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NYDT's position on introduction of National Youth Service from crèche
National Youth Development Trust (NYDT)
January 18, 2011

The leadership and membership of the National Youth Development Trust received with unreserved dismay the Ministry of Youth's proposal to (re) introduce National Youth Service (NYS) from crèche (Newsday 15/01/2011). The move is an unruly violation of the rights of the children and youths who need access to basic services and employment opportunities rather than being incorporated into a partisan paramilitary training.

The most touted raison d'etre for the training program is that it is an attempt at cultivating a sense of patriotism amongst young people by teaching them patriotic history. It is in light of this that NYDT asks, What is this patriotic history? and to whom is it patriotic?. The behavior of graduates of previous National youth training program has proved that this so called teaching of patriotic history is an excuse by ZANU PF to indoctrinate young people for use as campaign tools and violence machinery.

The timing for the re-introduction of the NYS is also suspicious. What makes it even more suspicious is the urgency and clandestine nature with which the Ministry of youth is prepared to start implementation. The re-introduction comes barely a few months after the ZANU PF conference through which it resolved to immediately target young people and "lure" them to join the party and prepare it for elections which could be held anytime this year, hence this urgent need to re-introduce the national Youth service training program. ZANU PF is fully aware of the fact that their 'Chimurenga' generation has reached sunset years and will not be energetic enough in the next election hence the urgent need to replace it with a young, brain-washed and para-military trained generation. It seeks to sustain its militarilisation of politics and guaranteeing a generational continuity of the 'Chimurenga' generation by recruiting and indoctrinating young people through such programs as NYS.

The use of such a program to further partisan interests and lack of consultation on the nature and form of the training programme is a direct insult to democratic principles. Citizenship involves the right to be treated by fellow human beings as equals, with respect to the making of collective choices and the obligation of those implementing such choices to be equally accountable and accessible to all members of the country including youths and children.

As NYDT, we therefore call upon all Zimbabwean youths to reject the current proposals by the ministry of Youth, Indigenization and Empowerment and call upon the Ministry, the Inclusive Government of Zimbabwe and all stakeholders to convene a National Dialogue on the issue as a way of finding lasting solutions to the challenges faced by the programme. In convening the National Dialogue, Article 15 of the Global Political Agreement, which states that the parties need to work on a program that inculcates values of patriotism, non-violence, democracy, equality, respect etc, must be the guiding framework.

The Government should be the custodian of the National Dialogue process and as an organization we envisage that the process should recommend that the ministry must,

• reform its structures and make them more democratic and inclusive
• onsult youths and stakeholders on such and other programs,
• develop and make accessible the training materials of the NYS program,
• make the NYS program voluntary and in line with other regional and international best practices,
• purge the NYS program of all partisan machinations and professionalize it,
• ensure that the NYS centers are safe, clean and befitting for human habitation,
• train youths on civilian rather than military skills to enhance their employability rather than usage as drivers of political violence.

NYDT continues to envision an empowered breed of youths in control of their destiny and that of Zimbabwe and shall continue to mobilize the youths and work with stakeholders for the realization of this cause.

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