The recent statement by one Dereck Goto, purporting to defend the legacy of the National Youth Service while attacking the legitimate concerns raised by the National Youth Service Graduates Association (NYSGA), is not only dishonest—it is deeply insulting to the thousands of disciplined and patriotic young Zimbabweans who passed through a system I personally conceptualised, developed, and implemented starting in August 2000.
1. Legitimacy and Origin of NYSGA
The NYSGA is not a creation of political opportunism or social media propaganda. It is made up of real graduates of the National Youth Service—young men and women trained in patriotism, civic duty, national sovereignty, and above all, truth.
I, Reason Wafawarova, authored the founding concept paper of the NYS in August 2000, drafted its syllabus, explored and established its first training centre in Darwin on 11 September 2001.
I also developed the Training of Trainers Workbook, now used by the Herbert Chitepo School of Ideology.
So, when we speak—we do not speak as impostors. We speak as custodians of the very ideological foundation on which the NYS was built.
2. Truth Is Not Treason
The NYSGA statement of 14 October 2025 simply expressed concerns shared by millions of ordinary Zimbabweans. Hospitals without medicine are not a lie.
Corruption at unprecedented levels is not fiction. Institutional capture is not imagination. These are national wounds—not manufactured narratives.
Patriotism does not mean blind loyalty to the powerful. It means speaking up when the nation is being betrayed. To speak the truth is not sabotage—it is national duty.
It is cowardly and unpatriotic to remain silent in the face of a captured state, and call that silence “discipline.”
3. We Reject Factional Puppeteering
Let it be clearly understood: the NYSGA is not beholden to political parties, nor does it dance to the tune of factional puppeteers.
We are loyal to Zimbabwe and the liberation legacy, not to individuals, not to positions, and certainly not to corrupt power structures that have reduced the nation to personal property.
We report to national duty, not to political bosses. We stand for:
- Defence of the Constitution
- Sovereignty of national institutions
- Accountable governance
- Nation over party, party over individuals
- Protection of the people’s dignity
4. To Be Silent Now Is to Betray the Fallen Heroes
We honour the legacy of the liberation struggle not by slogans, but by action. That means rejecting the transformation of government into a family trust.
It means refusing to be used as political foot soldiers while the values we were trained to uphold are sold to the highest bidder.
Dereck Goto’s attempt to discredit the NYSGA by calling us impostors is not only false—it is deliberately misleading and insulting. He wants silence, not unity. He wants obedience, not discipline. He wants submission, not patriotism.
5. Let It Be Known
We will not be intimidated by threats, arrests, or propaganda. We will defend the truth because we were trained to defend the nation, not its abusers.
The NYSGA is the vanguard of national pride, the heartbeat of Zimbabwe’s conscience, and the ideological soul of the nation.
We call on every genuine NYS graduate, every patriot, and every citizen to stand with the truth, not with those who twist patriotism into propaganda.
As for Goto’s closing threat—“Kana une nharo – tengesa uone mashura”—we remind him that threatening fellow citizens is not patriotism. It is desperation. And Zimbabwe will not be ruled by fear.
We do not sell our conscience. We sell no one. We serve Zimbabwe.
Issued by: Reason Wafawarova, Founding Architect of the National Youth Service (NYS)
