The Sunday Mail
Clemence Machadu Insight
Folks, I hear we are expecting a bumper harvest in agriculture this year, partly thanks to a programme called Command Agriculture which went all the way to ensure that varimi have adequate inputs to go to the fields.
Howdy folks!
So they say it was International Day of Happiness last Monday. And as our friends always do, they relegated Zimbabweans to the category of the unhappy lot.
Kwahi we are number 138 out of 155 in the world.
Those in Iraq and Sudan are actually happier than us.
You folks believe that?
Do you see miserable faces when you walk in the streets? Despite the economic hardships, we tend to always smile and have a good laugh.
Zimbabweans are actually very creative when it comes to inventing rib-cracking jokes.
Not a day goes by without a fresh one circulating on social media, and we will always laugh and be happy about it.
The usual remark is “ichi chakanyanya”. Surely that is happiness, or is it kuseka nhamo serugare?
Elsewhere in that Happiness Report, they say that people living in Africa have, over time, developed the optimism that many things will change for the better, to make their daily hassles and hardships tolerable.
They say it’s called “Afro Optimism”.
But tinoseka wani. Although I often hear, when the last laugh fades into deafening silence, the laugher remarking, “Haya zvakaoma, maZimbabwe anoshaya zvekuita akomana,” which roughly means, “Zimbabweans are idle and have got nothing to do.”
So, in that idleness, we find time to do Facebook Live, invent jokes and laugh.
Then you hear the Happiness Report saying we are a bunch unhappy folks!
Ah! Isu manje! Tinodonhedza musika wemafaro!
Well, perhaps they are right as their definition of happiness is measured by indicators such as GDP per capita, healthy years of life expectancy, social support, trust (as measured by a perceived absence of corruption in government and business), perceived freedom to make life decisions; generosity (as measured by recent donations) and a whole lot of other stuff like that.
But I would like to borrow the earlier remark that we often use — kushaya zvekuita (idleness) — to move into the issue that I want to air today.
Idleness is really a reality in our nation, especially amongst the youths. Reminds of a passage in the Good Book which says, “(The master) was in town again and sawmore (labourers) standing around. And he said to them, ‘Why do you stand here Idle all day?’ They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’” (Matthew 20:6-7)
You see, if you do not have anything productive to do to earn an income, you normally find yourself idle, usina kana zvekuita. And it’s depressing.
Some youths try to create a fantasy world around them by doing bottoms up on musombodhiya, or just about anything cheap to get high or drunk.
Ndopaunozoona kuti haazi mafunnies.
Some refer to that idleness as “unemployment”. And they are right. I feel for the unemployed youths, folks.
You will agree that I have written many times on this subject.
I am not planning to stop as long as I still see youths who are idle in town because no one has hired them.
Folks, there is nothing as dangerous as an idle youth.
This is why I believe that youth unemployment is one of the worst diseases; probably a national security issue, it is a bomb — it is everything we don’t like.
When you begin to understand the effects of youth unemployment, you will appreciate why it requires urgent attention.
I have touched on that in my previous writings.
Folks, I hear we are expecting a bumper harvest in agriculture this year, partly thanks to a programme called Command Agriculture which went all the way to ensure that varimi have adequate inputs to go to the fields.
Following the success of this programme, Vice-President Mnangagwa said, “Command Agriculture has performed beyond expectations.
What we are looking at as Government is to have Command Mining, Command Health, Command Education so that we can revive our economy through these models.”
My plea with government is to wear the oversized shoes of an unemployed youth just for a month.
At the end of that period, they will agree with me that we need Command Jobs Creation in this economy.
A deliberate programme that is adequately funded with all political will unleashed on it — just for the creation of jobs for the youths.
But while we wait for that to make sense to the policy-maker, we need short term solutions that can cushion the situation.
Why not, for instance, make it mandatory for companies to take up young graduates as interns.
Government can sweeten the deal by incentivising employers to recruit more interns.
But it’s also really a matter of companies taking the social responsibility of investing the economy they want to see in the future by considering the merits of taking up some youths as interns.
If the current youths, who constitute the majority of the population, stay unemployed for many years, it means that nobody will have incomes and low income means weak domestic demand, which implies that even the companies themselves will not benefit from such a scenario.
Banks like FBC and Barclays should be applauded for employing hundreds of internships within their ranks.
We really can’t say we are doing enough to deal with youth unemployment folks. Or are we?
I believe that most stones where our fortunes lie are not yet turned.
And just a shout-out to the erstwhile columnist on this page, who now is also Minister of Youth, Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment: The youths are still waiting to see the light at the end of the Zimbabwe Youth Empowerment Strategy for Investment tunnel.
How much more weed should they smoke, how much more bronco should they down as they wait for that kingdom to come?
Later folks!
