‘The place where every newsman was at’
Saul Gwakuba Ndlovu
ZIMBABWE’S 35th independence celebrations are one of the occasions when every Zimbabwean should feel a serious sense of self-respect as a part of a sovereign national community. Before April 18, 1980, the people of this country were under British tutelage. We were in law and fact “owned” by the British Head of State, and that was why our national anthem was titled “God Save our Gracious Queen,” a British national hymn.
During the armed struggle for our country’s independence, those of us who were in exile used British passports which described us a “British protected persons.”
It is the considered opinion of the author of this article that the happiest day of most Zimbabweans who were old enough to understand what was happening to this country was on April 18, 1980 when the British flag was lowered, and that of Zimbabwe was raised. That signified the birth of a new nation for which hundreds of thousands had laid down their lives, and others had sacrificed limb and property since Cecil John Rhodes’ Pioneer Column pegged camps and stands in what they named Fort Salisbury on September 12, 1890, officially called Occupation Day.
The struggle for Zimbabwe’s independence had been bitter, and protracted. The media throughout the whole world had carried news items about the freedom struggle of the people of Zimbabwe, especially from February 1959 when the Southern Rhodesian colonial administration outlawed the African National Congress (ANC) and detained its leaders and prominent members.
Those media that did not regard the issue as newsworthy changed their stance in 1962 when the late Vice President Joshua Nkomo presented the Southern Rhodesia question before the United Nations.
The British government argued that Southern Rhodesia was “a self-governing” territory in whose internal affairs the British government could not get involved.
However, the UN Colonialism Committee examined the matter and concluded that Southern Rhodesia was a British colony, and that the British government was duty bound to decolonise it in the same way as it had handled the Indian sub-continent, the Gold Coast (Ghana) and all other former British colonies.
The issue assumed major world interest, and the media kept their ears very close to it right up to the country’s attainment of nationhood on April 18, 1980.
Media representatives from most nations descended on Salisbury, now Harare and sought interviews with President Robert Mugabe and Cde Nkomo, Zanu-PF and PF-Zapu leaders respectively. When Cde Nkomo came from exile on January 13, he was accompanied by a large public media group from Zambia. It represented The Zambia Daily Mail, The Times of Zambia, The Zambia Broadcasting Service (ZBS) and The Zambia News Agency (Zana).
President Mugabe returned from Mozambique on January 27 and a large number of media personnel were with him. They included Mozambique’s radio broadcasting and television transmission journalists as well as those from the country’s newspapers.
Many of these media people remained in the country and covered the election campaign with Salisbury as their base.
Pre-independence elections were held on February 27, 28 and 29 and President Mugabe’s Zanu-PF won 57 seats when results were announced on March 4, 1980. That figure represented slightly more than 63 percent of the total votes cast.
Cde Nkomo’s PF-Zapu won 20 seats, representing 24 percent of the votes cast.
Zanu-PF won all the 14 elective Senate seats voted for by the House of Assembly on March 19.
Other political parties that were registered to contest in those historic elections were Henry Chihota’s National Democratic Union (NDU), Bishop Abel Muzorewa’s United African National Council (UANC), Chief Kaiser Ndiweni’s United National Federal Party (UNFP), Rev. Ndabaningi Sithole’s Zimbabwe African National Union (Zanu), James Robert Dambaza Chikerema’s Zimbabwe Democratic Party ((ZDP), Peter Mandaza’s The National Front of Zimbabwe (NFZ), Chief Jeremiah Chirau’s Zimbabwe United People’s Organisation (Zupo) which, however, later pulled out of the electoral contest.
The atmosphere in Salisbury at that time was electrifying with excitement.
Happiness was visible on virtually every black person’s face, but gloom was written on those of white people, understandably because their life of racial privileges was coming to an end, and that of democratic freedom, opportunities and personal dignity beginning.
The media were internationally represented. Algeria’s El-Moudjahid and An Nasr sent their reporters and photographers, so did Angola’s A Journal De Angola, and Nigeria’s Nigerian Chronicle, Nigerian Standard, New Nigeria, National Concord, Daily Star.
