The statements were made at a discussion forum held in the capital as part of commemorations to mark World Youth Day for Democracy which aims to raise awareness about the contributions youths are making to promote democracy around the world.
MDC-T Youth Assembly Secretary General, Promise Mukwananzi urged youths from other parties to guard against manipulation and work towards a common goal of fighting poverty, unemployment as well as ensuring they are actively involved in decision making processes.
“The first thing that we have to agree on as young people across the political divide is that in terms of demographics, we are the majority in this country. The worrisome thing is that this is not reflected at positions of influence in various spheres of life,” said Mukwananzi.
Mukwananzi expressed frustration that youths failed to take an active role during the COPAC outreach process saying this has seen their interests not being adequately captured in the draft constitution.
“Although the draft is a fine document, it does not adequately represent our interests. The reason for this is that as youths we failed to unite and work towards a common goal of fighting for our interests. We must unite against being manipulated by whoever wants to do that,” he said.
MDC-N youth leader, Tineyi Mukakiwa, said that it was disturbing to note that Zimbabwe’s younger generation faced the same problems and yet they were divided.
“Youths in the country face the same problems of unemployment, poverty and yet they are divided. This is so because we have allowed ourselves to be manipulated by some political leaders. The resultant thing is that we have not been able, as youths, to solve our problems,” he said.
Mukakiwa said the manipulation of youths had resulted in them failing to take leadership positions in the country.
Mavambo/Kusile/Dawn Youth Chairman, Tawanda Makoni said it was unfortunate that Zimbabwe has been under international spotlight for disregard of human rights with most of the cases being perpetrated by the younger generation.
“Zimbabwe has been under the international spotlight for the wrong reasons such as human rights violations and it’s unfortunate that the youths are involved in most of these as they are manipulated by rowdy politicians,”he said.
Participants at the discussion forum also blasted the inclusive government for a lack of sincerity in opening up space for youths in areas of decision making.
Post published in: News