Unemployed graduates to stage demo

By Tatenda Dewa | Harare Bureau |

A new formation of tertiary graduates, the Zimbabwe Coalition for Unemployed Graduates, will  hold a demonstration in Harare on 3 August to protest high levels of unemployment and poverty.

The demonstration, #thisblackgown,  will roll under the tagline, “Education without action is absolute betrayal”.

According to a heads-up message by the organisers, the protest will commence at 10am at the corner of Cameroon Street and Speke Avenue in the capital.

Recent estimates by pressure groups say some two million graduates from Zimbabwean institutions of tertiary and higher learning are not employed.

In the run-up to the 2013 general elections that it won with a contested landslide, Zanu PF promised 2.2 million jobs, but unemployment worsened from around 80 percent then to the current estimates of more than 90 percent as industries folded and thousands were retrenched.

“On 3 August, we shall indeed show this government that there are no jobs here. All those that graduated from polytechnics or university— whether they have a degree, diploma or certificate—are graduates and deserve to be at work. This government has failed us,” said one of the organisers, who said he was a Zanu PF youth.

“When we stand up and tell them that they have failed as leaders, they say we are under western influence. They are trying to create the impression that we cannot think on our own or see things independently,” added the organiser.

He urged graduates to travel from all corners of the country to participate in the demonstration and warned against a recent Zanu PF move to buy youths with residential stands. Nehanda Radio