PIMPS TARGET NEEDY UNESWA STUDENTS

KWALUSENI – Due to life pressures, pimps are now targeting the University of Eswatini (UNESWA) students.

Motivated by the finder’s fees and also taking advantage of the students’ desperation, the pimps are understood to be now taking some of them to as far as Cape Town for the sex business.
They then return to the country with money for rent and food plus expensive iPhones, also wearing finer clothes, thus causing their peers to be envious of their happiness. Eswatini News can mention that the problem may not be limited to some students of the University of Eswatini, but it is a common thing in other tertiary institutions. However, this publication was able to get confirmations from UNESWA’s Student Representative Council (SRC).  

Shocking

Bongumenzi Dlamini, the President of the SRC, said their research unearthed shocking findings. He suspected that certain men have some spirits, which were driving them to the university campuses to indulge in sexual intercourse with young women. This, he also suspected, they did to bolster their supernatural powers. Dlamini said some young women confided in them about male sexual fantasies they observed during their dates. He mentioned that some men performed such acts because of enchantment (betfwala). He said they were made to understand that there were many of these enchanting men preying on the UNESWA students. The SRC president said they were surprised at seeing old men driving posh cars to the university’s campuses.

Frequenting

He said these oldies spent two or the whole night in students’ room. He said they were frequenting the dormitories. The president said they wondered what these old men who looked wealthy were doing with the students in their rooms. “A male person cannot claim to be a relative of the female student after spending the whole night or four hours with her in her room,” the SRC president said.  He said some social media influencers with ostentatiously attractive lifestyle were a very bad influence on the learners as well. The president said the students were enticed into travelling to events outside the country such as the Durban July and others, not only for fun but to make money through sex. Based on the fact that some students are in dire need, Dlamini said the rate of prostitution was raising alarmingly  at the UNESWA campuses. “Come here in August to see a large number of vehicles and motorbikes at our campuses, mainly at Kwaluseni,” he said.

Responsibility

The SRC president said the recruitment agencies were very active on campus and its responsibility has always been to look for women with qualities that met their client’s requirements.
When the clients or old men had had sex with them several times or for a prolonged period of time, the president said they tended to reject the learners to look for new women.
In some cases, he said they dumped the learners after they had put them off the market, that is, after they had sexually abused them in a very terrible way.

“That is when the students regret and others even threaten to commit suicide,” he revealed.Asked who were vulnerable or susceptible to the agencies recruiting women for sexual pleasures in return for financial favours, he mentioned them as follow:  Students in dire need, with or without scholarships. These are students who do not have parents or guardians and are on their own at the university.

Struggle

They are not entitled to any allowance. They struggle to even pay tuition fee. It is sometimes the responsibility of the boyfriends to pay rent or the tuition fee, but they are not consistent.
Students whose parents are present and affording, but do not play any significant part in supervising or visiting them on campus or in their rental rooms to see what they are eating and wearing. These parents are unconcerned about the plight of their children. They do not ask how they bought those iPhones or where they got money to buy some clothes.
Students envying the lifestyle of the social media influencers who post their images in finer clothes and being chauffeured in flashy cars. Students who are a product of poor parenting or peer pressure which had very bad influence on their lives. These are the students who just need money for alcohol and cigarrete.

What’s the solution?  

  Dlamini, the SRC president, said a ‘No Hungry Student Campaign’ was set up at UNESWA and was being administered under the Office of the Dean of Student Affairs.    
He said there was a need to strengthen the campaign against alcohol consumption and smoking. “If young people can stop drinking alcohol and smoking, some bottle stores and bars can shut down,” the president predicted. He said parents or guardians should question any additional income their children might have. Dlamini pointed out that the parents and guardians should be encouraged to contribute to the welfare of their children at the university.“Supervise your child’s activities at the university,” he warned.

He added: “ask her where she gets the money.” The leader of the students mentioned that a student received E1 690 per month in allowances, which they sometimes received two months after the opening of the university’s semesters.

Assist

Since the money came late, he advised that parents and guardians should strive by all means to assist their children. He said landlords should also understand that students would pay rent at a later stage. Asked how much rent students paid on average, he said it cost about E800. With the E1 690 receivable on a monthly basis, he explained that they have to pay rent, electricity, water, buy food, toiletry and clothes. Above all, he said they have to set aside bus fares. “Some students need transport fees to be able to reach the university,” he said. He thanked government for the allowances, but made it known that they were not sufficient to sustain them, thus exposing the females to immoral acts. The president advised parents to begin now teaching their children at a tender age, so that they would not become a problem at the university.

Authority

Babili Kunene, the Dean of Students Affairs, said even though the university’s top leadership was the rightful authority to speak about the welfare of the learners, it was pleasing to see Senator Fezeka, in particular, coming to the university to express her commitment to assist those in need. He said their internal initiative would receive a great boost from the campaign initiated by the legislator. In order to avoid students’ debts, Kunene suggested that learners would be attached to certain companies to acquire skills and get paid while they were still on campus. He said such programmes were very useful in some countries.

“It’s obvious that some students cannot sustain themselves on campus,” he said. “They are sinking in debts.” He appreciated sponsors that came through to assist.

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