Youths Take Heed of President Mugabe's Words In Zimbabwe

Republic of Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe with First Lady Amai at a ZANU-PF rally in preparation for the upcoming national elections inside the country. Mugabe is committed to peaceful elections in the Southern African state., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.

Editorial Comment: Youths, take heed of President Mugabe’s words

Monday, 11 March 2013 00:00
Zimbabwe Herald

Zimbabwe’s gallant sons and daughters perished during the liberation struggle in their quest to liberate the country so that the indigenous people reclaim not only their land, but the natural resources that lie underneath.

It is against this backdrop that all Zimbabweans should pay heed to what President Mugabe said during his 89th birthday cerebrations at Chipadze Stadium in Bindura recently that youths should vigorously defend the gains of the liberation struggle.

We laud President Mugabe’s unwavering stance that the indigenous people should enjoy unlimited access to their God-given means of production. Youths are the future of this country and should prove beyond reasonable doubt that the country will be in safe hands when leaders are gone.

A majority of the youths of today were not yet born when the liberation struggle was waged, but this does not mean that they should sit on their laurels while others participate in national processes. They should stand up and defend the gains of the liberation struggle. it is critical that the youths understand that there is huge unemployment in the country as a result of the devastating sanctions imposed on the country by Britain and her allies.

This means most of the youths graduating from colleges and universities today should not immediately expect to secure lucrative formal employment in the civil service and the private sectors. It is during these trying times that the youths should vigorously defend Zimbabwe’s independence and sovereignity by ensuring that they employ the natural resources such as land to maximum benefit.

Zimbabwe is under siege and the youths that graduated with diplomas and degrees in agriculture, geology and engineering should obviously rise to this challenge and save the country. We challenge the youths with expertise in agriculture to make maximum use of land so that the country produces the best animal breeds, draught tolerant seed varieties and millions of tonnes of the staple food. If this is achieved, it means the country will be able to export surplus produce and earn money for the farmers and the country.

There are many farmers who benefited from the Government-initiated land reform programme who do not have specialised farming knowledge.

The youths who graduated from numerous agriculture colleges should assist some of these farmers so that they maximise production on farms.

President Mugabe, who is also the Head of State and Government and Commander-in-Chief of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces, has said on numerous occasions that Zimbabwe belongs to the indigenous people such as geologists.

He challenged them to team up and apply for mining concessions and venture into serious resource exploitation business.

During the 21st Movement celebration in Bindura, President reiterated that while the thrust of the indigenisation laws was meant to have Zimbabweans owning 51 percent of all foreign owned firms, his wish was for Zimbabweans to have total control of their resources.

“I have told Ministers (Obert) Mpofu (Mines and Mining Development) and (Saviour) Kasukuwere (Youth Development, Indigenisation and Empowerment) that for us to have total control of our resources we should have our own companies. That is real empowerment and some people are resisting that,” said President Mugabe.

The President’s stance should be supported because Zimbabweans should not be workers for ever. The youths of today have grown up in an environment characterised by serious unemployment.

This means the only option is for those skilled youths who are fortunate enough to be well-resourced to employ themselves and others. They should start on a small scale but grow large later as the economy also grows.

We are talking of small business ventures with a potential to grow into big corporations.

The President should be commended for encouraging the use of home grown solutions to deal with the unemployment problems rather than other players in the country’s body politics who are begging for support from countries that have imposed sanctions on Zimbabwe.

While funds have been set aside for young entrepreneurs access money at concessionary rates, we call for transparency in the disbursement of these funds so that the youths can venture into meaningful and productive projects.

On their part, the youths must come up with bankable projects.