Tag Archives: Tino Machakaire

Youth Service in Zimbabwe should start from Primary School

Bishop Never Muparutsa

BY MUNYARADZI BLESSING DOMA

The Youth Service in Zimbabwe which was rebranded from the National Youth Service; should start from Primary School Level as a subject, such that young people are inculcated with the values of patriotism and responsibility right from the onset.

This was revealed by Bishop Never Muparutsa who represents the Zimbabwe Heads of Christian Denominations and Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe, on the sidelines of a meeting which religious leaders had at the Ministry of Youth Empowerment, Development and Vocational Training on drug and substance abuse.

Bishop Muparutsa said the Youth Service in Zimbabwe programme “is a powerful, powerful programme,” which could also help in eliminating the drug and substance abuse scourge.

Youth Service in Zimbabwe programme is for youths aged between18-35 and it ensures patriotism and empowers them for nation building through life skills training and leadership development.

 “The only issue is we have 1 000 people who are starting (Youth Service in Zimbabwe) versus 5 million youths, so the proposal that I bring is that why not make it a subject from Primary to Secondary School.

“Make it one of the key subjects that our young people are developed from the very word go; to be people who value the nation.

“The values of our nation must be inculcated in our children right from Primary School up to Secondary education.

“Rather than just make it vocational issue, make it part of our training of our young people.

“So that it can actually be made one of the conditions to go into next level of education rather than do you have Mathematics, English and other subject.

“That can be one of the conditions because our young people have been trained to respect their flag, to respect their nation, to respect their ubuntu values, to respect all that.

“Then it becomes very pertinent and critical, so we were very touched and we are very excited by that,” said Bishop Muparutsa.

He added: “what we want is let’s catch them young, so that they are not by the time we try to talk to them about drugs, we have already missed a lot. So that’s basically what we think must happen.”

Chief Director in the Ministry of Youth Empowerment, Development and Vocational Training, Elias Murinda, said the idea is to ensure that all young people aged 18 to 35 years go through this training programme.

“So you can see that we have started with just 1 000 which is just almost nothing and therefore the Ministry of Youth might not succeed in reaching out to every young person.

“And therefore the programme will need to be mainstreamed in education, both primary, higher and tertiary in churches, religious institutions.

“We have to work together this objective in molding these young people in implementing this programme.

“And government has also said our youths whom we see that have really grasped the ideals of this programme and because of the orientation that they go through; might then not engage in drug and substance abuse.

“We strongly believe that the programme will have to reduce drug and substance abuse among young people, therefore they will be properly guided,” said Murinda.

He added that youths who go through the Youth Service in Zimbabwe will get priority or preference for enrolment in public institutions preferably they have the right qualifications that are required.

“And there are other advantages like getting access to institutions like the Police, Army, Prisons or even for those who want to further their education, so that they are better able to serve the country.

“So this is a rebranded National Youth Service training programme and we believe it will be different from the programme that we were implementing.

“And the message is we need to be working together in actually implementing the programme,” added Murinda.

While applauding the Youth Service in Zimbabwe programme, Davis Mambwe from the Zimbabwe Council of Pentecostal Churches said, those who are trained should not be seen to be violent as was associated with graduates from the former programme.

“Members from the National Youth Service were notorious for violence and people were really afraid of them because of those uniforms as some of them would terrorize even the elderly.

“So we hope with the coming in of this rebranded programme, they (youths) will be disciplined,” said Mambwe.

Minister Tino Machakaire, assured that such unruly behaviour will not be condoned as they (graduates) will be instilled with strict discipline.  

Divine intervention needed to fight drug and substance abuse

Minister of Youth Empowerment, Development and Vocational Training, Tino Machakaire speaks, whilst his Deputy, Kudakwashe Mupamhanga looks on

BY MUNYARADZI BLESSING DOMA

The Government has called on religious organisations to complement its efforts in fighting drug and substance abuse which is threatening the lives of many youths.

Speaking at a meeting with various religious leaders and representatives at his offices on Monday; Minister of Youth Empowerment, Development and Vocational Training, Tino Machakaire, said there was need for divine intervention as the scourge was proving to be a menace.

He also revealed that youths had to be empowered in various business ventures like agriculture, so that they can develop themselves.

During the same meeting, the Zimbabwe Multisectoral Drug and Substance Abuse Plan 2024-2030, which was launched by President Mnangagwa recently, was also presented.

“Esteemed leaders, as shepherds of the youth in our congregations and organisations, we desire to get your views and ideas on ways to effectively collaborate to empower our youths and extricate them from this bondage.

“We do acknowledge that as religious organizations, you play a critical role in shaping the development of our youth and do have programmes in place that are dedicated to moulding and guiding them as they traverse the delicate phase of transitioning from childhood to adulthood.

“These programmes promote values of compassion, empathy, tolerance, and righteousness to help youth that agriculture is not a dirty business but lucrative and profitable.

“They should start to view farming as a business and a dynamic venture that rewards if done with passion. The most important thing is to farm from an informed point of view, and in this regard, my Ministry has a Business Development Department that can give information on what to grow for both the local and export market,” said Minister Machakaire.

Similar sentiments were also echoed by his Deputy, Kudakwashe Mupamhanga, who said the challenge which the country was facing requires collective efforts.

“There is need for a whole of government approach but I would also add to say the whole of society approach, so as a Ministry, we saw it fit to say, on this challenge that we are facing, let us call and invite leaders of religious organisations.

“This meeting is crucial so that we discuss all the issues affecting the youths. We did that because we realised that there are about 5,4 million youths, so looking at the church as a constituency and other religions organisations, we realise that you do quite a lot work.

“And you are a big stakeholder in shaping the moral fibre of our youths, so as a result, it’s very important that if are doing this, we need you. It is a fact that as government, we cannot do it alone and I would like to thank the vision of our President Dr E.D Mnangagwa because he has pushed for an inclusive society, he has pushed for inclusive government, he has pushed for the inclusion of young people, women and just last week, we were at a disability expo, where we had a lot of religious organisations there.

Bishop Kingstone Musarurwa Chirau

“So that as we build our nation, we leave no-one and no place behind, everyone has a role to play, so as result when we talk about fighting drug and substance abuse, all religious organisations, be it Christian, Moslem, Jewish, whatever, we each have a role to play,” said Minister Mupamhanga.

Sheikh Ishmail Duwa

Speaking on the sidelines of the same event, Sheikh Ishmail Duwa, Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs Zimbabwe President, said the programme was really good because in all the scriptures be it in the Quran or Bible, God abhors the taking of drugs or substances.

“Because if people just take drugs willy-nilly, then there is no development in the country so I actually think that this programme should really be driven by all religious leaders.

“And according to Islam, the taking of drugs is a great sin against God, so we really support this programme.

“So we now need to look at how we can empower the youths, because we need to look at the root cause of these problems and most of this, is being caused by unemployment,” said Sheikh Duwa.

Another religious leader, Bishop Kingstone Musarurwa Chirau from the Church of God of Africa, said he was grateful for this programme because if all the plans are implemented, the country will make great strides to eliminate the scourge.

“If this problem is left untamed, it will really ruin the youths, we will have serious challenges hence we need to deal with this once and for all. If we have lost our youths, then it will spell doom for our nation.

“But with this programme, we are bound to have a better future because our youths will stop taking drugs because religious organisations have been included.

“We need to eliminate all harmful practices which are leading our youths to take drugs and we want to thank the President for launching Drug and Substance Abuse programme; we are really grateful for this.”