Opinion / Columnist
'Negotiating the political economic space of the youth in Zimbabwe's policy framework'
27 Jul 2017 at 20:24hrs | Views
The post year-2000 era Zimbabwe's political-economy challenges have accelerated learnt lessons to every Zimbabwean in Zimbabwe. The Zimbabwean youth, as a constituency in itself, is having a compromised identity in their quest to realise Zimbabwe's nationhood. In itself, a discourse that is predominantly hinged on the pre-generation's narratives of the national liberation from coloniality. Zimbabwe is therefore arguably embedded in a broader economic redefinition agenda, and the youth is struggling to locate itself in that economic matrix of the nation.
The dilemma that faces the youth in the economic mantra is an intersectionality of economic dismemberment. The youth are not only recipients of the nation's global economic isolation but are also subject to the unsystematic in-house rejection from the national fortunes. The intersection of economic dismemberment for the youth in Zimbabwe has probed the academia into investigating possible solutions to this disenfranchisement of the youths.
As a panacea to their discomfort with the Zimbabwean economy, international investors deserted the economy. The effect has been the dearth of production and a crippled hope for youth employment. In that reality, while authorities advance arguments on the crippling effect of sanctions, demands for inevitable daily needs continue to worry the youth and the general populace. The consequential reality is to sort unorthodox means of survival and state continuity.
As an informant to national economic policies, and in particular, in an economic crisis such as the one Zimbabwe is facing, politics becomes an imperative stakeholder in exploring possible alternatives. The youth's involvement in national politics therefore becomes imperative if they are to benefit from the economic question. This is more so realising that Zimbabwean youths constitute the majority direct economic citizens. The current reality is that youths are in spaces that influence the politics of the masses instead of the politics of national resources. The resultant factor is an economic solution quest that is selective in endowing dividends of access to state means of production. In particular, it has led to the economic othering of the youth.
In a survival bid, the youth have perceived economic advancement as politics hence their flocking into political spaces to feed neo-patrimonial structures and benefit from systems of patronage. When the youth choose to think political in response to their problems, they subconsciously neglect the critical vessels of their economic empowerment. In the unhygienic political landscape of Africa as Professor PLO Lumumba would suggest, the economic misfortune of the youth has become a fortune for the other generation's patronage structures - a system that is not worth celebration.
In overcoming economic challenges, the youth are tackled with the quest to rethink their roles within the broader national economy. Their struggle has seized to be the fractured power politics but rather the politics of production. Production then uniquely becomes both a major challenge and the magic bullet for the youth advancement in Zimbabwe. This viewpoint is a sharp antagony to Nkrumah's belief in seeking political kingdom in the quest for economic advancement. Today's youth have to ‘seek yea first the economic kingdom and the political demands shall be added unto thee'.
The above school of thought also demands a new understanding to the dynamics of generational politics. It need not to be confronted in a blind perspective, rather, it calls for a critical analysis approach, interrogating the correspondence of speech politics and the generational transitional demands in economic spaces.
Challenges that were faced before and soon after attaining independence were acute to current challenges. Pre-independence political systems seemingly had a well-functioning and producing economy. The major problem was their sidelining of the people of colour. This therefore, led to the justified goal by Nkrumah and the then revolutionary leaders to champion ideas that pursued political power first.
Today, the youth are presented with a factual opposite. The ever evolving demands of living warrant an ever evolving mind-set, the Zimbabwean youth has to locate itself in economics of modernity before locating itself in politics to record a balanced engagement with other constituencies. When the youth fail to produce, they bully other generations to produce for them. The reality of the situation is that "nothing comes for mahala" hence youths tend to be used for uncouth practices in exchange for sadza and beer and other short term economic dividends. Youths need to reclaim their space in economics.
Owning the means of production is an imperative goal for the youth today. It is a reference to physical, non-human inputs used for the production of economic value, such as facilities, machinery, tools, infrastructural capital and natural capital. Instead of negotiating for the transition of power alone, the youth should also negotiate for a sustainable transfer of means of production from the other generation to itself.
Senzenjani manje?
