President Mugabe’s Sakubva rally special

HISTORY will be made today at Sakubva Stadium where Africa and Zimbabwe’s iconic leader President Mugabe is expected to address tens of thousands of youths from the length and breadth of Manicaland.

Indeed, all roads from Mahenye in Chipinge, Fombe in Nyanga, Nerutanga in Buhera and Chiendambuya in Makoni will be leading to Manicaland’s provincial capital, Mutare for this second President Mugabe Nationwide Presidential Youth Interface.

Although President Mugabe’s first meeting with youths in Marondera a fortnight ago was historic, the Mutare meeting is special as it coincides with the International Day of the African Child.

The Day of the African Child has been celebrated every year since 1991 on June 16 when it was first initiated by the then Organisation of African Unity now African Union. It honours those youths who participated in the Soweto Uprising in 1976 on that day. It also raises awareness of the continuing need for improvement of the education provided to African children.

The world-over youths are in the majority and it is time for every nation to give them their rightful place in all spheres of life, be it political, social and economic.

Zanu-PF youths under the leadership of their National Secretary, Cde Kudzi Chipanga have woken up to smell the coffee and also realise that the vision of our beautiful country lies in their hands.

Youths are filled with tremendous and towering ambitions. It will be a great wastage of human resources if youths are not given an opportunity to exercise their God-given talents and we applaud President Mugabe for the empowerment programmes the Government has availed to our youths.

President Mugabe’s interfacing in Manicaland also includes the opening of an Information and Communication Centre in Dangamvura. We salute the Minister of Information, Communication and Technology and Courier Services, Cde Supa Mandiwanzira for spearheading the transformation of Dangamvura Post Office into an Information and Communication Centre to keep youths in Dangamvura busy and help avoid idle minds becoming the devil’s workshop.

Undoubtedly, youth is the spring of life and the age of discovery and dreams.

With Cde Chipanga at the helm, youths have become conscious that they have to get up and go, and stop complaining about how the older generation of leaders has hijacked the polity.

Our youths therefore, have the power to transform the nation into a better place and take the baton from the founding and current political fathers among them the late Zanu chairman, Advocate Hebert Chitepo, Father Zimbabwe, Cde Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo and Simon Vengesai Muzenda to mention, but a few.

We urge the youths who will fill up Sakubva Stadium to the rafters to take time to listen to President Mugabe’s inspired messages and learn that youths are their own liberators.

Our present- day youths should indeed remember that it was the gallant youths of Zimbabwe who took up arms in the 1970s and thumped the Rhodesian Forces into submission, resulting in the birth of Zimbabwe on April 18, 1980.

Zimbabwe is facing a myriad of challenges and our nation needs youths to help resolve most of our problems. We believe that youths are capable of solving some of these challenges and need to be given a chance to prove themselves.

As a reminder, we want to urge youths not to get carried away with their organisational powers and become big-headed. They should always find time to listen and respect their elders because wisdom comes with age.

Lest we forget, the Sakubva rally should not be about sloganeering only, but time to remind all opposition political parties that with elections on the horizon in 2018, Zanu-PF’s juggernaut is now on a roll. The President’s meetings with youths should therefore go a long way in mobilising as many youthful voters as possible to the side of the ruling party.

Above all, we expect peace to prevail at Sakubva Stadium.