Female students across the country are calling for space to participate in the political arena where they are often taken as extra baggage resulting in apathy, Zimbabwe National Students Union (Zinasu) gender secretary Carol Gauti has said. by Kennedy Nyavaya
As part of Zinasu’s #StudentsDecide2018 programme to encourage tertiary students to vote in next year polls, over 30 student leaders from the country’s 10 provinces converged in the capital on Saturday.
Speaking to NewsDay on the sidelines of the event, Gauti said although demographically women were the majority, that has barely translated to representation.
“Just like in our society generally, females are the majority in tertiary institutions this means that they are the heart when it comes to decision-making, so we are encouraging them not only to register, but also participate and defend their votes,” she said.
With less than a month left before the biometric voter registration (BVR) closes, Zinasu national president Alistar Pfunye said their programme will stretch to all 13 political provinces in the country to mobilise students who could influence registration in communities as thought leaders.
“We are training our institutions on key strategies on how they can go back and mobilise different students coming from different backgrounds to understand the importance of participating in electoral processes,” he said.
According to Pfunye, an elected government defines the future of the young, hence, the drive to encourage youths to register and participate.
“We know that young people constitute the critical population, we are more than 60% and this shows that we are critical stakeholders in defining the future,” Pfunye said.
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“Of that great number, students constitute more than half, so it is important that their voices be heard as well.”
