Story by Godfrey M Bonda
HARARE — The ZANU PF Harare Province Youth League has begun preparations for the forthcoming party conference, with provincial youth leaders identifying the state of the party, poverty eradication, women’s affairs and drug and substance abuse among key issues requiring attention in the resolutions process.
Speaking at the Harare Province Youth League Inter-District Meeting, Youth League Chairman Cde Emmanuel Mahachi said young people must use the conference preparations to articulate issues affecting their generation and contribute concrete proposals to the party’s policy direction.
Cde Mahachi said the youth would move into inter-district zones to engage members on issues that should inform the resolutions to be taken forward to the conference.
“Tomorrow you are going to Inter-District zones to talk about the youths’ issues,” he said.
He identified youth affairs, the state of the party, poverty eradication, women’s affairs, and drug and substance abuse as some of the issues that would dominate the engagements.
The emphasis on resolutions places the youth structures at an important stage of the conference preparations, as the league seeks to translate concerns affecting young people into proposals for consideration within the party.
On the state of the party, Cde Mahachi said the Youth League was advocating for the separation of the offices of First Secretary of the Party and President of the Government, framing the proposal as part of the issues young party members want addressed through the party’s constitutional processes.
He also said the Youth League wanted President Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa to be the party’s candidate for 2030.
“Our President Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa to be our candidate at 2030 Congress,” Cde Mahachi said.
He further called for the ZANU PF Constitution to be aligned with the National Constitution, placing constitutional matters among the issues the youth intend to take forward during the conference process.
The meeting also provided an opportunity for the Youth League to acknowledge the appointment of two Harare Metropolitan Province figures to the Senate.
Cde Mahachi thanked President Mnangagwa for appointing Cde Masimirembwa and Cde Tagwirei as Senators representing the province.
The conference preparations come as the Youth League seeks to consolidate its structures and strengthen its participation in determining issues affecting young people, particularly employment, poverty reduction and the growing challenge of drug and substance abuse.
For Harare Province, the inter-district engagements are therefore more than routine party meetings. They provide a platform for gathering views from the grassroots and shaping the issues that the youth leadership intends to place before the wider party as it moves towards conference.
The effectiveness of the process will ultimately depend on whether the concerns raised at district and zonal level are translated into clear, actionable resolutions capable of influencing the party’s programmes and its approach to the challenges facing young Zimbabweans.