From South Africa, there were journalists from the Citizen, Die Burger, The Natal Mercury, The South African Press Association (Sapa) and a few other print media. Tanzania had its news teams from the Daily News as well as Ngurumo.
Some Japanese journalists were prepared to give “presents” to President Mugabe and Cde Nkomo if they could give them interviews. They were strongly advised by Eddison Zvobgo for Zanu-PF, and Willie Dzawanda Musarurwa for PF-Zapu to keep their “gifts” as President Mugabe and Cde Nkomo would feel insulted by such obviously corruption-tainted offers.
From the United States and Canada, Australia, India and China, the then Soviet Union and the German Democratic Republic (the GDR), from Cuba and Brazil, Chile and Mexico, journalists descended on Salisbury, turning the city into what some Americans would describe as “the place where every newsman was at.”
Ethiopia and Somalia were also represented by journalists from the Ethiopian Herald and Addis Zemen, and from Somalia, there was a photo-journalist from Ziddigta Oktobar.
At that time, Somalia was under General Siad Barre’s presidency and Ethiopia was headed by the famous anti-imperialist Lt Colonel Mengistu Haile Mariam.
Morocco was also represented by a journalist who, having failed to meet and interview Cde Nkomo in Salisbury, followed him all the way to Pelandaba (Number Six) in Bulawayo.
Saul Gwakuba Ndlovu is a retired, Bulawayo-based journalist. He can be contacted on cell 0734328136 or through email. sgwakuba@gmail.com
Health milestones impress minister
Thandeka Moyo Chronicle Reporter
ZIMBABWE has made great strides in the health delivery system by constructing more hospitals and clinics as well as destroying barriers that previously kept locals from exclusive “whites only” hospitals before Independence. Health and Child Care Minister Dr David Parirenyatwa commended President Robert Mugabe and his government for improving and transforming the health care sector in the past 35 years.
He said Zimbabwe is among the first developing countries to achieve the Millennium Development Goals of treating and preventing new HIV infections and reducing mother to child infections from 22 percent to 18 percent.
“One of our greatest achievements since Independence is that we’ve managed to take health care to the people. We achieved this by building more clinics as well as district, provincial and central hospitals.
“We used to have two central hospitals now we have six. The government has built eight more provincial hospitals compared to the two we had before independence,” said Dr Parirenyatwa.
He said the government had empowered indigenous people by destroying barriers that reduced them to second class citizens before 1980.
“If you go back to the era before independence you’ll discover that there were hospitals for black and white people. Mpilo Central Hospital was for Africans, that’s why its corridors are narrow.
“When we came in as a government, we changed that. The name Parirenyatwa Hospital was given to the then Andrew Fleming Hospital which was built with white people in mind.”
The Minister said the country, which had only 10 district hospitals before independence, now boasts of 52 district hospitals.
He said the immunisation programme was now a priority as opposed to colonial Rhodesia.
“We’re confident to say that not only have we been able to educate our people in terms of health needs, but people now know more about how to prevent certain diseases.” he said.
Dr Parirenyatwa, son to the first black Zimbabwean doctor and national hero, Dr Samuel Parirenyatwa, said the government had led in achieving universal access to ARV and treating HIV which had a very high prevalence rate at one point.
“Look at how we’ve fought HIV. It came in a very strong way, 31 percent prevalence rate in 1999 and now we’re talking of 13 percent.
“We’ve done that because we’re doing prevention, prevention and prevention. We used to deny people ARVs because we were told that ARVs are expensive, now we give ARVs free of charge because we believe that’s the right way to go,” he said.
The Minister said sanitation among Zimbabweans had increased since the attainment of Independence in 1980, which has seen a decrease in people who use the bush to relieve themselves.
“I could go on and on but it’s also important to note that we now have medical schools with black students.
“We only had one medical school that used to take about 15 students and out of those 15 maybe eight would be white. Now we’ve changed all that. We now take 200 students in Harare (University of Zimbabwe) and about 25 students in Bulawayo (National University of Science and Technology).”
He said in spite of such achievements, the government was still looking forward to other milestones.
“I think with those achievements we’re now looking at how we can build another Mpilo Hospital because this is an old hospital, we’re looking at how we can build another Harare hospital.
