Listen to us; Councillor told

Lupane youths castigated their councilor, Japhet  Mpofu, for turning a blind eye on youth issues despite giving their recommendations to council. This came to light at a public accountability meeting held by the National Youth Development Trust (NYDT) in Masenyane.

Young people felt that it was pointless to convene meetings to discuss priorities for 2015 because the council has in the past failed to action the recommendations from young people.

“We are always called to meetings and asked for our views, but what is common is that young people are often not welcome at these meetings and most often than not older people’s contributions take precedence over ours,” said Delani Nyoni . “During the last consultative meeting we attended we requested that a youth center be built in the ward, but a dip tank was prioritized in place of that,” he said. 

Young people in most of NYDT’s project areas have cited cultural factors as the major obstacle to their participation in budget consultative meetings and other community platforms. The patriarchal nature of Zimbabwe’s society has contributed to young people being shut out from the public sphere as they are not allowed to speak in the presence of adults.

The councillor Mpofu told young people that their requests were a priority; however actioning these requests takes time as the Kusile Rural District Council (KRDC) is largely depended on donor funds to carry out development projects.

“Unlike in the cities we do not collect as much revenue, as such the KRDC has very little money to use to develop Lupane,” said Mpofu. “We therefore are undertaking projects one at a time. It does not mean one project is more important than the other.”

The councilor further told young people not to despair contributing in meetings as their needs would eventually be addressed despite the long time frame in between.

During the meeting, young people got a chance to identify key issues to be included in the 2015 KRDC budget. Amongst the issues, young people felt that there was need for the KRDC to set aside a fund for incoming generation projects for young people.Most young people in Lupane are unemployed and as such they feel that income generating projects will help them sustain a living. They lamented that the timber rich area has not created any jobs for them as such they need alternatives that will contribute to their livelihoods.

“Most of us young people are not employed, therefore we need a fund for income generating projects,” said Brighton Mgayo. “Some of us tried to chop and sell firewood so that we make a living, but our efforts soon came to naught as the Environment Management Agency (EMA) came with laws to be followed which are quite stiff for us young people who cannot afford to pay for licenses,” he said. 

The young women present at the meeting felt that the building of a clinic at Mthanyelwana should be prioritized because they cannot afford to travel long distances. They said there was need to have health facilities located within walking distance from community members. 

The councilor advised young people to form a committee which would be responsible for pushing youth issues to community leaders. He also pledged to take young people’s issues further.