Unemployment and political violence

By Rawlings Standgun Magede

On Sunday, 28 April 2013, I had the opportunity to watch a programme, on SABC1 called Sunday Live which was holding a debate on youth unemployment in South Africa.

On the panel was Richard Ntjana, from the Youth Chamber of Commerce, Thulani Tshefula, president of the South African Youth council and Zwelinzima Vavi, the Secretary General of Congress of South African trade Union (COSATU).

What came out of the debate is that the South African youth council has since begun to take initiatives on youth unemployment by engaging government and has since started to work extensively with non-governmental organisations, youth groups, and are frequently holding road shows, where they engage youths on the contentious but serious issue of unemployment.

On the other hand the  Youth Chamber of Commerce has followed suit in its mandate to equip youths by  engaging  youth entrepreneurs who would want to start businesses and equip them with  skills and connect  them to strategic partners and sponsors.

Zwelinzima  Vavi  commended the move by government to  realize the need to act on unemployment .

Also of interest was that the South African government together with non-governmental organisations, youth organisations and the private sector launched a multi- billion rand pact  plan in the last few months known as Youth Employment Accord to help fight against youth unemployment, in which companies and public entities undertook to create jobs and training opportunities for inexperienced job seekers.

The package was contained in a Youth Employment Accord signed by government, labour, business and other civil society representatives in Soweto. Speaking at the signing ceremony, Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe, who presided at the launch, praised social partners for signing the deal after months of negotiations.

Mr Motlanthe said the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) would set aside R1bn of its ‘Gro-E’ funding scheme to provide low-interest rate loans to youth owned or youth-focused enterprises over the next three years. The IDC would also provide technical support to help young people get the funds.

The Motsepe Family Foundation, a charity organisation, would avail R100m over the next three to five years for youth co-operatives and enterprises, and a further R100m for education, mainly to benefit the youth. This was in an attempt to bring young people into the economic mainstream, Mr Motlanthe said.

Professional services company KPMG a private sector Harambee programme pledged that it will place 3,000 young people in entry-level work by the middle of this year, with a target of 10,000 by the end of 2014. Business and union leaders, including Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) president Sdumo Dlamini, backed the plan..

As part of the new plan, government departments will have to increase their intake of interns so that they equal 5% of total employment. This is to help the youth get the experience often required for employment in the private and public sectors.

Meanwhile, back home the rate of youth unemployment has reached shocking levels and the inclusive government doesn’t look disturbed at all.

In a recent report, the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Youth Development, Indigenisation and Empowerment said youth unemployment in Zimbabwe is four times higher than that of adults. The committee said unemployment, currently estimated at 80 percent, needed to be addressed before it gets out of hand.

Unemployed youths seeking  for jobs………….

What is important to note is the difference of attitudes between the South African government and our own Zimbabwean government in their response to the scourge of youth unemployment. While the South African government takes the tasks head on, the Zimbabwean government is rather reluctant to act on the problem.

For the youth in Zimbabwe it is indeed cold comfort that the serious problem does not seem to move the government of the day that is so much absorbed in elections, reforms, exit packages etc. This is a salient point, youth unemployment is today’s number one challenge for all youth across the political divide.

In unpacking this neglected but serious problem of youth unemployment, it is important that we start critically analysing a statutory body that was created by an act of Parliament, which is the Zimbabwe Youth Council.

Chapter 25:19 of the  Zimbabwe Youth Council Act states  “as amended in 1997,the overall administration of the act rests with the Ministry responsible for Youth, its functions is to  co-ordinate, supervise and foster the activities of youth clubs, associations or organizations from grassroots to national level among others.

It is also responsible for creating youth platforms to debate dialogue amongst youth and stakeholders in pursuit of youth empowerment. It also renders support to for Youth Associations.

The main problem with the youth council is its partisan nature since Minister Kasukuwere is the one who virtually controls it, hence it segregates and accommodates people based on political affiliations. A typical example is the way the Old Mutual Ukondla fund that was meant for youths was disbursed.

The Youth council used the Old mutual youth fund as a kind of divine clothing which it wore like suit armour, yet a cursory cross checking of facts reveals and proves beyond reasonable doubt that only youth from the Minister of Youth’s party benefitted only while the rest were left in the cold.

In all its activities it doesn’t  attempt to take the youth ministry to task on the problem of youth unemployment or even engage all youths from the political divide on issues affecting them or let alone create dialogue around the subject. Youth unemployment is a national problem that across political circles.

Such a neglect of duty and responsibility leaves politicians with the leeway to manipulate and use this group of hungry and unemployed lot to achieve their own selfish ends. Zimbabwean  unemployed youths might not take time to understand law or understand economics but one thing that they surely understand is when their stomachs are empty.

