The Sunday News
Micheal Mhlanga
It is in Maurice Nyagumbo’s autobiography (Some of us must remain to be with the people) that the role of the youth is questioned when he reflects on his meeting with Robert Chikerema on a windy Salisbury (Harare) July afternoon. Nyagumbo (1980) writes that he was reluctant to attend the inaugural Youth League meeting at the monumental Mai Musodzi Hall.
He says his reluctance was informed by his observation that African youths were very frightened of the white man and were incapable of doing anything against the white boss. He also confesses that he had a wrong perception about city dwellers, who to him were criminals who could not be trusted to run a decent organisation. So he did not attend the birth of history.
A lot has changed in youth politics since then. Chief among it is that Zimbabwe was liberated by young people. Even though, youth institutions in politics are either not happy, gullible, vulnerable, susceptible or basically disenfranchised. To unpack the import of this article,
I reflect on the Zanu-PF Youths who walked 500km from Harare to Esigodini planting trees, the minimum presidential age limit debate and the positions of youth institutions and primarily the poverty that describes this constituency. This article speaks truth about the state of politics, youths and governance across all divides. The new narrative is #speakingformygeneration, and its gaining traction. Politics should pay attention to this piece.
Background: Youth and political character in Zimbabwe
To define the people of a country, a common starting point is to examine their characteristics, determine what groups exist, and what are the largest groups, and the characteristics that they share. Age is a particularly important characteristic in classifying populations, and when used as criteria to define the population of any country, the most salient fact is that the largest groups are the young. In all African countries, the median age of the population is 25 years or less — that is, that half or more of the population are under 25 years of age, and up to one fifth between 15 and 25.
In traditional African society, youth have always been seen as children and therefore, subordinate. This concept continues in many contemporary social settings and influences the roles, expectations, problems and potential of youth in Zimbabwe. Young people, though a demographic majority are marginalised in terms of the modern as well as traditional governance systems.
In a country where youth are the largest group, youth and governance can hardly fail to be a key issue. In a range of societies (political or religious) moving at differing rates towards some measure of democracy, public participation and civic engagement and the like, it will be increasingly difficult, and counter-productive as well, to ignore this majority, or other large groups when assessing the problems and needs of governance. At best, recognition of the group has only in instances of pleading for voter mobilisation or rally attendees; and nothing more beyond elections or rally preparations.
Political and social complexities are products of strata negligence
The protracted political and economic crises affecting Zimbabwe and Africa at large for more than a generation have left many of the youth frustrated and disillusioned. They see little hope for the future through education or sustainable employment. At the same time they have little voice in governance and politics. Most political systems condescend to young people, relegating their concerns to the margins of debate and bracketing them exclusively with such issues as school and sports. But the challenges however, are significantly greater.
Speaking truth to power; Zimbabwe’s protracted political and economic crises have left many young people so frustrated, disillusioned and discouraged, that they seek any change at any cost and become easy prey for mobilisation into armed groups or by extremist forces — for instance the riotous groups; Vanguard of the MDC A and the terrifying militia that was led by Jim Kunaka.
One of the important challenges facing politics and its character in Zimbabwe is its silence on key developmental issues which have been limited to infrastructure and jobs. The silence of politics on how youths have to circumvent public health hazards, contribute to environmental sustenance and appreciate equity and equality within its nexus with culture.
The experience of a typical Zimbabwean youth is one of instability and uncertainty, exacerbated by war, displacement, economic crisis and the HIV/ Aids pandemic. They are part of a sociopolitical category that emerged from the collapse of traditional societies under the impacts of colonialism and the post-colonial mobilisation of young people for a range of power struggles in which they have often been the major victims.
Others are gripped by despair and a sense that there is no future for them — at least in their spaces of influence or knowledge — an attitude that for some contributes to a fatalistic refusal to take the trouble to protect themselves against HIV/Aids and for others to throw themselves into desperate, costly, and often dangerous attempts at illegal immigration to more developed, or at least, richer countries outside the continent, in search of employment.
Both those demanding change and those seeking to defend the existing order, seek to mobilise young people to their side. This makes the vital problems of youth, their role in governance, their struggle for a livelihood, and the overwhelming threat of HIV/ Aids, key issues for governance in Zimbabwe. Politics needs to find solutions for this youthful majority of their populations, that is rapidly growing larger, poorer, more discontented, and occasionally, more militant.
Some politicians tend to ignore the real challenges of youth and governance, particularly as concerns listening to the views and experiences of Zimbabwe’s young people and integrating them into politics and governance processes. This leads to missing the opportunity to address or avert causes of governance crises through the active engagement of young people.
This is how you can genuinely win the City youth league
Despite not attending the making of history in July 1955, Maurice Nyagumbo acknowledges that he was wrong. That December on his visit in Harare, he met Robert Chikerema walking with Paul Mushonga who invited him to their small office in Orr Street where they ran a monthly bulletin called Chapupu.
It is that media piece corroborated and published by young people that conscientised the African community. It is Chapupu that documented social inequalities and the brutality of racism in Rhodesia. The unique colloquium of Dunduza Chisiza, J T Maluleke, Henry Hamadziripi, Jason Moyo, George Nyandorro, Pretty Molefe and Dorothy Manda can be remade with the right and favourable conditions placated by politics.
The need is to bring a set of young peoples’ issues to the political and governance agenda and to make governance issues accessible and relevant to young people. At present, few have concrete ideas about how to address youth and governance from the perspectives of the young.
This shows the need for exploratory work on the issue, to identify those perspectives and examine governance issues of particular relevance to youth, in the context of youth perspectives. This could be timely, relevant and potentially path-breaking, particularly if it provides a framework to facilitate the integration into governance processes of issues of special relevance to youth.
Typically, a society’s political energy is found mostly among the young, especially the educated and ambitious youth. If a country’s leadership sees any form of political organisation that it does not control, as a potential or actual threat, it may tend to discourage it, rather than bringing it into the system, encouraging dialogue and channelling it along constructive lines. This however, may lead to ignoring real problems that left un-addressed may, and often do, contribute to future crises.
The reality is that the special challenges of Zimbabwe’s development and political renewal demand a high level of political energy, which can only be found through the mobilisation of the young. If young people are provided channels to develop and express their issues and pursue their special needs within existing systems and frameworks, they may contribute positively to the enhancement and stability of those systems.
