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Nduduzo Tshuma  recently in Kinshasa, DRC
President Mnangagwa rescued a Zimbabwean woman and her three children who were stranded in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) for the past three years by flying them back home on the presidential plane.

The 28-year-old Ms Blessing Kapora, who had been making frantic efforts to return home for the past years without success, was yesterday included on the plane ferrying President Mnangagwa and his delegation, which travelled to the DRC on Monday on Government business.

The President was briefed of the woman’s predicament on arrival in the DRC on Tuesday and agreed to assist her.

As he stepped onto the plane at Ndjili International Airport, President Mnangagwa, before taking his seat, walked towards Ms Kapora and her children, a girl (8) and two boys aged six and five.

“Are you happy to be finally going home?” the President asked.

After being told that the three children could only speak English and French, President Mnangagwa jokingly said: “They are our children now, you should teach them our language and our ways. You should also teach them of our food like sadza and mufushwa.”

Ms Kapora left Zimbabwe for South Africa after completing her Ordinary Levels at Seke 2 High School in Harare in 2008.

She later fell in love with a Congolese man, now 36-years-old, in South Africa, with whom she had the three children.

“I was working at a restaurant in South Africa and my husband was a security guard. We had our first born in 2010, our second in 2012 and our last born in 2013,” said Ms Kapora, who was raised by her aunt following the death of her parents.

Her father died when she was three-years-old and her mother passed away when she was doing her Form 2.

Ms Kapora said their life changed after the couple lost their jobs in 2013 in South Africa.

“In 2015, my husband called his father and told him of our predicament and he invited us to come and stay in DRC,” she                                 said.

“We arrived in March 2015, but still none of us could find a job.

“My husband decided to go back to South Africa in 2017 to find a job, but was met with challenges. Back in DRC, our first born failed to attend school because we had no money for fees.”