CHIEF Madzimawe of the Ngoni people on Thursday dragged over 14 illegal immigrants to the Eastern Province immigration office for
illegal entry.
In an interview, chief Madzimawe said he was concerned with the influx of Malawians in his chiefdom.
“I think these Malawians are being trafficked into Zambia and they are sold at K150. It’s like there is person who brings these Malawians to Zambia, I have so far handed over about 14 Malawians from Chungu village this (Thursday) afternoon to the immigration officials. Now when I look at the ages, it came to my mind that these boys are just being trafficked,” Madzimawe said.
He said most of the immigrants that he had handed over were teenagers while others were in their early twenties.
“These boys are not criminals; they are just victims, somebody is just trafficking them into Zambia and our people pay K150 per person. The immigration officers who came said they will try to investigate the issue. These 14 are just coming from one village, so in Ng’ongwe ward there are quite a number of them, I think they are over 100 and these are boys who are supposed to be in school. They are doing piece works in the fields while others are looking after cattle at the expense of their education, which is so dangerous to both countries. We are actually now breeding criminals,” Madzimawe said.
He also handed over another Malawian to the police service after he attempted to rape a school girl at Vimba village.
Madzimawe said after being probed, the Malawian admitted that he wanted to rape the girl.