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Youth Forum on the receiving of stipends by National Youth Service graduates
Youth Forum
March 24, 2009

The Youth Forum is seriously rattled by reports that there are National Youth service graduates who are on the government payroll despite being non-members of prison services, army, police or any other civil service department. With the background of the latter as batterers, butchers and murders in all the elections which were held from the year 2000 when this project was launched and named after the late ZANU PF dissident Border Gezi it is worrisome to see such people still being domesticated by the regime which has always been brutal to its perceived opponents.

With another election in less than two years, it is our concern that such moves should be stopped forthwith. Civil servants are spending most of their valuable times in bank ques simply because there isn't enough cash in the national coffers, yet the government has lots of money to waste paying ZANU PF militia who have been terrorizing innocent civilians for quite a long time.

Equally worrying is bumper recruitment of rural youths in police and defence forces at a time when the government cannot afford to pay its workforce, let alone maintaining the health, education and other social delivery systems. As Youth Forum we take this as a miscalculated move of this dispensation which will only worsen our already pathetic economic situation. The government should bite what it can chew and place their priorities correctly to resuscitate this dead economy. It does not make sense to start calling for the removal of sanctions when nothing is not yet in motion.

Change must really be visible on the ground for the nation to get assistance. Unity between the parties in government is not testified by the sitting on the same tables of various leaders of the parties in government but also the actions on the ground should buttress the deliberations.

Meanwhile The Youth Forum is blazing hot for quick implementation of national healing process. Some members of parliament are going back to their constituencies were they are holding rallies where they are inviting both MDC and ZANU PF supporters and they just mentioning in passing that people should stop fighting and unite since there is now an inclusive government, but we feel that is not enough to quell the hurt and hate in societies as a result of political violence which prevailed in the run-up to the June 27 one man election and even in other past elections.

National healing process must not be as haphazard as the land grab, it must be well strategised, community driven and all inclusive in the exact meaning of the word.

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