Pressure group assists youths to get identity documents

BULAWAYO-BASED youth pressure group, Education Forum for Youths in Zimbabwe (EDUFYZ), has launched a programme to assist its members acquire identity documents to enable them to register as voters in next year's general elections.

The group says it has already visited its members at Ngozi Mine squatter camp and Killarney suburb.

EDUFYZ director, Zenzo Nyoni, said the programme was aimed at ensuring that youths are not used as political pawns, adding "time has come to shape our destiny by registering to vote to remove these old men".

"In places like Ngozi Mine, a number of youths do not have identity documents, which are necessary when one wants to register to vote.

"There are many reasons why so many youths have no identity particulars, and with the little resources at our disposal, we have been trying to assist as many as we can to obtain the documents so that they can register to vote," said Nyoni.

"We seek to see every youth participating on national issues, building a country, as we promote and conscientise all young people to go register in numbers to vote next with a view of building a better Zimbabwe for us all."

A Research and Advocacy Unit study revealed that in the 2013 harmonised elections, only 8,87% of the country's youths were on the voter's roll, translating to nearly two million eligible voters who did not vote.

A survey conducted by the Mass Public Opinion Institute on behalf of the Elections Resources Centre also revealed that only 28% of the youths in the 18 to 25 years age group and 38% of the population aged between 26 and 35 years were interested in elections compared to more than 56 percent in the 61+ age group.