THE Zanu PF youth league wants teachers and nurses to undergo indoctrination at the Chitepo School of Ideology in one of the outrageous demands made to President Emmerson Mnangagwa this week.
This comes as the youth league has resolved that Mnangagwa should go against Zimbabwe’s Constitution and continue his tenure beyond 2028.
Mnangagwa met the youth league leaders at an interactive meeting at the party’s national headquarters.
Manicaland Zanu PF provincial youth chairperson Stanley Sakupwanya led the way, demanding that all teachers and nurses should go to Chitepo School of Ideology so that they do not “sell out”.
Herbert Chitepo School of Ideology, also referred to as Chitepo Ideological College or Chitepo School of Ideology, is a Zanu PF-affiliated institution established to indoctrinate supporters with the party’s ideology.
However, civil servants have been commandeered to attend lectures at the school, with police officers attending in November 2022.
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Then, NewsDay was reliably informed that military, prison and Central Intelligence Organisation officers from Harare would also attend the school of ideology at Morris Depot.
The establishment of the Chitepo Ideological College was mooted soon after Zimbabwe gained independence in 1980.
“Your Excellency, you said that we should attract youths as young as 15 years to join Zanu PF.
“These youths are in schools and our effort to woo them is hitting a brick wall because of the teachers,” Sakupwanya said.
“As Manicaland, we proposed that every teacher should undergo training at Chitepo School. From now onwards, we also resolved that those who want to be civil servants, including nurses, should also be taken from those who graduated from Chitepo School.”
His counterpart from Mashonaland West, Tapiwa Masenda, said 20% of all government tenders should be reserved for youths.
“We have seen that many companies are getting tenders and we have resolved that there should be a quota system, where youths get 20% of all the tenders,” he said.
Masenda said there should be a resolution that all local authorities should reserve stands for the youths.
“We might be youths, but we have families. President, we also want to be landlords when you achieve your Vision 2030. Local authorities should reserve land for the youths,” he said.
In response, Mnangagwa urged the youths to take advantage of their positions for economic empowerment.
“The strategic positions the youth hold in Cabinet, Parliament, local authorities or as board members of various organisations are not designed so that you have clout in your social circles.
“Kuti muremere mastreets, Kwete! (so that you become bigwigs in the streets, no!) You have a duty to leverage on those portfolios to wholeheartedly serve the young people of Zimbabwe,” he said.
“So far, I commend the majority of those appointed for showing zeal to learn and serve. To sustain the current growth trajectory and further accelerate our country’s modernisation and industrialisation, it is critically important that the youth league promotes and inculcates a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship, driven by science and technology.”
Meanwhile, the party’s national secretary for youth affairs, Tino Machakaire, has said he will not silence his members on the party’s succession politics.
Machakaire said it was his duty to protect the right to freedom of expression for his members when they wade into the contentious succession politics.
“I cannot gag them when they express their desire for the President to continue his 2030 vision. I have to protect their rights to continue speaking their mind,” he said.
“I have an obligation to take their views to the presidium as their leader since I am the bridge between the President and the youth league.”
However, Mnangagwa reaffirmed his commitment to upholding the Constitution on the two five-year term limit.
He urged Zanu PF members to respect and abide by the party’s rules and regulations, emphasising the need for loyalty and defence of party interests.
During the meeting, the youth league members, in their resolutions, said: “We have seen the wonderful work you are doing, Your Excellency, therefore, we want you to continue leading the country until your vision, Vision 2030 has been achieved.”