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The New Age Voices Issue 28
Youth Agenda Trust
February 11, 2012

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Kasukuwere, ZYC under fire

The beleaguered Zimbabwe Youth Council (ZYC) has been plunged into turmoil following the Minister of Youth, Indigenisation and Empowerment Saviour Kasukuwere's decision to dissolve the ZYC board in December amid revelations that the finance committee of the board was about to institute a probe on ZYC director Livingstone Dzikira and his cronies at the institution.

Allegations are that he finance committee had for the past year unearthed a series of fraudulent activities that allegedly involved Kasukuwere, Dzikira and other key council personnel.

Close sources in the board told this reporter Tuesday that the finance committee had questioned the irregular procurement of furniture delivered to Kasukuwere's office by the ZYC using funds availed to ZYC for the procurement of office furniture by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). However, what seems to have irked Kasukuwere is the behaviour of the board members that he personally nominated and those that he thought were aligned to his Zanu PF party whom he felt were becoming hostile to his leadership and to that of his trusted lieutenant, Dzikira.

In October, the board led by Kasukuwere's nominee in the board Lucky Kandemiri in his presentation to the parliamentary portfolio committee on youth, warned Kasukuwere and Zanu PF leader Robert Mugabe of North African style uprisings if they continued to ignore the plight of young people in the country.

The final straw seemed to have come in December on the side-lines of the strategic planning meeting of the council in Victoria Falls when the board snubbed Kasukuwere and opted to caucus it first leaving Kasukuwere with an egg in his face prompting him to cancel the meeting and immediately dissolve the board.

The ZYC recently flighted adverts in the Sunday Mail for the vacant board member positions and surprised many when it stated that prospective board members who wanted to get into the board through a round of elections should meet set academic qualifications, clearly defeating the point of going to elections.

Youths who were interviewed by The New Age Voices said that they decided not to take part in the process because it is clear that the process is flawed and hence participating would legitimise the process. "We will not waste our time trying to get into this board because we know that the process is not transparent. We saw how the previous board was frustrated when they wanted to carry out their duties so we feel that for as long as the ZYC Act is not amended and is not in tandem with the African Youth Charter, we will be wasting our time," said one youth leader who requested to be anonymous.

However, some youth leaders say that they are also worried about the role that is being played by UNICEF and UNDP in this whole circus saying that the two multilateral agencies were wasting money fuelling an institution that is becoming an enemy of young people which they say is not serving any purpose at all.

Meanwhile, all is not well at the troubled institution with news filtering through to The New Age Voices that Dzikira has embarked on a clean-up exercise of the Institution where those who are deemed unsympathetic to his leadership are being involuntarily transferred to regional and district offices where most of them are met with empty trays, a situation which some of them are saying is tailor-made to frustrate them.

Efforts to get a comment from Dzikira were fruitless the whole week as he was said to be attending to some business in Chiredzi. The ZYC used to be based at Zanu PF headquarters before the formation of the Inclusive Government but later switched base as Zanu PF tried to apply cosmetic reforms to the council and also shake off the stigma associated with Zanu PF through allowing the election of 7 board members to the council.

However, the fresh face that ZYC sought to present has turned out to be a very ugly face as most youths are slowly disassociating themselves from the activities of the council which they now view as an "extension of the Zanu PF youth wing".

Two years after its re-branding, youths say the ZYC has not been able to offer any meaningful support to youth organisations but is surprisingly implementing activities on its own without the involvement of youth organisations.

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