By Tendai Makaripe
HARARE, Zimbabwe — The government will not create a school-fee assistance program specifically for returnee children from South Africa, Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi said Wednesday.
He told the National Assembly that families must apply for support through the Basic Education Assistance Module, or BEAM.
Ziyambi responded after Pumula legislator Sichelesile Mahlangu asked how the government would help returning families pay school fees and obtain books.
Mahlangu said the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education had directed schools to enrol returning children.
Ziyambi said families needing help must follow BEAM application procedures in the districts where they settle.
“Payment of fees, parents must follow the normal processes,” Ziyambi said, according to Wednesday’s National Assembly Hansard.
He ruled out additional support specifically for returnees.
“We are not coming up with a so-called special programme for returnees, but we have general programmes to assist our citizens who are coming back,” Ziyambi said.
The United Nations reported that more than 100,000 Zimbabweans had returned from South Africa by mid-July.
Officials at the Beitbridge Reception Centre had processed about 13,000 children, the United Nations said.
Zengeza West legislator Innocent Zvaipa also alleged that returning citizens faced $15 charges when seeking birth certificates or identity documents.
Ziyambi said the government had not authorised those charges and asked lawmakers to report cases for investigation.
He said Zimbabwean parents could register their South African-born children and obtain birth certificates in their home districts.
The documents would allow them to enrol in school, he said.
Ziyambi did not state how long documentation or BEAM applications would take.
He also provided no figures showing how many returnee children had enrolled in schools or received financial assistance.
The United Nations said one returning mother of three had no guarantee that her children would resume their classes this term.
