Dear Readers We are glad to share with you this edition of The ZimBriefing. The edition is coming as Africa commemorates Youth Day commemorates which came as a result of the 16 June youth uprisings that began in Soweto back in 1976. Thousands of South African youths took a stand against the Bantu Education Act that made it compulsory for black learners to learn certain subjects with Afrikaans as the medium of instruction. In this edition, we strive to amplify youths’ voices w

By Mlondolozi Ndlovu Since the United Nations’ “Universal Declaration on Human Rights of 1948”, democracy became an emotive topic across most advocacy circles. It is interesting to see how the events of June 1976, in the then apartheid South Africa can be analyzed in relation to the post-independence, state perpetrated atrocities in Zimbabwe, generally referred to as Gukurahundi. The question is; are there any lessons to be learnt from such experiences for democracy to thrive

By Takudzwa Ngadziore In a bid to quench the thirst for affordable and accessible education, without also neglecting the fundamental and moral obligation of addressing the socio-economic welfare question of students, academic freedom remains a key fight. Whereas the journey towards its realization might never be flowery in contemporary society, academic freedom remains one of the essential values of higher and tertiary education in Zimbabwe- among pillars such as equitable ac

By Ashton Bumhira “No one is born a good citizen; no nation is born a democracy. Rather both are processes that continue to evolve over a lifetime. Young people must be involved from birth. A society that cuts off from its youth severs its lifeline.” These are the words of former United Nations Secretary-General, the late Ghanaian Kofi Annan which aptly captures the unquestionable and indispensable role of youths to the success of any society and the success of any process th

By Karen Mkwasi Given the current state of politics in Zimbabwe, young people have no choice but to ensure their inclusion in the formal political institutions of the country. The currently proposed panacea is the introduction of the youth quota system. In this new system, youths will be allocated 10 seats in Parliament. The youth quota is at the moment, an important entry point but however it is still far from ideal in addressing the barriers to meaningful youth political pa

By Rudo Anna Motsi Zimbabwe will conduct its second harmonized elections in 2023 under the Second Republic. The 2018 harmonized elections were to some extent conducive for a youth vote and opportunities for the youths to participate not just as voters but also as candidates. However, what was witnessed was a snub of the youths in the major political parties and this led to a group of like-minded youths to contest in the 2018 elections as independent candidates for local autho

By Namatai Kwekweza Zimbabwe has for a long time been synonymous with human rights violations. The situation has further deteriorated with the coming in of the Covid-19 pandemic. The ruling party, Zanu PF has used repressive state apparatus to clamp down on political opponents and fast-tracking the enactment of draconian legislation to consolidate power. The government of Zimbabwe has also successfully managed to disempower the low-income earners who are in the informal sec