HUNDREDS of youth officers in Mashonaland East Province are set to lose their jobs as top Zanu PF officials are accusing them of supping with former Vice-President Joice Mujuru’s opposition Zimbabwe People First (ZimPF).
BY JAIROS SAUNYAMA
This was disclosed during a Zanu PF youth league rally held in Marondera last week in which provincial executive members asked Youth and Indigenisation minister Patrick Zhuwao, who attended the gathering, to fire the youth officers.
Youth officers to be affected were mainly from Mudzi and Goromonzi who were reportedly hobnobbing with ex-Zanu PF Mashonaland East chairperson Ray Kaukonde.
Zanu PF fired Kaukonde as provincial chairperson and Marondera Central MP on allegations of supporting Mujuru.
“We have youths officers who have been infiltrated by Kaukonde, especially in Mudzi, and we need you honourable minister (Zhuwao) to remove them from the system for they do not belong to us,” provincial secretary for administration Lawrence Katsiru said during a brief meeting before the rally.
The youth officers, commonly referred to as Border Gezi graduates, were recruited on partisan lines by Zhuwao’s predecessor Saviour Kasukuwere and have been blasted for bloating the government’s payroll as most of them were ghost workers.
The late Gezi introduced the concept of national youth training during his tenure as Youth minister to ostensibly inculcate a sense of patriotism among youths and use them to carry out Zanu PF orientation programmes in their areas of jurisdiction.
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There are reportedly over 10 000 youth officers deployed in the country’s 1 200 wards.
Zhuwao last week tasked party leaders to compile a list of the officers accused of double-dipping and submit the list to his office.
“I have heard all that was said concerning some youth officers. Just compile the list of all who are accused of dealing with the enemy and then we will see what we can do with them,” Zhuwao said.
