Draft constitution allows youths to contest any election

Young people have expressed delight with the fact that the draft constitution has no age limits for those who wish to contest in elections, saying this grants them the opportunity to contest as candidates for council, parliamentary and presidential elections. This among other things, they argued would enhance their participation in community and national processes.

These sentiments were echoed at a Youth Meeting convened by the National Youth Development Trust (NYDT) in the Pumula North suburb of Bulawayo. The meeting was held to discuss the contents of the draft constitution which has found its way into the hands of the media, political parties and civic society despite the fact that it has not officially been released by the Zimbabwe Constitution Select Committee (COPAC). The draft constitution stipulates that everyone who is at the legal age of participating in elections is also eligible to be a candidate.

Zimbabwe has had a history of having aged leaders who have failed to effectively represent the youth constituency. The only time young people have received attention from political leaders is towards elections when they are used as campaign tools. Election periods have also seen the youths being used as perpetrators of violence to spearhead certain political party campaigns.

Speaking to the youths during the meeting the discussant, Khumbulani Maphosa said the draft constitution promises to be a better document than the current constitution although there are some major points that still require critical debate before the draft can be finalised.

“As young people we need to dwell more on the issues that concern our day to day living such as issues of citizenship, the bill of rights, devolution of power and the governance system in general, among other issues,” said Maphosa.  

It was noted during the meeting that although devolution of power is mentioned in the draft constitution, it is not the kind of devolution that young people have been advocating for. Part of the loopholes is the fact that powers of the provincial assemblies are limited as their decisions can be nullified by the national assembly.

Although the bill of rights was hailed as being somewhat comprehensive, it sparked an outcry amongst the youths regarding the right to education, with some youths arguing that the state was giving with one hand and taking away with the other.

“Everyone has the right to state funded education from pre-school to primary level and the state must take reasonable legislative and other measures, within its available resources to achieve the progressive realization of this right,” stipulates the draft.

 The fact that the right to education depends on whether the state has resources or not hinders young people from claiming that right as the state can easily hide behind shortage of resources. Young people felt that this right should be unconditional for both primary and secondary school education. 

The draft states English, Ndebele and Shona as the only official languages despite the fact that this country has as lot more languages spoken by its citizens. This the youths said, is tantamount to the marginalization of some sectors of the nation. The draft stipulates that, “Everyone has the right to use the language and to participate in the cultural life of their choice ...” a right that young people have argued is as good as not recognized because the draft constitution recognizes only three languages as official.

It is evident that Zimbabwe has a long way to go before the draft constitution can receive full approval by the young people of Zimbabwe. However, youths have been urged to read the draft, discuss it among themselves and then identify strategic people to give their views to ensure that their concerns are captured in time for the second all stakeholders’ conference and parliamentary debates, bearing in mind that the draft is not yet official.