The following is
a brief summary of the outcome of a Youth Think Tank convened by the NYDT to
discuss young people’s views on the feasibility of holding general elections
this year.
Context
The debate on
elections has been tossed across two main political parties with each political
party creating media hype on when Zimbabwe will be best suited for elections. One
of the proposals underlined by the Zimbabwe African National Party-Patriotic
Front (ZANU PF) is that the elections will be held this year ‘with or without a
new constitution’. The party argues that the collapse of the Global Political
Agreement (GPA) is long overdue and as such, President Robert Mugabe should use
the powers accorded to him through the Lancaster House Constitution to call for
the elections immediately. On the other hand, the Movement for Democratic Change
led by Mr. Morgan Tsvangirai has indicated that elections will only be
conducted in March 2013.
Given the fact
that elections in general tend to affect the youths in Zimbabwe by turning
youths into susceptible tools for political machinations, the National Youth
Development Trust (NYDT) conducted a youth think tank meeting meant to get the
views from young people on their view regarding the elections in Zimbabwe.
