Time for youths to stand up against Mugabe

In the beam of what has been happening under the Ministry of Home Affairs (murder, torture, disappearances, unlawful arrests and detentions under the hands of the police) in the past years and at present, and considering that ZANU PF already has the Ministry of Defence, one would honestly think that SADC was inclined to conclude that ZANU PF should be wholly stripped of its grip over that Ministry. “But alas!”It appears as if the SADC leaders permitted Robert Mugabe to dictate the terms at the summit, and like him they ignored the will of the people. They failed to put the best interests of the people of Zimbabwe and instead helped Mugabe to maintain his grip on power.

To save our country and save the future the young people of Zimbabwe will have to stand up and take collective action against President Mugabe and SADC leaders for coming up with an unworkable outcome that is anti-people i.e. to share the home affairs ministry at least for a trial period of six months. How are we the innocent and helpless Zimbabweans going to survive with such a Mugabe controlled police force and army we all know what that means-torture, beatings detentions etc.Even for those six months, why do they (SADC) want to see Zimbabweans being butchered by the police we thought they had seen enough over the past years. As the transition unfolds as it begins to be implemented we Zimbabweans want our voices to be heard, we want to contribute to reconstruction and openly talk about and even criticize the leaders. Our freedom of expression must be restored and guaranteed first! , before the implementation of the power sharing deal begins. How then can this be possible, how can this be guaranteed when the same hand that has caused all these problems still has power over the police and the army, again I repeat we will be butchered.

During this political impasse the people continue to suffer but those greatly affected are the youths, because the destruction of Zimbabwe today is going to impact on the young people’s future for many years to come long after our old leaders have gone. It is the youths who are now being deprived of the most powerful right for their future that is education; the youths are now all merchants and dealers with no solid foundation ,without the pride and skill of an educated person who can contribute to the economy. Education has an extraordinary potential for sustaining development, nonetheless Zimbabwe’s education, particularly tertiary education is propagating maldevelopment. Higher education has the responsibility of creating the capacity for sustainable development and the democratization of knowledge, the key to genuine democracy. With such an ailing education sector the hope of restoration of genuine democracy in Zimbabwe is a fallacy. There is high unemployment in the country there are no jobs one wonders what is going to happen to the more than one thousand students who recently graduated at the University of Zimbabwe .

The Chancellor (President Mugabe) on the 31st of October, came and conferred degrees at the University of Zimbabwe, I really wonder what was going on in his mind when he stood facing hundreds of students being sent into a society with more than 80% unemployment. How can the President of a country pretend that all is normal and come to confer degrees at the biggest tertiary institution in the country , when he continues to sanction the suppression of the voices of the students when he continues to hold on to power thus delaying the rebuilding of the nation .All is not well in Zimbabwe and these leaders should seek to address that speedily, SADC has failed and its time the youths, who I believe to be the best informed; the most intelligent and the most idealistic stand up and find alternative ways of solving this power sharing disagreement. 20 years ago a university graduate was assured of finding a job getting a decent salary, readily accessing that same salary from the bank, buying furniture, a car and even a house , but today it’s a sad different story .

The health sector has also deteriorated or we can say is now defunct what is left are the dilapidated buildings, people are dying out there because of shortage of doctors and medicines. The youths again are the most affected because of them being in their reproductive ages , they are finding it hard to get ARVs , they do not get proper maternal care, which again is completely the opposite of the situation that was happening back then in the present leaders’ youthful years.

During this time of political uncertainty the youths should play a significant part in the search for new principles that will bring about stability in the Zimbabwean political order. As always it is the youths’ task to make history in the future and it is society’s obligation to provide youths with sufficient resources and an honest basis for hope in carrying out this task of preserving, while transforming society for the good of all.