“We’re looking at how we can make Mpopoma Clinic have more services than it has, we want all our clinics to have X rays instead of coming to Mpilo hospital for X rays.
“We want to decentralise our services as we still want to achieve more in this sector for our people,” said Dr Parirenyatwa.
Imbube still lives on
Bongani Ndlovu Showbiz Correspondent
REGA kusarira by Amabhubesi and Unity by Black Umfolosi are some Imbube hits that come to mind when one reflects on the musical genre that has brought the masses together since the country’s attainment of Independence in 1980. Imbube, taken from the Zulu word “bhubesi” (lion), describes the presentation of the songs which are loud and powerful a cappella four part harmonies, accompanied by dancing.
Imbube is a form of South African vocal music, made famous by the South African group Ladysmith Black Mambazo.
The music genre, according to Thomeki Dube of Black Umfolosi, has its roots in the townships dating as far back as the 1930s but shot to prominence in the 1960s.
“When we were growing up, Imbube was part of society. Our elders used to listen to the music. I developed an interest in Imbube when I was very young,” said Dube.
He said during the 1960s, Imbube was popularised by groups such as Crown Figure, which would mix traditional dances such as isitshikitsha and ingquzu with their a cappella music.
Dube said Imbube was popular because it was a form of social commentary that spoke to the masses about the goings on in their lives before, during and after independence.
“Imbube shows were held egcekeni, near Big Bhawa in Makokoba Suburb on weekends. There would be up to 15 groups performing there, including Crown Figure, Dubaduba and Thethindaba among others. Imbube was part of tradition and the music conveyed messages of counselling to married couples and correction to the youth,” he said.
Dube said the trend continued until the mid 70s but was disrupted by the war of liberation as a number of groups lost their members to the armed struggle.
Million Mpala, now a member of Ndlela Zimhlophe, lost friends to the war when he was part of the group Thethindaba Choir that was formed in 1953.
“The 1970’s were a dark period for Imbube because a lot of groups stopped performing simply because most of their members had gone to the war. They wanted to liberate the country and sacrificed their love for music. Others such as Themba Ncube became prominent in the war for their music.
“Ncube carried his love for music even during the liberation struggle,” said Mpala.
He said after independence, the genre was revived by groups such as Black Umfolosi.
“There was a need to revive the genre after the liberation struggle. Fortunately, there were young boys who looked up to us.
“Black Umfolosi comprised of some of these young boys and they’ve made a name for themselves in Zimbabwe and beyond,” said Mpala.
Amabhubesi and Sunduza have also become popular outfits.
Oscar Siziba of Impumelelo Shining Stars, which shot to prominence in modern day Zimbabwe, said Imbube was still relevant in the country.
“All the songs we sing have a message for everyone. That’s why I say Imbube is relevant in the country as it encourages social cohesion and unity among people from different walks of life,” said Siziba.
He said the genre had evolved over the years as artists have moved to isicathamiya that incorporates traditional dance moves.
“We now perform isicathamiya which focuses more on achieving a harmonious blend among the voices. The name also refers to the tightly-choreographed dance moves that keep the singers on their toes. Unlike Imbube, which was traditionally loud and powerful, isicathamiya that’s derived from the Zulu word cathama, which means walk softly or tread carefully, is more subtle,” said Siziba.
Marked development in education sector since 1980
Nelson Masukume
ZIMBABWE celebrates her Independence Day on April 18, 35 years after the end of a bitter, protracted armed struggle. Since the country’s attainment of independence in 1980, there have been significant efforts to consolidate its gains. The transformation of the education sector and economic reforms are some notable developments the country has seen over the years.
Educationist and esteemed curriculum researcher, Bernard Gatawa says tremendous strides have been taken by government towards the domestication of education since 1980, when the country inherited a racially skewed education system which favoured mostly whites.
One of the major features of the colonial education system was the F1 programme and the F2 pathways which separated blacks from whites.
A product of the 1966 Education Plan, the dominantly white only programme prepared whites for the administration of industry, education and law while the F2 concept, viewed as a watered down curriculum, sought to create a pool of semi-skilled and half-educated poorly paid labourers to serve in white owned industries.
The colonial education regulatory frameworks and statutory provisions created very glaring inequalities which affected black students’ advancement opportunities.
