President Mnangagwa converted by Passion Java?

His excellency the president of Zimbabwe has shown a skill to engage the youth. The president has taken time in his busy schedule to meet individual youth leaders youth pastors sports persons and people of all walks. Despite making up more than half of the population in Zimbabwe, young people often find themselves marginalised from mainstream politics and decision making. They struggle to gain the respect of public officials and are seen as lacking the skills and experience to engage in political activity and lead positive change in their communities. This exclusion, combined with limited educational and economic opportunities, can leave young people both idle and frustrated with the status quo. In understanding this the president has extended his hands to the youth of different trades and even sat and have breakfast or tea with the young people. This is a listening and humble president.

His excellency the president realises that Today's youth need real opportunities to participate in political processes and contribute to practical solutions that advance development. When given an opportunity to organize, voice their opinions and play a meaningful role in political decision making, young people consistently demonstrate their willingness and ability to foster positive, lasting change. They also become more likely to demand and defend democracy, and gain a greater sense of belonging. ZANU PF has shown that the youth can stand up and be counted.

ZANU PF  supports young people to channel their energy, creativity and aspirations and become political leaders and activists. Programs build young people's skills, knowledge and confidence while helping them more effectively express their voices, build relationships with political leaders, and break down sociocultural and institutional barriers to participation.

 The president has met many youth regardless of their activities. The idea is to embrace the youth in their strength areas and their skill is strength and choice.

Young People and Politics  is a delicate game.
Young people's relationship with politics is complex and problematized. They are seen both as the group who disengages politically, yet also at the forefront of major political movements.  The president does not discriminate the youth and he engages them at their level and in their trade.

Historically, young people have not felt included in the political realm. The accusations that young people are politically apathetic are not great but many in this generation are turning away from mainstream politics and towards political organizing, social movements, rallies and boycotts. This is because if the youth organise a rally or even the interface it is the older people who address them. The youth are used in the background and dumped after they have worked. But president Mnangagwa is bringing the youth to the forefront of politics.

The Power of First Time Voters can not be undermined.

We should realise that power and politics move hand in hand.

Let's move beyond the claim that young people are either politically engaged or disengaged, to acknowledge that both can be simultaneously true. Power is constantly being withheld from young people, which limits and binds the type of organizing and political involvement they have. Interpreting low voter turnout by young people as evidence of apathy ignores the structural and organizational obstacles to electoral participation many young people face. It also ignores the distrust many young people feel towards traditional institutions of governance. Feeling disconnected from a process that is viewed as ineffective is not apathy. Especially when one considers how young people have been failed by political parties, including those that claim to represent them. Mnangagwa has made a commitment to move up together with the young people.

Youth and Social Media always live in the same body.
Social media is a powerful tool to spread information at massive reach, yet also has equal potential to do harm with the dissemination of misinformation. Politically engaged young people from all political and civic backgrounds use social media every day for sharing information, mobilization and to make their mark in political spaces.

President Mnangagwa took time to remove the jacket of a president and dawn the jacket of the youth   He even allowed Social media addicts like Passion Java to take videos and share them around. The president allowed himself to engage in the Java talk on camera. Many thought the president is lowering his dignity by associating with dignity Barren individuals but no he has come down to their level so that he understands them.

When he allowed passion Java to interview him in the manner Java does to his fans the president showed his humility and humanity. He showed all that he is human and can go as low as possible to understand the youth and understand where the youth are trapped.

In many areas in Zimbabwe young people have been on the frontlines of human rights and environmental movements, leading in demonstrations across the country but they have not had a chance of meeting a leader who understands them. Cde Emerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa has Brocken those barriers and has come to the level of the youths as to move with them in understanding the youths in their desperate fields. Trying to understand the youth does not make the president youth so mingling with religious prophets does not make Mnangagwa a prophet.

The fact that the president met Nakamba it does not make him a soccer star. What it means is that the president understands the youths in their different trades. He met Andy Muridzo and Chief SHUMBA and he remains the president not the bustling singer. So those who criticise him for being associated with dubious Christians and questionable business persons does not lower his dignity bit that he meets those whose dignity is impaired so that he can understand them.

Young people, fluent in digital tools, have significant power and presence in the conversations taking place online and are a political force to be reckoned with. Youth movements have always shaped and informed politics this is why politicians scramble to control the students leaders. Some of the most significant leaders of our time began their activism as young people. So the president is motivating a moment, where young people are fueled with the power of social media, their impact is exponential. 

The president has managed to truly capture the imaginations of young people in their civic power, he has approached them in new and relevant ways.

President Emerson Mnangagwa understands that Young people are the future that will support all the generations before them. Authentically engaging them in their civic power should never be underestimated. While many were quick to dismiss the President's initiative of meeting strange characters like Passion Java  as naive, many youths have actually come to understand the president and the politics.

The president has been concerned about declining youth political engagement, and he is aware that social media can provide a solution to this challenge. So the president now urges the part to utilise these online tools. And to that end thus far mobilised a new audience to become engaged in either institution-oriented activities or political expression. We should have young people to far more engage in using social media for political purposes.

It is important to note that social media is providing a new outlet for some young adults; it is a good way of  re-engaging the young adults who have already lost interest in politics.

So the engagements being done by the president with the Java's of this world is plausible and shows that the president is a humble and understanding listening president.

Vazet2000@yahoo.co.Uk