The realization that with or without the youth at the helm of Zimbabwe's political leadership, the youth have to be empowered is the first step towards genuine national development. As voters, the youth have the power to determine political outcomes. With this given ability, accelerated with the harambee chi, youths have the power to ensure any incumbent political leader pushes their agenda.
The ideology should ensure that the government embarks on a facility and industrial audit to topple the underutilisation of critical national industrial components. In Bulawayo alone, there are more unused building compared to utilised buildings in the industrial sites, considering that the youth do not have the immediate capacity to rent or buy those spaces, government should consider leasing those spaces to young people.
National leaders should then unrestrictedly support every meaningful productive endeavour that has a potential to uplift the livelihood of the youths and the general populace. Apart from availing those spaces, government policy should be implemented to provide subsidy through capital for the youth to engage in meaningful entrepreneurship instead of unsustainable vending.
The above idea imperatively collapses the bizarre and romantic notion of crying to youths from the first world to come and invest in their African businesses. This does not dismiss the peculiar challenges facing the African youths; however, the Zimbabwean youth must defy the odds of rehearsed complaining. The only economy that will be satisfactory to the Zimbabwean youth is one that they construct in cognisance of their nationhood. One of the leading causes of youth hooliganism in politics is the debt they accrue after accepting dead aid. In addition, due to the absence of that sense of entitlement in national property ownership due to the genuine historical dimensions of blackness, the youths have enjoyed practices of hooliganism with the notion that they have nothing to lose. This also traceable in politics where youths think that they are not affected by bad political decisions they at times rally behind. The lack of socio-economic entitlement has cornered youths into political ignorance and mediocrity.
J.M. Busha a presidential aspirant, who has been a beacon of political economic thought in Zimbabwe, suggested rather a new approach to the economic empowerment of the youth. He rejects the culture of political championship with no corresponding economic capacity, in a conversation with him; he pointed out that it is useless for the entire nation to scramble for one option of production as if there is a charge for thinking otherwise. He rejected the system where effort is only directed to funding lip services neglecting the economic capacitation of the youth, which is key to national development.
The youth in Zimbabwe should reconsider their approaches to self-empowerment and national development, it is critical that the youth contribute their fair opinion to the political function of Zimbabwe. However, it is also critical to understand that the political environment of Africa is not ideal; hence, amidst the attempt to sanitize it, youths have the mandate to survive and contribute towards national economic development. Ilamuhla ngelethu…asisebenzeni!
Tedious Ncube is a Political science and Public Management researcher with Leaders for Africa Network.
Feedback can be sent to; tedious@abakhokheli.org
The dilemma that faces the youth in the economic mantra is an intersectionality of economic dismemberment. The youth are not only recipients of the nation's global economic isolation but are also subject to the unsystematic in-house rejection from the national fortunes. The intersection of economic dismemberment for the youth in Zimbabwe has probed the academia into investigating possible solutions to this disenfranchisement of the youths.
As a panacea to their discomfort with the Zimbabwean economy, international investors deserted the economy. The effect has been the dearth of production and a crippled hope for youth employment. In that reality, while authorities advance arguments on the crippling effect of sanctions, demands for inevitable daily needs continue to worry the youth and the general populace. The consequential reality is to sort unorthodox means of survival and state continuity.
As an informant to national economic policies, and in particular, in an economic crisis such as the one Zimbabwe is facing, politics becomes an imperative stakeholder in exploring possible alternatives. The youth's involvement in national politics therefore becomes imperative if they are to benefit from the economic question. This is more so realising that Zimbabwean youths constitute the majority direct economic citizens. The current reality is that youths are in spaces that influence the politics of the masses instead of the politics of national resources. The resultant factor is an economic solution quest that is selective in endowing dividends of access to state means of production. In particular, it has led to the economic othering of the youth.
In a survival bid, the youth have perceived economic advancement as politics hence their flocking into political spaces to feed neo-patrimonial structures and benefit from systems of patronage. When the youth choose to think political in response to their problems, they subconsciously neglect the critical vessels of their economic empowerment. In the unhygienic political landscape of Africa as Professor PLO Lumumba would suggest, the economic misfortune of the youth has become a fortune for the other generation's patronage structures - a system that is not worth celebration.
