Namatai Kwekweza
Namatai Kwekweza is a Zimbabwean development enthusiast who founded and registered WELEAD in 2017 when she was (18) eighteen years old.
Background
Namatai was born on 30 November 1998. She attended Vainona Primary School in Harare.
Career
Her vision is to develop WELEAD into an international entity that will bring young people from diverse world backgrounds into a safe space where they can co-create the concept of leadership through idea exchange.
Namatai is an outspoken youth leader and a bold young woman who has a strong conviction in the power that young people have to develop the world if their leadership capabilities are developed.
She has a strong leadership track record which has influenced and inspired thousands of young people in the country and across borders to become active in decision-making, development and leadership.
Namatai is a former junior member of the parliament of Zimbabwe for Mt Pleasant constituency and the former junior portfolio member in the Ministry of Health and Child Care.
She is an African Union African Governance Architecture Youth Ambassador and has been instrumental in representing young people in Africa.
Arrest
Namatai was arrested on 19 June 2020 during a protest against public hearings for Constitutional Amendment No. 2 Bill. Allegations were that on 19 June 2020 around 3 pm Kwekweza and Esther Vongai Zimudzi went to New Government Complex (now Mgandane Dlodlo Building), corner Central Avenue and Fourth Street (now Simon Muzenda Street) in Harare, intending to hand over a petition to Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs minister Ziyambi Ziyambi in which they expressed their disagreement with the Constitution Amendment No. 2 Bill public hearings held nationawide.[1] She was released on ZWL$3,000 bail on 22 June 2020.
Awards
Namai was named on the Next Generation Foresight Prize (NGFP) Awards 2020 as the Walkabout Prize Winner on 4 August 2020. She is also now a fellow of the School Of Futures International.
