The Zimbabwe Youth Council which was meant to unite youths from all political parties and civil society youth organizations after the formation of the inclusive Government has been heavily infected by ZANU Pf. Today marked the inauguration of the youth board in Harare but the process was marked by serious irregularities with the ZINASU Secretary General, Mr. Lovemore Chinoputsa having his name withdrawn from the list of board members.
The Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet Mr. Misheck Sibanda highlighted that Mr. Chinoputsa’s name failed to pass the vetting exercise at the President’s office, a move that is politically motivated. It is clear that ZANU PF does not want young, energetic, vibrant, vocal and intelligent youths to be part of the council as they intend to continue running the youth council in a ZANU Pf, corrupt way. They want to involve as few people as possible in the council who cannot question and scrutinize the affairs of the council.
Mugabe‘s interest in the Youth Council was exacerbated after UNICEF and UNDP poured huge sums of money to assist the council to capacitate youths in Zimbabwe to be pro active in the development of Zimbabwe. There is still lack of transparency in the way youth board members are appointed as the President still has unanimous powers to cherry pick the Chairperson of the Youth Council without conducting elections, a move that is undemocratic and partisan. ZINASU calls for an urgent audit of the National Youth Policy and supports initiatives by the Youth and Empowerment Trust to harmonize and democratize youth policies in Zimbabwe.
National University of Science and Technology (NUST) to open
NUST is scheduled to reopen for the second semester on 9 November 2009.Tuition fees are still exorbitant, ranging between USD250 to USD 600. Last semester’s results will only be released to students who managed to clear all their debts. About 35% of the students at the college last semester had their studies deferred for failure to pay tuition fees, a move that was against the directive issued by the Minister of Higher and Tertiary Education, Hon. Stan Mudenge. The Minister declared that no student was supposed to be turned away for failure to pay tuition fees. The cadetship scheme only benefitted a handful of students and the scheme only covered half of the fees.
ZINASU Visits Chinhoyi University of Technology (C.U.T)
The ZINASU leadership led by the President, Ms Brilliant Dube paid a visit to CUT after the outburst of sexually transmitted diseases which affected 24 students. The President together with the SAYWHAT Director Mr. Jimmy Wilford managed to meet the Dean of students, the SRC leadership comprising of the President Choose Kasongo and nurses at the college to discuss the outbreak. SAYWHAT donated 2000 female and male condoms to the institution.
Cde Kasongo showed concern over the outbreak and stated that harsh living conditions especially poverty and unaffordability of education were the main causal elements to the outburst. The Dean of Students highlighted the need for a multi sectoral approach in dealing with the adverse effects of the disease and thanked ZINASU and SAYWHAT for taking time to come and ascertain the situation. He further appealed for more support particularly in terms of information dissemination strategies and trainings on attitude change amongst the students who are exposing themselves to deadly diseases including HIV/AIDS among others.
ZINASU to host female students Summit
ZINASU will be hosting a “Female students Summit” on the 30th of October in Harare under the theme “Engendering the Leadership Agenda”. The summit will be attended by 60 female students from various institutions of higher learning. The main objective of the summit is to ignite female students’ energy, enthusiasm and excellence ahead of the National Executive Council at the end of this year. ZINASU invited speakers from civil society organizations and its partners. The guest of honor at the summit will be the Deputy Prime Minister, Ms Thokozani Khupe.
