Mugabe calls for National Youth Service re-introduction

PRESIDENT Mugabe has called for the re-introduction of national youth service to help mould disciplined and well-focused youths who are productive and ready to defend their country.

President Mugabe urged the youths to take advantage of the Chitepo Ideological College in Masvingo to learn more about the country's history.

Said President Mugabe: "There also must be national youth service. We certainly must start the National Youth Service Programme. I don't know why we have slowed down, we dragged our feet on this one."

The President was addressing thousands of Zanu-PF supporters who attended this year's edition of the 21st February Movement celebrations.

"I hope our youths are making use of that Chitepo Ideological College in order to know the past, the foundations of our revolution as well as prepare themselves for the future; chart the road of governance tomorrow."

President Mugabe said the youths should be wary of sexually transmitted diseases and avoid pre-marital sex.

He said although efforts were being made to reduce the HIV/Aids prevalence rate, it was unfortunate that the country had lost a large number of young people to HIV/Aids related diseases.

"The world is not much very kind to us," said President Mugabe.

"Even the air that we breathe, they say, is replete with viruses and germs of all sorts that harm the body," he said.

"Also nowadays, there are diseases like HIV and Aids, which are transmitted from one person to another neamwe asina kuzoti svasvamhira kuno, vana Ebola.

"We were lucky. But we have a huge section of our population attacked by HIV/Aids, and we lost the earlier part. We did not know what to do. We lost many of our young people.

"We lost most of our young men and women, but mainly young men, and when one looks at various communities, it is the young men that are gone," the President lamented.

"There are widows that were left behind.

"There are young women who were left behind. And these women seem to have some form of resistance, which the men did not have.

"There are those who can access ARVs, they are surving on them. They go to the doctors, but, still, the viruses remain in the body because a cure has not yet been found. But we commend efforts by the Ministry of Health and Child Care and its partners in educating our young people to at least take precautions and abstain from pre-marital sex."

President Mugabe urged members of the Zanu-PF Youth League to remain focused and resolute to advance the party's programmes.

He said the Zanu-PF Government would continue to nurture youths with certain potentialities to acquire skills and ideological direction.

"Let me say that as a party and Government, we recognise that our youths are an important asset to us as a nation," said President Mugabe.

"They carry with them quite a number of attributes, ideas, skills and, of course, experience that they get along the way and carry these into the future.

Hence, as I said, they are our future rulers," he said.

"That is why both our party and Government value the youth, they are a vanguard of our revolution now and tomorrow."