The abolishment of the pre-independence education system saw the phasing out of the F1 and F2 programmes to allow an inclusive education and all academic system which set five ‘O’ Levels as the basic entry requirement in both tertiary institutions and the job market.
Student enrolment ballooned in both primary and secondary schools following the opening of schools that had been closed due to the war especially in rural areas. The general expansion in enrolments proportionally called for increased infrastructural demands exacerbated by massive vandalism of educational infrastructure that had occurred in the years leading to 1980.
According to the 1991 Ministry of Education, Art, Sports and Culture ED46 Returns, there were 4,461 viable and non-viable primary schools with Manicaland province having over 700 schools.
There were 1,499 viable and non-viable secondary schools across the country with the Midlands province having nearly 300 schools while Harare was the least with 74 schools.
To date, there are over 5,000 primary schools and over 2,300 secondary schools across the country. However, long distances that rural children have to walk to the nearest school remains one of the greatest challenges in accessing quality education.
The introduction of the Early Childhood Development programme in primary schools is a new phenomenon that the government implemented in 2006 as a response to the 1998 Nziramasanga Commission recommendations on education and training.
The Zimbabwe Integrated Teacher Education Course (ZINTEC) put in place to react to qualified teacher shortages soon after independence has been lauded as one of the historic education reforms aimed at coping with the ever expanding education demands and the need for qualified teachers in the country.
Significant strides have been made in the capitalisation of both the supervision and the examination of education in-spite of a recurrent combination of infrastructural, human, financial and systematic constraints that continue to frustrate the total evolution of our noble education system which is a marvel across Africa.
But the recent introduction of two more subjects at primary school congests the school timetable raising fears that the teachers and supervisors would not give adequate attention and preparatory ability to all the 13 subjects in the curriculum.
Low salaries for teachers remain a nagging problem and educators continue to show signs of lack of motivation following a ministerial directive scrapping incentives introduced at the zenith of a teacher exodus and an unfriendly economic environment in 2008.
On numerous occasions, government has promised to review salaries to levels commensurate with teacher’s qualifications in the region. The Civil Service Commission embarked on a nation-wide human skills audit exercise reportedly aimed at weeding out ghost workers who are gobbling a huge chunk of the wage bill. It is also reported that the exercise will culminate into de-bunching of civil servants’ grades according to experience and qualification.
One of the critical developments towards quality education has been the introduction of a schools examinations body. The Zimbabwe Schools Examination Council (ZIMSEC) is a government parastatal that was established mainly to set, standardise, moderate, supervise, mark, and safeguard the integrity of the examination system in schools.
The increase in qualified teaching personnel and materials through government partnerships with bodies such as UNICEF through the Education Transition Fund has greatly enhanced the quality of education and performance at Grade 7, ‘O’ and ‘A’ Level, examinations in schools around the country.
ZIMSEC announced that it would be procuring state of the art examination dispensing equipment in a bid to curb examination leakages that have tarnished the good image of the body that mutated from the colonial Cambridge examination system.
Over the years, ZIMSEC has been hit by a spate of examination paper leakages that have left the body faced with huge reprinting costs with dozens of officials either tainted or prosecuted in courts of law.
Last year, ‘O’ Level candidates were ordered to re-sit exams after the initial papers were leaked.
The Education Act Statutory Instrument (SI) 67 of 1987 and S.I 379 of 1998 are part of the government statutory inventory aimed at decentralising and regulating the role of all the players in the provision of quality education and child friendly infrastructure.
The Education Act, a repeal of the Education Plan of 1966 provides and defines the role of responsible authorities in schools. The responsible authorities such as mines, churches, boards of trustees and local authorities have schools that they built across the country.
The government compels all responsible authorities to adhere to physical planning regulations that stipulate provisions on the establishment of infrastructure in such schools.
Approval prior to the setting up of any building in both private and government owned schools is a pre-requisite. Government also deploys human resources controlled under public service regulations.
In some unfortunate cases, some authorities fall wayward and through commission, contravene government regulations.
The desire by either councils or churches to control personnel deployed by government in their schools is one challenge that sometimes compromises education delivery in some schools.
The disputes sometimes spill into the courts inviting avoidable costs on institutions.
