What’s the youth dividend in Zim politics?

YOUTH constitute approximately 65% of the Zimbabwe’s over 17 million population, which makes them a vital cog in the development of the nation. Observers view the youth as integral in shaping the future, with many urging government to implement policies that benefit the youth since they constitute the majority and are the future. However, the lackadaisical approach by the government in coming up with youth-oriented policies has broken many hearts, leading the youth into finding solace in informal employment, drug abuse and criminal activities such as robbery for survival.

Youth are victims of the over 97% unemployment rate bedevilling the country.

It is the reintroduction of the youth militia under the guise of the National Youth Service that has laid bare what the government has in store for the youth.

In the words of critics, the move makes the youth cannon fodder for the politicians ahead of a potentially explosive 2023 harmonised election.

Zanu PF will stop at nothing in its quest to win the polls at all costs.

Youth like Tawanda Muchehiwa are victims of State-sponsored abductions and many others including the Zinasu president Takudzwa Ngadziore, Alan Moyo, Makomborero Haruziviishe have been in the dock on spurios allegations mainly to do with their anti-government stance and advocating for the right to employment opportunities and education, among others.

Open confrontation with political activists and opposition youth is likely to be the order of the day following the announcement by Information minister that Youths, Arts, Sports and Recreation minister Kirsty Coventry has reintroduced the youth militia, notoriously known as the Border Gezi.

This marks the beginning of terror according to observers and that is something Zimbabweans may not have budgeted for especially under a government that prides itself as a “new dispensation.”

The youth militia, which was the brainchild of the late former Zanu PF commissar and Youth minister Border Gezi, wreaked havoc since its introduction by the late former President Robert Mugabe in 2001.

Besides being tools for political expediency by Zanu PF apparatchiks, it seems there is nothing much for the youth and their future has been left to be determined by the elderly whose interests are clearly somewhere.