TYC descends on Africa - it is time dictators and looters began to run

JOHANNESBURG - Zimbabwean youths here have formed The Youth Chapter, an empowerment organization that seeks to put young people on the driving seat on the economic, political and social issues of the African continent.

Disgruntled at the way politicians have taken the masses for granted, TYC wants the youth to seize the stage and determine the future of the continent.

"We want to take drastic measures that will see young people - the Generation 40, drive the economy, shape the social life and determine the political discourse on the African continent and we remain unapologetic about the path we have chosen. This is the time dictators and looters started running," said TYC Director of Communications, Mxolisi Ncube.

"We have been standing on the sidelines for far too long while geriatrics kill our relatives, loot our resources and destroy our future. This is the time the young people's voice sounded a death knell to the dictatorial tendencies and looting sprees that have reign supreme on the continent. From Cape to Cairo, Africa shall reverberate to the sound of the youth, who must shape the destiny of the continent."

TYC Secretary General, Skhumbuzo Maduna, urged young people to join the movement in numbers to fight malevolent dictatorship across the African continent.

"Young people should immediately address the wrongs that have been inflicted on the masses by the geriatrics in African politics," said Maduna.

"The wrongs we seek to condemn and bring to a full stop have been well-calculated and so malignant that modern civilisation cannot tolerate their being ignored because we cannot survive their being repeated.

"What makes the pursuit of justice significant is that some of these dictators like Robert Mugabe, Omar Al Bashir, Dennis Sassou Nguesso, Paul Biya and King Mswati III continue to represent sinister influences that will lurk in the world long after their bodies have returned to dust. They are living symbols of racial and tribal hatred, terrorism and violence and the arrogance and cruelty of power."

He said the youth were being disadvantaged under dictatorships.

"They have so identified themselves with the philosophies of abusing youths they conceived and with the forces they directed that any tenderness to them is a victory and an encouragement to all the evils which are attached to their names. Civilisation can afford no compromise with the social forces which would gain renewed strength if we deal ambiguously or indecisively with the people in whom those forces now precariously survive," added Maduna.

TYC President, Butholezwe Nyathi, urged unity among young people.

"We have seen some political parties thriving on dividing young people and abusing them to push their violent agendas. We are here to stop such behaviours and we need a united front to conquer in our quest," he said.