What happens to Harare's rounded-up street kids? Cull them, they are too many and a menace to civilisation

Harare removes street kids in a blitz - the saddest article I read today. Cull them all, because they are too many and becoming a menace. That is the message implied. The report on Bulawayo24 about street kids in Harare's Central District does not shed light on what happened to them. Where did the police drop them - somewhere far from civilization? Were they culled because they belong to nobody, because the government bears no responsibility for them, because they must be removed from "civilized" spaces and eliminated somehow? The article is blank. It says nothing about their whereabouts after the rough roundup.

Complaints from Harare residents were horrendous - especially from women - about how street kids snatch purses, food items, even wigs, and abscond fast. They have become street-smart, perfecting the technique of living rough in a brutal environment where even posh Harare bins yield nothing to scavenge. If it were possible to speak to Harare's street kids, I would tell them to steal even more - to make life unbearable for police and citizens, sending a clear message that society must find solutions. Children are the future of any nation. Who does not know that?

Has anyone asked how these poor souls are supposed to survive Zimbabwe's cruel economy? The article missed the details - why and how street kids end up on the streets. Instead, it lamented their menace, their harassment of shoppers. What happens to street kids who starve to death in Harare? Are they picked up, tossed into police trucks, sent for cremation - end of story? Is there a register cataloguing their deaths, their names?

Society must debate the plight of street kids. When they are rounded up, the government must tell us where they are relocated - into dormitories, safe homes, given a second chance at citizenry. Street kids were betrayed first by parents, then by government, then by society. Has anyone asked what street kids think of their parents - or are they consumed simply with surviving each day?

Zimbabwean society is complacent, dismissive. It is easy to complain about street kids because they are vulnerable. Nobody speaks for them. If they are a menace, why is the nation not debating their plight? Do we know what it means to be rejected by a parent and subjected to street life? The article states that some children as young as five are street dwellers. Are their parents dead? Has the economic downturn become so severe that children are sent away to fend for themselves? This debate is missing. Instead, we hear about a woman who lost three wigs worth US$150. She never considered that the child stole to survive the day.

Ubuntu in this instance is a tall order. Ubuntu is paraded globally as a philosophical dress code to feel good about being African - but in practice, it has no value. This article is the saddest information on social media today. Do those women who complained about wigs and food realize their moral inadequacies? Any society is measured by how it treats women and children.

If street kids harass residents and commit crimes, they are sending strong messages to government and society. They are shouting for help. Instead, they are accused of criminality. Street kids are in millions across towns and cities. Not one member of parliament has addressed their plight. This is a sign of a failing government and opposition. The poverty of Ubuntu philosophy. If Zimbabwe's future - its children - is undermined, what are they discussing in parliament?

Council intervention is long overdue. To "cull" street children away from civilized spaces is not a solution. Street kids have lost precious lives, but complainants do not see it. They are blind to the destruction of children as young as five. Should I continue to say I am proud to be African? One resident, Ms. Chiedza Zvikaramba, said: "The blitz on street children should be done regularly." This is the thinking of people without compassion. Street kids need rescue, not jeering.

Another resident said crimes occur near City Council offices. How I wish street kids would occupy those offices in defiance, sending a message: we are citizens too, give us decent lives and futures. From there, they should occupy parliament buildings. Street kids are millions. It is not normal to ignore them. A street child means a life lost. Harare residents lament food and money stolen - compared to millions of lives destroyed. No one has ever explained how Zimbabwe's street kids die. Not even the police. They mean nothing.

Street kids linger at Africa Unity Square, Town House, Harare Gardens. The irony is stark. Black residents disdain sharing these spaces with street kids because they steal. Demarcations of who qualifies to visit "civilized" spaces defeat liberation values. White colonizers once forbade Africans from visiting these places, claiming they were dirty. Today, the black elite forbids street kids - branding them thieves.