The precursor was the arrest of Robert Mugabe (Jnr) on the eve of the controversial Robert Mugabe National Youth Day, which is the offspring of the 21st of February movement which used to celebrate the birthday of the late President Mugabe.
Robert Mugabe (Jnr) was arrested for malicious damage to property on which he destroyed property valued at $12 000 US. He was given a bail on the condition that the parties to the case have a discussion on the case outside the precincts of the courts but the case remaining unwithdrawn in the judicial courts.
The arrest of the son of the late President is an allegory of how the future of the Zimbabwean youths is prisoned by the way the country is being malicious run down by the very people who are perceived as friends unlike the former colonial masters who were hostile.
The current President of Zimbabwe alongside his vice and several top government officials had the audacity of using national resources to fly several kilometers from the capital to officiate on the prisoned national public day.
President E Mnangagwa publicly acknowledged the poverty that hits hard the youth of Zimbabwe and urges the youth to desist from flocking to South Africa for greener pastures as the Zimbabwean economy is growing.
The continued moving out of the country by the youth is a clear testimony of the hard times and the youth might be blind to the growth proclaimed by the elderly leadership.
Research reviews that people between the age of 15 and 35 constitute one-third of Africa’s population. However, youth’s influence on national politics remains limited.
With the nation moving towards harmonised election the youth day might have proved to be so important in the political calendar that the whole presidium had to avail themself to the youth as an exhibition of solidarity with them, of which the youth hardly influence the direction of the politics.
A caged future of the youth as depicted by the arrest of the son of the controversial late gallant son of the soil on the eve of the national youth day is symbolic of how the youth’s future is bleak.
The elderly canvass for electoral votes from the youth and after the elections throw the hopes and aspirations of the poor youth in the jail.
A temporary reprieve is given as free bail, but the charges remain unwithdrawn so as to keep the youth in check and use them when they feel like if they choose not to tour the line in future.
Hungry and unemployed youth, prone to drug and or substance abuse are useable politically. The scourge on substance abuse had been bedeviling the community for long and it seems like the top men in the land had just realised the debilitating effect just recently.
The youth are key democratic stakeholders in the sustainable development of the country, a statement expressed in the African Youth Charter: ‘Africa’s greatest resources is its youthful population and through their active and full participation, Africans can surmount the difficulties that lie ahead’.
The next year’s chapter of national youth day should be a moniker of the true aspirations of the youth and not the aspersions casted by the elites. It will be a youth day that will be.