There is a need for all responsible authorities to align their by-laws with central government laws to avoid conflict in institutions. Such institutions are advised to include in their boards, people with expertise and an understanding of government regulations to curb these conflicts.
Apart from authorities, parents have a major role to play in schools. Statutory Instrument 87 of 1992 allows the formation of School Development Committees (SDCs) in schools.
Both statutes allow parents to form committees that collect levies for the development of the school. Although these bodies are necessary, they sometimes impede development and compromise the quality of education.
Because schools are business entities nowadays, there is need to elect into these committees, parents who are literate to communicate and interact with other education stakeholders. These parents must have sound minds on issues especially government policies in schools.
Schools are not beerhalls; therefore reckless behaviour is the least expected thing in schools.
Editorial Comment: Let’s celebrate Independence with pride
We celebrate our 35th Independence Day on Saturday.
This is an important day for the country, as it is a testament of our freedom from colonial bondage, a day when Zimbabwe marks her nationhood. We celebrate the political independence that we attained on April 18, 1980, at a time when the Zanu-PF government is leading the country towards economic independence.
In 1890, Zimbabwe was colonised by Britain. But blacks did not give away their independence easily; they fought against the invading forces. However, with their spears, bows and arrows they were no match against whites’ guns, dynamite and so on. They rose in 1893 and later in 1896; both uprisings ending in crushing defeats. Having won the initial wars, the settlers went on a frenzy, gobbling up all of the country’s fertile land and forcibly pushing the rightful owners of the land into arid, infertile and rocky strips of land. They pillaged locals’ cattle and minerals as well. They took away their freedom and humanity.
For almost 100 years, we had to endure some of the worst brutality mankind has ever seen. Extortionate taxes and draconian laws were imposed on the indigenous people to entrench white domination of this land.
Yes the whites took away all of the blacks’ material riches, broke their limbs and massacred hundreds of thousands, but they didn’t break their spirit.
Thus resistance to settler rule resumed in the 1940s. The movements first articulated workers’ rights but later started advancing harder political demands for independence, equal voting rights and so on. The 1948 general strike showed what blacks could do if they worked together to confront the evil political dispensation of the day.
Political parties like the Southern Rhodesia African National Congress, National Democratic Party, Zapu and Zanu followed in the 1950s to 1963 as black anger over white domination intensified.
They started discussing the possibility of an armed struggle in that period. Under the leadership of Cdes Robert Mugabe and Joshua Nkomo, Zanu and Zapu started recruiting youths for military training in countries such as Angola, China and Russia. They launched a just war, a war for liberation that had total national support. The minority system had no chance despite the facts that their security forces had better arms and enjoyed the advantage of controlling all formal systems in the country.
Seeing that a straight military loss was imminent, Rhodesian Front leader, Ian Smith, lumbered to the negotiating table and discussions were held at the Lancaster House in Britain, not on his terms, but on the liberation fighters’.
The first democratic elections were held in early 1980 and were won by Zanu with 57 seats, Zapu coming second with 20 after both were elected on the common voters’ roll. Smith’s Rhodesian Front which was elected on a separate white voters’ roll got 20 seats. Independence came on April 18, 1980.
Despite the fact that the liberators had convincingly won through the bullet and the ballot later, the leader of the winning party, Cde Mugabe, as Prime Minister was magnanimous in forming a unity government that included Zapu cadres and, of all persons, Rhodesian elements.
It has been a long, happy 35 years for Zimbabwe since then. Blacks are now politically independent and the struggle now is on attaining economic freedom to make the independence truly meaningful, enduring and total.
With Zanu-PF in charge, the government launched the first real step towards economic independence in 2000 when the fast track land reform and redistribution programme was launched. That was after the landless majority had occupied white-owned farms countrywide. Now, 15 years on as many as 300,000 blacks are proud land owners. Most are doing exceptionally well on the farms but a few aren’t doing that well. The reasons why some aren’t doing well are many, among them lack of long-term affordable financial and technical support and recurrent droughts.
The revolutionary land reform programme attracted an angry response from the landed whites and their cousins in Britain, America, Canada and Australia who sought to reverse it by sponsoring the formation of a stooge political opposition in the form of Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC. Illegal sanctions were imposed too to bring down the Zanu-PF government and with it the party’s revolutionary policies and ideals. That has failed, dismally.
