NYDT’s Position on the Draft Constitution

National Youth Development Trust held a youth Convention on the 23^rd of June 2012. One of the key outputs from the Youth Convention were the non-negotiable benchmarks that ought to be factored in the draft constitution.

The current draft constitution has managed to factor critical issues raised by the youths during the Youth Convention these issues are:

·         Broad based bill of rights that safeguards the right to education, shelter, health and life.

·         Establishment of the Independent Commissions. The commissions that have since been proposed in the draft constitution include the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission, Zimbabwe Gender Commission, National Peace and Reconciliation Commission and the Anti- Corruption Commission.

·         A clear recognition of 16 official languages in Zimbabwe.

·         The inclusion of the citizenship clause that ensures that youths are registered under the Zimbabwean law

However, the Draft Constitution as per the expectations of the youth did not recognise:

1.      The establishment of an Independent National Youth Commission to support youth economic and social developments programmes.

2.      A shift in the majority age from 18 to 16 years and the call for young people in that age to be allowed to vote and be voted for political office. The law recognises that at 16 anyone can choose a life partner if that is so why not be allowed to make a decision about voting.

3.      The total inclusion of devolution of power as a part of the governance architecture. Currently the draft contains a watered down version of devolution which is not clear on fiscal devolutions and has no provisions for the direct election of provincial governors into office.

NYDT will continue engaging with other stakeholders to ensure that the youth convention resolutions at the convention are factored into the 2^nd draft before it goes for a referendum.

Youth call for transparency about the Youth Fund

Young people in Matobo are calling for equal and fair distribution of the Youth Fund across districts by the ministry of youth, development, indegenisation and empowerment after the realization that US$250 000 has already been distributed but none of the youths in the district have benefitted from the fund so far.

They expressed discontent with the way the fund is being handled saying that there was a need for the ministry to capacitate the youths in project proposal writing and project management before distributing the fund. They emphasized that it is possible for some of them to fail to write convincing project proposals even if they know exactly what they want to do and their projects are viable.

“A number of us here applied for the loans through the representatives of the ministry here in the district, they are the ones who helped us write the project proposals but we are surprised to date we still have not received any response,” said Lethukuthula Ndlovu, one of the youths in Silozwi, Matobo.

Ndlovu also lamented the lack of information that exists in their communities about the youth fund saying that it was affecting their chances of accessing it.

“A lot of us would like to access the money because we are unemployed and have no ways of generating income unless if we engage ourselves in income generation projects. The fund would go a long way in guaranteeing most of us a means of living but the problem is that very few people know about the fund,” she said, adding that even the officers from the ministry in their district seemed not to have sufficient information about the fund to share with the rest of the young people.

The ten million United States dollar fund was launched last year in an effort to assist young people who are hardest hit by unemployment. Each province is expected to receive one million dollars each and so far $250 000 has been distributed although it is unclear how each of the provinces have benefitted from the fund so far. The concern so far has been the fact that the requirements for accessing the fund are limiting especially to rural youths who are also affected by lack of information about the fund.