CITIZENS Coalition for Change (CCC) Member of Parliament (youth quota) Takudzwa Ngadziore has blamed President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s administration for fuelling the drug scourge by failing to provide employment opportunities.
Speaking to NewsDay Weekender on the sidelines of a consultative meeting hosted by WELEAD Trust in conjunction with the Institute for Young Women’s Development (IYWD) themed “What Youths Want”, Ngadziore said most unemployed youths had turned to drug to drown their sorrows.
“Firstly, we need to understand that while we fight against drugs and substance abuse, we need to look at the main cause that has put youth in this social decay, which is the unemployment crisis. Drug abuse will always be an issue if we do not address the employment crisis and youth empowerment in Zimbabwe. Thousands of youths who graduated from various universities are not employed and they are denied access to leadership positions”, he said.
In a 2020 report, the International Labour Organisation revealed that 580 000 youths fled Zimbabwe for greener pastures.
WELEAD Trust and IYWD have embarked on a three-year journey to set the agenda of What Youth Want in Zimbabwe through the support of Diakonia and the Swedish Embassy in Zimbabwe.
IYWD Knowledge management and advocacy coordinator Kudakwashe Munemo said the campaign comes after their successful “What Women Want” campaign.
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“The initiative involves building consensus towards young women and men led and owned agenda through facilitating a process of collective visioning by youths drawn from diverse backgrounds, strengthening grassroots movement, and promoting active and effective participation of young people in governance,” Munemo said.