The fight for economic independence went a gear up on March 9, 2008, when President Mugabe signed into law the Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Act. The law prescribes a 51/49 percent threshold in ownership of investments in natural resources in favour of locals. This policy, which is standard practice in countries in the Middle East and other formerly disenfranchised nations, should take Zimbabwe towards greater and sustainable socio-economic development.
Therefore, we celebrate our 35th Independence Day with pride, after an electoral victory by Zanu-PF in 2013. The victory was so convincing that even the detractors of the party and country are beginning to warm up to us. We look forward to a big occasion on Saturday, and better economic fortunes as we move ahead.
‘Youths should further liberation struggle gains’
Sukulwenkosi Dube Plumtree Correspondent
YOUTHS have pledged to preserve the gains of the country’s independence through active involvement in various empowerment programmes.
They noted that liberation war heroes had passed the baton on to them and now they had a duty to further the achievements gained through the liberation struggle.
“The independence that we attained and continue to celebrate every year came as a result of the liberation struggle. The liberation fighters played their part by shedding their blood so that we could enjoy the freedom that we have today,” said Moses Mhango, a youth from Plumtree.
“Therefore the ball is now in our court as youths to ensure that we fully utilise the opportunities that come with being independent in order to develop our country.”
He said youths throughout the country should desist from shunning empowerment programmes that were crafted to benefit them.
Mhango said once youths learn to appreciate their role in furthering the gains of being independent, then the country’s economy would improve.
He said the significance of work done by liberation fighters for the benefit of the youths could not be over-emphasised.
“A number of liberation fighters aren’t educated today but we can’t blame them because they took to the bush so that we could get a chance at education,” he said.
“They were deprived of a chance to education themselves but they fought to win that right for youths. Today we’ve access to unlimited heights in education and we’ve the chance to excel academically.”
Mhango said the revolutionary struggle had also brought economic empowerment for the youths.
He said a number of youths were now proud owners of valuable assets, something which blacks could not do during the colonial era.
The government has special facilities for youth empowerment. Many of them have been allocated land under the land reform programme while others are proud owners of mines. There is also the Youth Fund, meant to provide business loans to youths aged 35 years and below with no need for collateral.
Mhango described today’s government as youth friendly as a number of policies had been formulated to empower youths economically.
Furthermore, Mhango said youths were now able to freely participate in the country’s politics.
“Today we’re exercising our freedom of expression through various platforms that have been availed to us. To me, gaining independence has been more beneficial to the youths than any other group of people,” he added.
“We’ve been granted a fresh start where we’re surrounded with countless opportunities unlike the liberation fighters during their time. We’re relevant within the global village because we’ve been capacitated intellectually and liberated mentally.”
He said youths now had to direct the skills they have acquired towards developing their country and not neighbouring countries.
He said it was the duty of every youth to get educated, either academically or through acquiring technical skills, in order to contribute in developing the economy. Noting that the liberation struggle was not for the purpose of producing an ignorant generation, he said there was a need for government to revive some of the programmes that were used to subsidise the education of youths like grants. Also, he said strategies had to be put in place to broaden the coverage of government education funds like cadetship and other government scholarships.
He said a number of young people, especially those in rural areas were still failing to access education because of financial challenges.
Mhango said there was also a need to have more youths benefitting under the land reform programme through allocation of land.
Most veterans of the liberation war left school, university and their jobs while they were still young. To some extent, they were comfortable in their situations, but realised that the comfort was hollow and uneasy without independence. So they went to Zambia and Mozambique from where they took part in the independence war until freedom came on April 18, 1980.
Another youth from Plumtree, Nkosilathi Sibanda said there was need for government to formulate a deliberate policy to ensure that youths equally benefitted from the country’s resources.
“Youths can do a lot of good to the country if they are given an equal opportunity to access resources such as mines and farms as well as other investment opportunities.
“In fact, if youths are to preserve the revolutionary gains they have to enjoy its fruits first, then they will have a clear understanding of what they are obliged to preserve,” said Sibanda.
