Zim Youths Need Working Economy, Not Military Indoctrination - Mahere

Harare lawyer and MDC Alliance national spokesperson Fadzayi Mahere says Zimbabwe’s youths do not need to be sent to military indoctrination camps but an economy that allows them to thrive.

Mahere’s remarks come after the government announced that it was reviving the infamous National Youth Service (NYS) training programme after its suspension in 2018. She posted on Twitter:

Young people don’t need a military indoctrination camp. Young people need an economy that allows them to thrive, an education system that fosters creativity, tech hubs, art centres, modern sporting facilities, recreational facilities & Govt that doesn’t declare war on aspiration.

Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Minister, Monica Mutsvangwa told a post Cabinet press briefing in Harare on Tuesday that the NYS initiative was important in nurturing young people into becoming responsible and resilient citizens.

NYS was first introduced in 2000 as a brainchild of the late former Youth Development, Gender and Employment Creation Minister, Border Gezi.

The youths allegedly unleashed a reign of terror in rural areas, targeting opposition activists in the run-up to elections in the early 2000s.

The “Green Bombers,” as they are derisively called due to their all-green uniforms, were accused of committing some of the most heinous of crimes against MDC members during the later part of the late Robert Mugabe’s reign.