda ataponda chimanga?

Jovwisi
Jovwisi
6 years ago

The DC should champion development of the district so that there is job creation. Mzimba remains largely underdeveloped. No tarmac roads. No electricity in most areas. What do you want the youth to do? You can’t even finish the Mzimba-Kafukule-Ezondweni road so what do you expect? There are no tarmac roads to Euthini, Embangweni and Mabilabo. Central govt has deliberately frustrated the development of the district. So what do you expect the youth to do?

matchona
matchona
6 years ago

Mukayambe mwasintha ma policy mwiwala paja mumati girl child, one mwa any amuna ambiri tidalephera ndiponso thousand akulephera sukulu, solve the economy equation.
we wanna be ready to come back and stay

Mboba
Mboba
6 years ago

Mr DC you are ill advised

Mafana
Mafana
6 years ago

I strongly beg to differ with bwana DC. We Malawians should be grateful that there is a country like South Africa which absorbs most of Malawi’s labour (both youth and adults, men and women). Do you know how many Malawians there are in SA? Mullions! Would our economy accommodate them all were they to come home? Needless to point out that there are no jobs in Mw. The country gets a boost from remittances from SA. My jobless sister and her jobless husband are surviving on remittances from their sons and daughters in Jozi so what are you talking about… Read more »

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