He said the youths were the best natural resource the country had, hence they had to take a leading role in reviving the economy. Attaining independence, Sibanda added, could be equated to the biblical story of the Israelites when they were taken out of slavery in Egypt to the Promised Land.
Sibanda urged his fellow youths to have a sense of ownership by being actively involved in celebrating Independence Day.
“It’s a pity that it’s mostly the elderly people who attach importance to the Independence Day celebrations whereas it should be us the youths at the forefront,” he said.
Leaders must empower youths economically
Opinion Saul Gwakuba Ndlovu
ZIMBABWE celebrates its 35th independence anniversary on Saturday, April 18. Its population has increased from about seven million or so at the time of attainment of nationhood in 1980 to nearly 15 million.
The majority of the people are not older than 35 years. That means in effect that most of the country’s population is younger than our national independence.
Meanwhile, Zimbabwe is facing a very high rate of unemployment especially the unskilled, unprofessional as well as some professions such as nursing, cutting and designing, catering and tourism, journalism, driving, cookery and similar lines of domestic science courses.
Those who are hardest hit by this high unemployment rate are the youths, that is to say people whose ages range from 18 to 35 years.
Some of them have left Zimbabwe and are living precariously in South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Mozambique, Swaziland or in various countries overseas. Some live wherever they are unlawfully. Some of our national leaders have publicly called such young people back home to help in the country’s development.
Zim-Asset, the country’s economic blueprint is meant to alleviate unemployment, among other problems. The economic policy was launched in 2013, some two years ago. We cannot say whether or not it has helped to reduce the national unemployment rate as there are no statistics to guide us on this important matter.
We hope, however, that a statistically based picture will be presented to the nation sooner or later, or, at the latest, just before the next national general elections, that is in 2018.
Before that date, the country has to deal with a large number of youths many of whom spend their time at business centres gambling and or consuming alcoholic beverages as well as other drugs such as mbanje.
That is a very unfortunate social development currently spreading throughout Zimbabwe, contributing to the commission of horrible crimes that include rape, even that of infants and elderly women by young men who are at the prime of their lives.
Murder of defenceless women by undoubtedly younger men under the influence of drugs is another common crime in both urban and rural areas. The minds of these unemployed, unskilled young people are idle, at least some of them are.
Village and ward communities would be well advised to launch skills – training schemes to turn these youths into useful and usable human assets.
If such wards were to identify suitable centres where youths can meet, councillors and MPs would be asked to engage qualified or experienced artisans who can train the youths in various manual trades such as carpentry, fishing, building, motor mechanics, welding, soldering, animal husbandry, poultry, gardening, leather work or whatever else.
We can expect the country’s political leadership to support projects of that type can be launched with the active participation of village heads, headmen, chiefs and district administrators. Each political party would, it is strongly hoped, urge its youths to join such schemes, and the government would most probably get involved, however certainly at the issuance of certificates or participation documents to the successful youths.
Commercial and industrial sectors can be requested to sponsor such projects in their respective wards, and some companies or individual business undertakers may employ some of the youths on completion of the courses of vocational training.
The primary aim in such a sphere would be to turn the majority of the country’s youths into valuable assets as opposed to a situation where some of them are without any skill whatsoever and are thus a burden on their respective parents, guardians and communities at large.
Councillors and MPs have a duty to sensitise their wards and constituencies on schemes such as this suggestion. Tools and premises for such projects can most likely be provided by some local businesspeople. School halls can be used while the participants are constructing their own accommodation.
Starting with brick moulding, the participants would put up the required structures as part of their training programme. That was virtually how Tuskegee College was built by Booker Taliafero Washington, and also Achimota College of Ghana was founded in the Gold Coast, now Ghana, by the well-known educationist, Dr Aggrey.
Councillors and MPs have a very important responsibility to develop the areas they represent. Their duty is not just to debate and pass by-laws in council chambers, or national laws in Parliament.
They have to develop their constituents socially, culturally, economically and of course, politically.
Human resources development is one of the responsibilities of the various types of leadership, the political leadership being one of them.
Saul Gwakuba Ndlovu is a retired, Bulawayo- based journalist. He can be contacted on cell 0734 328 136 or through email sgwakuba@gmail.com