In a recent engagement with guardians of undocumented learners at Matshayisikhova Primary School in Luveve, Emakhandeni Luveve Constituency Honourable Decent Bajila, shed light on the challenges faced by undocumented children in the community.

“What we’ve discovered is that there are many children in our community who are undocumented, and this is affecting their access to essential services such as education and healthcare,” Honourable Bajila said.

He attributed the issue to various factors, including parents who are based abroad and fail to obtain birth certificates for their children.

Some parents reside abroad for extended periods, up to 15 years, without returning to obtain documentation for their children, and they also fail to provide any form of support.

“Some undocumented adults have children whilst working abroad and neglect to obtain documentation for them.

“They then smuggle these children into Zimbabwe, leaving them with relatives, and quickly return to their jobs abroad. During their occasional visits home, they are too preoccupied to regularise their children’s documents,” Honourable Bajila explained.

The situation becomes even more complicated if these parents pass away whilst abroad. Furthermore, there are local young single mothers who abandon their children with the relatives of the father and disappear without a trace.

Some of these mothers relocate abroad, whilst others remarry in local mining areas, leaving behind no documentation that can be used to obtain birth certificates for their children.

In some cases, both paternal and maternal relatives are actively involved in the child’s life, but the mother’s whereabouts are unknown. There are also instances where individuals are impatient and fail to return to the maternity clinic to obtain birth records due to a lack of stationery on the day of discharge.

“They confidently claim that they will obtain the documents at a later time, but often do not follow through. Eight years later, they still say ‘Bangimbuluzela bathi ngibuye next week. Ngahle ngayekela’,” Honourable Bajila said.

As part of his efforts to address the issue, Honourable Bajila has initiated a process to regularise the documentation of undocumented children in his constituency.

He has also called on relevant authorities, including the Registrar General’s Office, to provide support and assistance to affected families.

“We need to work together to address this issue and ensure that all children in our community have access to the services they need to thrive,” Honourable Bajila emphasised.