Addressing youth leaders and members of the media at a meeting to discuss the impact of Statutory Instrument 4 of the 2013 Zimbabwe Youth Council regulations in Harare last week, National Youth Development Trust Director Liberty Bhebhe said youths should challenge laws that make the operational environment difficult.
The Zimbabwe Republic Police has intensified its crackdown on activists and NGOs in recent months, a move that has been described as a way of instilling fear among citizens ahead of the watershed elections scheduled for later this year.
The minister of Youth, Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment, Saviour Kasukuwere on January 18 gazetted the ZYC resolutions, which compel all youth organisations to register with the Council and pay an annual level of $3.
Bhebhe said the regulations posed serious threats to the survival of progressive non- governmental youth organisations.
“This is a deliberate ploy to stifle democratic space for youth organisations as the country heads towards elections. It is an indirect way of closing operational space for all those groups who are trying to encourage first-time voters to register as we head for elections,” he said.
According to the council’s regulations, no registered youth association shall receive any donation without first informing the council in writing, a move which most youths concurred was a fundraising ploy.
“The ZYC has failed in its mandate to represent young people and has become partisan in favour of Zanu (PF). They now want to thwart progressive youth organisations,” said one youth only identified as Farai.
A member from the United Democratic Alliance, is based in Marondera, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the time had come for Zimbabwean youths to stand up for their rights and claim their political space in the forthcoming elections.
“The youths must cease making rhetorical statements and take action. We are now tired of meeting here in these hotels and discussing our issues over mineral water. Let us go to the grassroots levels and map the way forward, taking into cognisance that there is a huge constituency of youths in the rural areas,” he said.
Post published in: News