• They are not sure if current MPs will ever want to let go
• Unemployment is too high, and some view being MP is a source of income
• Bad leadership qualities in some adult MPs, so the youth think they can do better
• Some older leaders may have been using the youths for their own political advancement
• External influence – opposition could be influencing them indirectly
In my fourth point, I don’t mean to suggest that the MDC youths have been mixing and mingling with the opposition, but sometimes the opposition, especially Zanu (PF), with its strong CIO network, can be so cunning and develop ways of filtering through messages that encourage them to protest against their leaders without the youth realising where the message is coming from, and what it is designed to achieve.
Ask yourselves why the cry for posts has been louder this time round, when in fact the MDC was the first party to introduce youthful leaders in parliament: Tafadzwa Musekiwa remains the youngest Member of Parliament Zimbabwe has ever had. The late Learnmore Jongwe and Job Sikhala were some of the young people to make it to parliament. Even today, some of the parliamentarians are youthful, so the party has always been accommodative of youthful leaders. The youngest minister in the Government of National Youth, Nelson Chamisa, is an MDC official.
The fear that they could be made to wait for ever could be helped by the party coming up with a limit in the terms each parliamentarian should serve. In Zanu (PF, Amai Mujuru, Sydney Sekeramai and others have been in parliament for 32 years now, so our MDC youths may see no opportunity for themselves if there is no indication when people who have been in parliament since 2000 will pass on the button stick. I wouldn’t want to say that any of the MDC parliamentarians have over-stayed in parliament, but in the next 15 years some will have over-stayed, so the party must quickly think about limiting parliamentary terms to give the youths hope that one day it will be their turn before it is too late.
If the bold move has been made to limit the terms of the President, progressive parties should start thinking along the same lines for candidates for elections at all levels, from council, parliament through to senate within their own parties.
I hope the MDC leadership will take heed and address the youths’ concerns and interests before some of the current parliamentarians go for thirty three years as parliamentarians. – Benjamin Chitate, New Zealand
Post published in: Letters to the Editor