ZANU PF youth quota candidate for Midlands Province, David Mnangagwa, said youths should not be misled into believing that empowerment opportunities are available only to those who support the ruling party.
Speaking last week at a TellZim-organised women and youths candidates engagement meeting in Gweru, Mnangagwa urged young people to approach relevant ministries for opportunities in farming and mining. He said:
The praxis of the situation is that under the Second Republic, space has opened up for the youths to engage in mining and farming among other activities.
Don’t mislead the youths that they don’t have mining claims, land for farming and that you are poor because you belong to the opposition.
Have the youths gone to the relevant ministries and failed to get the mines or farms?
At these relevant ministries, they do not ask for party cards or the parties you belong to.
It is the leaders (in opposition) that sell to the youths the prank that it is impossible to get mines or land because you can’t access the ministries.
Mnangagwa made the remarks while responding to concerns raised by CCC Silobela National Assembly constituency candidate Ephraim Ndlovu that since 1980, both youths and women were still to be empowered. Said Ndlovu:
Every election since 1980 we have heard parties promising women and youth empowerment, but as we are seated here as youths, do we have the farms, do we have the mines?
The reality on the ground is that you don’t have farms, or mines in your numbers yet you (women and youths) constitute the largest chunk of voters.
Speaking on behalf of women, Zimbabwe Coalition for Peace and Development vice-president Lucia Matibenga urged women and youths to push for the equitable distribution of national resources.
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