President Emmerson Mnangagwa last week announced a plan to
empower youths in agriculture, an initiative his spokesperson George Charamba
yesterday described as a “horror scenario for the opposition”.
Under the scheme, government will avail 500 hectares of
land, 600 cattle in each province and inputs support to the youths.
This, Charamba said, would deflate the opposition youths
who have of late been buoyed by the Zambian campaign, where Patriotic Front
leader Edgar Lungu lost to opposition United Party for National Development
leader Hakainde Hichilema.
“Horror scenario for opposition: To imagine Zanu PF going
beyond infrastructural discourse to tackle issues of youth stomachs is a
forbidding prospect for the opposition politically,” he posted on his Twitter
handle @Jamwanda2.
“They had banked on the Zambian youth refrain of, we don’t
eat roads. With the setting aside of 500 hectares in each province for youthful
settlers, coupled with distribution of 600 cattle and infrastructural and input
support ahead of a promising season, the die is definitely cast for maChinja
(the MDC Alliance). Meanwhile, infrastructure in and around cities is getting
mended.”
Zanu PF is targeting to register five million new voters,
largely from the youths.
The ruling party has been enjoying the support of the
elderly population and war veterans in the past elections, while the opposition
has enjoyed the support of mainly the youths in urban centres.
Zanu PF is more worried about the high death toll within
the elderly population, hence the shift to the youth vote.
The MDC Alliance led by Nelson Chamisa, who came close to
edging Mnangagwa in the 2018 polls, is planning to register over six million
voters, mainly the young and first-time voters, who will likely contribute the
biggest voting population in the forthcoming polls.
Youth Forum Zimbabwe director Ashton Bumhira described the
doling out of land and inputs to the youths as a vote buying gimmick.
“Ordinarily, for young people who have been clamouring for
a piece of the national cake, this should be something to cheer about, but in
this instance, it’s nothing to write home about,” he said.
“Six hundred cattle is a drop in the ocean and we all know
this is a partisan initiative using national resources.
“Secondly, the ruling party has a history of promising
much, but delivering nothing. This is a fruit being dangled in front of young
people to buy to win their vote come 2023. It remains to be seen if, indeed, it
will come to fruition, but history tells us it’s one of those rally talks meant
to entice the youth vote towards Zanu PF.”
MDC Alliance deputy spokesperson Clifford Hlatywayo said
the move was clearly for campaign purposes, but the youths would not fall for
the trap.
“They are abusing the taxpayers’ money as they prepare to
buy votes. The youths are cleverer than that. That is the problem with party
and government conflation, where resources are used for campaign purposes,” he said.
Zanu PF spokesperson Simon Khaya Moyo was not immediately
available for comment, but other top party officials are on record saying there
was nothing wrong with empowering youths as it was their party’s thrust to
empower Zimbabweans.
Meanwhile, the party’s technical committee led by director
for administration, Dickson Dzora, said the party was now taking stock of its
2018 promises and focusing on the state of the party and the economy.
He was speaking after inspecting the venues for the party’s
annual national people’s conference in Bindura, Mashonaland Central province.
“As a party which is people-centred with people-centred
policies, we need now to take stock of promises made in 2018 and the
resolutions which were made in Esigodini (December 2018), in Goromonzi
(December 2019) and the economic transformation programme and see where we are
with the state of the party and then now address the state of the economy,”
Dzora said. Newsday
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