By Francis Maingaila
LUSAKA, Zambia
It all started when Joseph spotted an ad in local newspaper dangling out the possibility of foreign jobs, in what seemed like a good opportunity, for a healthy fee.
It ended weeks later in a dusty office, empty save for other desperate young men who had nothing to show for the money they had spent.
Joseph Munjile is the firstborn son in a family of four, and unemployed, like many other Zambian young people.
Munjile told Anadolu Agency that when he saw an advertisement for foreign jobs in a local newspaper this fall, since he needed a job desperately, he filled out an application and was accepted.
“I was asked to deposit 500 Zambian kwacha” – or a little over $50 – “as a security fee for both travel and lodging arrangements in a bank account,” he remembered.
The bank account was set up by employment brokers, or people who say they will connect you with a job outside the country, for a price.
And $50 is a steep sum in a country where GDP per capita amounts to only $1,625, according to 2015 World Bank figures.
“When the date I had been told to report to the brokers arrived, I carried my school papers, including the deposit bank receipt, and off I went to the interviews,” he said.
But at the employment agency, Munjile explained, rather than meeting the brokers, all he found was several other applicants milling around a deserted office.
"It was after this surprise discovery that I, together with the other applicants, decided to report the matter to the police."
Mass fraud alleged
Munjile’s tale of misfortune does not seem to be an isolated one.
In October Zambia Police Service spokeswoman Esther Mwaata Katongo told journalists in Lusaka that the police are investigating reports of a group of con men masquerading as recruitment agents who are swindling unsuspecting Zambian young people out of huge sums of money.
The police announcement came after some 200 young people filed a complaint that they had been cheated by people who falsely promised to secure employment abroad for them.
“The youths were asked to deposit some $50.40 each in an account for these unscrupulous people, and when they went to their interviews, they found the offices for the alleged employment agents deserted,” said Katongo, echoing Munjile’s claim.
The police said they suspect this is a case where fraudsters are taking advantage of high unemployment in the country to cheat young people out of huge sums of money.
“The police are warning youths not only to not deposit money in accounts without verifying facts, but also assuring the people that we will not tire until the last perpetrator is brought to justice,” Katongo said.
The 2015 labour force survey conducted by the Central Statistical Office (CSO) shows that Zambia’s youth unemployment remains high, at about 35.5 percent.
Possible human trafficking
As bad as the theft of money from desperate unemployed youth may be, the problem might be worse still.
Josiah Ogina, the International Organization for Migration’s (IOM) regional director for southern Africa, suggested that there are youths who not only had had their money stolen but also became victims of human trafficking after being promised lucrative jobs abroad.
“This are cases of human trafficking taking place not only in Zambia but the region as a whole. These youngsters are lucky that only their money was stolen from them,” Ogina told Anadolu Agency in a telephone interview.
Information from Zambia’s Immigration Department shows that in the recent past, it has seen an increase in the number of illegal immigrants entering the country both as a destination as well as a transit point.
Mubanga Chileshe, the department’s public relations officer, told Anadolu Agency that it has been difficult to deal with cases of human trafficking primarily because the victims are not forthcoming, but even tend to defend the culprits, claiming that they are related.
“Also, the increase in suspected human trafficking being witnessed is mostly as a result of the economic recession which has led to increased job losses. The unemployed, especially young people, are increasingly becoming desperate for jobs.”
Along with a possible upsurge of criminality as joblessness and poverty spread, Chileshe explained there could be a rise in cases of human trafficking, with people more desperate to find jobs, a situation human traffickers are ready to capitalize on.
“It is these factors, coupled with the high number of illegal immigrants in search of employment intercepted at the entry points of our immigration checkpoints, which have made youths more vulnerable to human traffickers.”
According to the Department of Immigration, in the same vein, some young people have been “smuggled” out of the country by human traffickers who have promised them secure, well-paying jobs abroad.
Exporting youth labor
Transparency International Zambian chapter head Lee Habasonda blamed a number of agencies, which often are licensed, for the flourishing business of exporting youth labor.
Habasonda told Anadolu Agency in a telephone interview that the identities of people claiming to export labor are always hidden.
“Many of these employment agents operate not only under fake names and identification documents without any known physical address, but also have no location to track them. Most communication these unscrupulous individuals have with the victims often occurs through online mails, including phones, and this has made it difficult for the authority to trace them.”
He suggested that the government should put in place legal and institutional mechanisms including more robust measures for not only detecting, monitoring, and controlling but also preventing illicit labor exports, including the mushrooming unlicensed and illegal agencies dealing with employment.
Meanwhile, Richard Mkuk, 26, told Anadolu Agency a familiar tale: how he applied for foreign jobs that were being advertised because jobs these days are very difficult to find.
“When an opportunity such as this one provides itself, you don’t waste your time, but seize it, and that was the reason I filed my application. Unfortunately, I lost my hard-earned money in the process.”