In overcoming economic challenges, the youth are tackled with the quest to rethink their roles within the broader national economy. Their struggle has seized to be the fractured power politics but rather the politics of production. Production then uniquely becomes both a major challenge and the magic bullet for the youth advancement in Zimbabwe. This viewpoint is a sharp antagony to Nkrumah's belief in seeking political kingdom in the quest for economic advancement. Today's youth have to ‘seek yea first the economic kingdom and the political demands shall be added unto thee'.
The above school of thought also demands a new understanding to the dynamics of generational politics. It need not to be confronted in a blind perspective, rather, it calls for a critical analysis approach, interrogating the correspondence of speech politics and the generational transitional demands in economic spaces.
Challenges that were faced before and soon after attaining independence were acute to current challenges. Pre-independence political systems seemingly had a well-functioning and producing economy. The major problem was their sidelining of the people of colour. This therefore, led to the justified goal by Nkrumah and the then revolutionary leaders to champion ideas that pursued political power first.
Owning the means of production is an imperative goal for the youth today. It is a reference to physical, non-human inputs used for the production of economic value, such as facilities, machinery, tools, infrastructural capital and natural capital. Instead of negotiating for the transition of power alone, the youth should also negotiate for a sustainable transfer of means of production from the other generation to itself.
Senzenjani manje?
The realization that with or without the youth at the helm of Zimbabwe's political leadership, the youth have to be empowered is the first step towards genuine national development. As voters, the youth have the power to determine political outcomes. With this given ability, accelerated with the harambee chi, youths have the power to ensure any incumbent political leader pushes their agenda.
The ideology should ensure that the government embarks on a facility and industrial audit to topple the underutilisation of critical national industrial components. In Bulawayo alone, there are more unused building compared to utilised buildings in the industrial sites, considering that the youth do not have the immediate capacity to rent or buy those spaces, government should consider leasing those spaces to young people.
National leaders should then unrestrictedly support every meaningful productive endeavour that has a potential to uplift the livelihood of the youths and the general populace. Apart from availing those spaces, government policy should be implemented to provide subsidy through capital for the youth to engage in meaningful entrepreneurship instead of unsustainable vending.
The above idea imperatively collapses the bizarre and romantic notion of crying to youths from the first world to come and invest in their African businesses. This does not dismiss the peculiar challenges facing the African youths; however, the Zimbabwean youth must defy the odds of rehearsed complaining. The only economy that will be satisfactory to the Zimbabwean youth is one that they construct in cognisance of their nationhood. One of the leading causes of youth hooliganism in politics is the debt they accrue after accepting dead aid. In addition, due to the absence of that sense of entitlement in national property ownership due to the genuine historical dimensions of blackness, the youths have enjoyed practices of hooliganism with the notion that they have nothing to lose. This also traceable in politics where youths think that they are not affected by bad political decisions they at times rally behind. The lack of socio-economic entitlement has cornered youths into political ignorance and mediocrity.
J.M. Busha a presidential aspirant, who has been a beacon of political economic thought in Zimbabwe, suggested rather a new approach to the economic empowerment of the youth. He rejects the culture of political championship with no corresponding economic capacity, in a conversation with him; he pointed out that it is useless for the entire nation to scramble for one option of production as if there is a charge for thinking otherwise. He rejected the system where effort is only directed to funding lip services neglecting the economic capacitation of the youth, which is key to national development.
The youth in Zimbabwe should reconsider their approaches to self-empowerment and national development, it is critical that the youth contribute their fair opinion to the political function of Zimbabwe. However, it is also critical to understand that the political environment of Africa is not ideal; hence, amidst the attempt to sanitize it, youths have the mandate to survive and contribute towards national economic development. Ilamuhla ngelethu…asisebenzeni!
Tedious Ncube is a Political science and Public Management researcher with Leaders for Africa Network.
Feedback can be sent to; tedious@abakhokheli.org
Source - Tedious Ncube
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