BY JAIROS SAUNYAMA/KENNETH NYANGANI
ZANU PF youths in Mashonaland East province on Wednesday summoned government workers, district development co-ordinators and ministers, and ordered them to support their activities.
The tense meeting was held at the party provincial headquarters in Marondera,with the youths demanding to know about the availability of farmland and mining opportunities in the province.
Civil servants were forced to chant Zanu PF slogans at the meeting, which was also attended by Youth deputy minister Tinomudaishe Machakaire and Mashonaland East Provincial Affairs minister Aplonia Munzverengi.
Provincial youth chairperson Kelvin Mutsvairo said they wanted more information on empowerment programmes for the youths as well as the implementation of government’s economic blueprint.
“We summoned you here as part of engagement towards the empowerment of youth in this province. We have youths who want land to farm, some want to mine hence we need to support them through availing these projects to them. We have secured a company Zimbabwe Farming Networking Initiative Trust that wants to give us farming inputs without demanding collateral, but the youths have no land,” Mutsvairo said.
“Our President is talking about production daily. This can be achieved when youths are empowered with land and mining claims. We want to contribute to the development of this nation, to implement the Vision 2030 as well as being part of the NDS1.”
A Mines ministry official at the meeting then announced that the government had availed 20 gold mining claims for the youths across all the nine districts.
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He said these will be shared across all the province’s nine districts with beneficiaries taking turns to mine from each ward of the district.
Machakaire hailed the youths for taking government workers to task, saying Zanu PF had authority over all government entities.
He said all government officials who were not willing to work with the party would face the chop.
The meeting was also attended by national executive members from the Affirmative Action Group (AAG) and war veterans.
Meanwhile, in Makoni, Zanu PF district co-ordinating committee (DCC) chairperson, Albert Nyakuedzwa urged party youths to apply for land and desist from invading farms belonging to party bigwigs.
This comes after youths in Makoni district threatened to invade farms belonging to former Finance minister Patrick Chinamasa and former Agriculture minister Joseph Made, saying they were oversized.
Nyakuedzwa told NewsDay that it was not proper for youths to invade farms belonging to party bigwigs.
“We want our youths to benefit from the land, if you notice most people who have land in Makoni district were youths when they benefited from the land reform programme.
“What we are going to do as the Makoni district lands committee is that we will sit down and identify places which people will be resettled and recommend to the province (Manicaland province), and then the province will give us the guidance on how to give them land. Our Provincial Affairs minister Nokuthula Matsikenyere will have the final say,” he said.
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