Police Block Discussion Of Governance Issues At Youth Event

Police in Bulawayo barred the discussion of governance issues amongst young people gathered at an Arts Concert in Nkulumane Sekusile Hall last week arguing that such a big crowd can easily get out of control. The police demanded that all National Youth Development Trust (NYDT) banners be pulled down from the venue and nothing on governance be discussed as they were not prepared to deal with such issues.

Part of the audience at the Arts Concert in Nkulumane Suburb

The concert was organised by the National Youth development Trust in partnership with the Bulawayo Cultural Festival on Saturday April 20, 2013. It was held under the theme, “Know And Participate”, in an effort to inform young people about key national processes and encouraging them to effectively participate. Of particular importance at the concert was the need to encourage young people to register as voters given the impending national elections.  However, living up to the theme proved to be difficult as the police also insisted that no information educational and communication (IEC) material on governance can be distributed at the event. They argued that they were only prepared to deal with a simple arts concert. Given the fact that the event would draw a big crowd, they said, it would become difficult for them to control the young people if governance issues were to be discussed.   

However, most artists performed in T-shirts that encouraged young people to register to vote and some of the performances bore the youth electoral participation message.  Key performances were drawn from stand up comedian Clive Chigubu, Khoi-khoi, Djembe Monks, Kwabatsha, Bhatshi, GDA, Kadder, Mac, Nashie and Simunye amongst other artistes.

The NYDT has been using Arts concerts as mass mobilisation activities for a long time and this has allowed the organisation to disseminate information to a large group of youths. Such youth friendly activities are expected to continue as part of NYDT programming to ensure the sharing of critical information with young Zimbabweans.