Youths urged to refrain from political violence

Centre for Conflict Management and Transformation (CCMT) on Tuesday held a peace dialogue with youths, churches and community leaders from Epworth, Chitungwiza and Mbare to sensitise them on the benefits of refraining from violent activities in their communities.

Speaking on the sidelines of the peace dialogue in Chitungwiza, CCMT project officer Alethea Chinowaita, said: "CCMT conducted a baseline survey in 2017 and it became evident that Mbare, Chitungwiza and Epworth were fragile communities when it comes to peace-building issues. Today's peace conference was themed Towards an Inclusive Peace in Fragile Communities, hence, we have brought participants from Chitungwiza, Mbare and Epworth mainly the youth, church and community leaders," she said.

Chinowaita added: "We target youths, church leaders and women in our programming mainly because most young people actively participate in violent demonstrations due to their economic vulnerability. They are open to any opportunities that provide them with a few dollars or being given free beer in return.

"Most youths in communities have been used by politicians to settle their political scores, so we target this group so that they can also take a lead in peace-building processes at community level in an effort to make sure that they positively influence their fellow youths," she said.