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Youth Forum offices attacked and closed
Youth Forum
February 09, 2011

Six unidentified men, suspected to be state agents, stormed the Youth Forum Offices today demanding to know why the organization is encouraging young people to register to vote. The attack is a direct reaction to the Youth Forum's program where it's encouraging young people to register to vote by sending SMSs.

The suspected state agents stormed the offices and started unplugging the organisation's computers and laptops from the main power supply violently saying they were looking for what they termed 'Mass Communications Equipment' that the organization is using to send SMSs to young potential voters. After realising that they could not find such equipment at the Youth Forum's Headquarters, they became very violent and started pushing around furniture and equipment and shoving around the organization's secretariat. They were so violent that they frightened a few of the organization's youth members who had come to the offices with complaints that they were failing to register as voters due to a lot of bureaucracy.

The men demanded to know why the organization is sending SMSs urging young people to vote when the country's presidents has not yet declared the date of elections. They said these SMSs are causing a lot of problems as the Registrar General's Office is now clogged with a lot of young men and women who want to register as voters. They also insulted the organization's national coordinator with words that cannot be spelt out in public notifications like this one. They left after grabbing some literature from the offices and threatened the Youth Forum secretariat with unspecified action if the SMSs continue to reach its targeted audience. They threatened to come back with more arsenals to 'deal with the organization'. For the concerns of security, the offices of the organization have been temporarily closed until the situation normalises. The national coordinator has visited the offices of the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights for legal advice on the matter.

The Youth Forum is currently carrying out a campaign to urge young people to go out and register as voters. The campaign consists of a number of activities that will ensure that most youths become registered voters and will cast their ballots in any election. Among the activities being carried out in the campaign includes the sending of SMSs to an average of 18,000 youths at least three times every week urging them to take their National Identification Cards and proof of residence and go to their nearest Registrar's office and register to vote. It is these SMSs that have resulted in a lot of youths visiting the responsible offices in their droves trying to register as voters. The Youth Forum is also concerned by the number of youths who are being turned away because of lack of documentation including the death certificates of parents and grandparents. We would like to urge the registrar Generals office to reconsider certain requirements for registering as voters as these are disadvantaging a lot of youths from registering.

We would also like to categorically state that no amount of intimidation or harassment will deter the resolve of the organization from encouraging its members to register as voters. The youths shall register to vote and will vote come election time and no amount of such threats and coercion will stop the youths from voting as this is their democratic right that cannot be taken away from them. The actions by these suspected state agents should be condemned with the strongest terms possible as it only undermines the efforts by the government to democratise the country.

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