The government’s failure to address poverty has allowed “sugar daddies” to prey on vulnerable female university students, an opposition legislator has said.

Kwekwe Central MP Judith Tobaiwa (CCC) raised the issue in the National Assembly on Wednesday, demanding to know the government’s measures to protect the girl child. She asked:

My question is directed to the Minister of Higher and Tertiary Education. The girl child at university and college has become prey to old sugar daddies and other bad activities.

Poverty is creating prostitution and abuse of a girl child at universities and colleges. What policy measures is the Government taking to address the national huge threat to the girl child?

Minister of Transport and Infrastructural Development, Felix Mhona, acknowledged that such incidents happen to vulnerable students but said there is a work-for-fees programme to help those in need. Said Mhona:

You find the prevalence of such incidents actually happening to those who are coming from less privileged families.

There is a programme regarding the fees programme in terms of those who can be assigned to work for their fees to be supported during their tenure at the tertiary or the college.

So we must raise awareness of such a facility so that we do not have our girl child taken advantage of if they tap into such a funding facility.

So my emphasis here is to make sure that we continue broadcasting and highlighting that there is a programme that can support our girl child so that they do not endeavour to try to do unethical things in terms of sustaining their fees at colleges.

Norton MP, Richard Tsvangirai, said the root cause of the problem is economic inequality. He asked the Minister to elaborate on measures the government is taking to address it. Mhona responded:

Even if you would go biblical, those who were poor were supposed to be there at the beginning of any given nation and you continue to have the poor amongst us.

Whenever you talk of an equilibrium status, those inequalities will still be there and we are not advocating for poor people but we are saying surely, you cannot have an economy where you talk of everyone being on the same footing.

My point here is, as much as we know as Government that some are from less privileged families, we are having such initiatives as alluded to by Hon. Tobaiwa and Hon. Karenyi so that we have more accommodation.

We have grants to accommodate those who are less privileged.

Under the work-for-fees programme for financially challenged university students, during semester breaks, students can work as groundsmen to raise funds for their tuition fees.

More: Pindula News