Youth used as political guns in Zim

The Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP) has revealed that in Zimbabwe youth are used as political guns mostly by the ruling party to coerce people and force them to support it.

In its December 2015 report ZPP said the highest number of perpetrators was found in the 30 – 59 years age group. Very few were above 69
years of age. This trend has been consistent always and demonstrates the fact that youths are used as ‘hired guns' in political conflicts.

"Like previous months, December showed the number of male victims of violence being more than that of women. Male victims were 260,
while female victims were 142. Last month had more men victims at 252, while women were at 142. However, it is key to note that not all cases
of violence are reported or in broad daylight. Others occur out of sight," ZPP reported.

ZPP said the number of male perpetrators of violence for December was 219 which was slightly lower than in November which had 317.

"December male perpetrators figure is more than ten times that of women which stands at 22. This shows that men were more likely to
perpetrate violence than women. In comparison November had 21 females, a trend that shows a very slight increase in women perpetrators of violence," reported ZPP.