This leaves them susceptible to politicians who will use money to lure them into settling political scores against their opponents during elections. So in a nutshell; election violence can never be eradicated if the chief problem of youth unemployment is unattended to.

The last  time I heard about the Zimbabwe Youth Council doing “something”  was when it had a poorly attended referendum meeting at Africa unity square where it imposed the “yes ‘ vote to the few youths who had come, mostly,  uniformed school kids.

It was a typical political meeting as ZANU PF youths stormed the place singing and mocking those advocating for a no vote.It was not a platform to debate the constitution, but a last desperate attempt by the council to mobilise for the “yes” vote which the minister of youth wanted.

This, to me was one of the greatest betrayals of our time, which will live to be told on another day. Why did the council have to speak for the generality of youths from Zimbabwe? To me the independence of the youth council remains the sole problem that hinders the youth council from carrying out its mandate.

This also proves beyond doubt that in carrying out its mandate, only certain youths from political parties will benefit.

The inclusive government also has failed dismally to come up with ways of reducing youth unemployment. The parties in the inclusive have even failed to provide employment  even for their own loquacious supporters, many who  only get to have a few “obama” dollars during elections times.

This has in a way shaken off lethargy from some of their loyal supporters who have and remain disappointed year after year, as they are dumped and forgotten as soon as they put ink to paper.

This ,they now interpret as a move  by a determined oppressor to dig deep claws into the flesh of a squirming victim who remain in the abyss of neglect and suffering, even after having sacrificed a lot, at times even one’s  life.

To them, they have understood the new law of  “jungle politics” in Zimbabwe that states that for you to survive and see the light of day tomorrow; you must demean yourself even in the least of forms by drumming up support for a particular politician, even if it goes against your values, but for the sake of survival you have to do it, and have a lot of empty promises and a few dollars as a “reward”.

The Ministry of Youth led by Kasukuwere has been busy with glorifying the indigenization policy at the expense of its main duty which is to champion the issues that affect youth. Kasukuwere himself has been too busy on his personal diatribe against RBZ governor, Gono on the need to indigenize banks. So busy has been Kasukuwere that he has even confused and aptly misinterpreted his own indegenisation policy.

What’s important to note is that youth unemployment has been a long overdue and unaddressed time bomb way before the inclusive government came into effect. While ZANU PF has been harping on the tired and lame rhetoric of defending sovereignty, and independence gains, it has used such a vain but baseless statement  to eschew the pending and real issue of unemployment.

While they continue to preach from the same line of verse year after year, they have failed to honestly defend and promote the very gains of the independence that they purport to have brought .

The acknowledgement even by parliament or even the president that unemployment is on the rise, is not enough to deal with this problem. The question is what is the government doing to ameliorate the general suffering that people including the youth continue to face including unemployment?

Despite having rich diamond deposits in Chiadzwa, the arcane dealings of the Ministry of Mines in as far as transparency of the diamond extraction and revenue collection are concerned have left many youths questioning whether Chiadzwa is within our borders.

The Companies that are extracting diamonds there have never publicly offered any help to “genuine’ youth initiatives that are not politisiced.The youth have nothing to point to as a sign that our country is rich in diamond deposits.

The unspoken but self evident fact is that government has failed to act on youth unemployment but the political parties in the inclusive government continue to tap from this hopeless “resource’ of unemployed youths for their survival.

The Peoples Charter section on youth adopted at the Peoples Convention, in Harare 2008 clearly states that;

“Believing that at all given times the youth, both female and male, represent the present and the future of our country and that all those in positions of leadership nationally and locally must remain true to the fact that our country shall be passed on from one generation to the next.

The People state that, in order for each generation to bequeath to the next a country that remains the epitome of hope, democracy and sustainable livelihoods, the following principles for the youth must be adhered to and respected:

The youth shall be guaranteed the right to education at all levels until they acquire their first tertiary qualification.

The youth shall be guaranteed an equal voice in decision-making processes that not only affect them but the country as a whole in all spheres of politics, the national economy and social welfare.

The youth shall be guaranteed access to the right to health.

The youth shall not be subject to political abuse through training regimes that connote political violence or any semblance of propaganda that will compromise their right to determine their future as both individuals and as a collective.

The youth have the right to associate and assemble and express themselves freely of their own prerogative.”

The problem of youth unemployment is a national problem that cuts across the political divide that calls for government and the generality of Zimbabwe to be honest and work to try and eradicate. No one in more Zimbabwean than the other.

In conclusion the great thinker of old Theodore Roosevelt once said,”Patriotism means to stand by the country. It doesn’t mean to stand by the president or any other public official. Zimbabwe is ours and let’s makes it better.

Rawlings Standgun Magede is a rural political enthusiast, who writes from Nkayi, Matebeleland North province and can be contacted via email [email protected]