The Sunday Mail
PARLIAMENT recently launched the Parliamentary Youth Caucus, which is a legislative platform to champion youth issues in Parliament. The caucus, which is chaired by Seke-Chikomba Member of Parliament Tatenda Mavetera, is made up of members from across the political divide. The Sunday Mail’s LEROY DZENGA (LD) talked to MP Mavetera (TM) to better understand how the caucus will work.
Below are excerpts of the interview.
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LD: You recently became chairperson of the newly formed Parliamentary Youth Caucus. Kindly explain its role and what informed its formation?
TM: The caucus’ goal is to advocate youth development, empowerment, participation and representation across all spheres of life in Zimbabwe.
The youths being represented are aged between 15 and 35. However, as a voluntary organisation, the legislators will not be bound by age; any legislator wishing to advance youth issues is free to participate in the caucus.
LD: The current session of Parliament is nearing its end. Since elections are due this year, what can the caucus achieve in the time that is left?
TM: A look at our planned short-term activities will show that we intend to do sensitisation programmes in the country’s 10 provinces.
It is something that can be done. We can do meetings with youth representatives while visiting constituencies. There is nothing difficult about that.
In fact, that’s how Parliament operates in other committees.
Another short-term activity which the caucus believes can be accomplished before the lapse of the Ninth Parliament is benchmarking with other parliaments on the continent with established youth caucuses.
LD: The caucus draws its membership from different parties. Can it be trusted to speak with a single voice on issues affecting young people?
TM: A parliamentary youth caucus operates almost in the same manner as Parliament’s select committees. There are standing orders and rules that guide the operation of the committees so that they do not degenerate into mini political party rallies.
The caucus will operate in the same spirit. Also, remember, the caucus is made up of MPs who are already members of different portfolio committees, and these members are conversant with principles guiding operations of parliamentary committees.
The country and the youth fraternity are, therefore, guaranteed of a unitary youth caucus, which does not dwell on party issues but apolitical issues affecting youths as a whole.
LD: In your experience as an MP, seeing how the women caucus has functioned, what needs to be improved for the youth caucus to be fully effective?
TM: The women caucus, just like the youth caucus, was formed to amplify women issues, given the women empowerment drive.
Now, for every organisation or institution, movement or creed formed to help capacitate or bring about change to effectively achieve its goals, it should gradually move away from being an incubation institution into a fully blown organisation with wholly empowered people.
It will be sad to see the youth caucus 20 years after its formation still talking about youth being sidelined in national development issues.
The caucus should be a springboard for rapid youth empowerment so that in the short period of five to 10 years, change should be seen. Youth empowerment should become a way of life and piecemeal concessions should have ceased. The youth should be driving the development agenda then.
LD: Within the Parliament structure, which issues have you identified as affecting young people and need urgent attention?
TM: There is the issue of the Youth Bill. We are hoping that we conclude it before the end of the current session.
We need an Act that compels every institution to make sure youth issues are addressed. We need something enforceable. When we don’t have a law, it becomes very difficult to compel anyone to take youth issues seriously.
Also, we would want the Zimbabwe Youth Council Board to be fully constituted.
This is one of the issues we are seized with as a committee, and I hope we will have a positive outcome soon.
There is need to assemble a caucus of influencers and youth experts, led by sitting members of the National Assembly, to focus on policies and frameworks that drive the youth agenda and sector towards national economic and social transformation.
It is our hope that the caucus will influence Members of Parliament in their various constituencies to prioritise youths in resource allocation and programming.
We are going to advocate youth-friendly legislation, as well as youth inclusion and empowerment, while pursuing innovative initiatives and strategies that bring together the youth sector and various stakeholders for the purpose of promoting youth participation and mainstreaming in public and private sector programming.
LD: Where else in Africa has this system worked?
TM: There is the PAP (Pan-African Parliament) Youth Caucus. Remember, PAP should be the embodiment of our democratic drive, hence learning from such a model is key. Zambia, a neighbour, also recently launched its own youth caucus. It will be good for the neighbours to learn from each other.
LD: At a personal level, as someone who has worked on youth issues since your entry into Parliament, how does this platform make you feel?
TM: There is nothing that gives more joy than representing the people who elected me to get into Parliament.
We need to be servant leaders. If you see the way the President works, this is the work ethic we need to emulate.
Besides the youth quota, there are 10 additional seats that are supposed to go to young people, which shows there is a deliberate move to involve young people. Even the fact that we have a youthful Minister of Youth shows the zeal President Mnangagwa has towards youth issues.
When we moved a motion to establish a youth caucus, we felt we should not be left behind as young people.
I knew there was the women caucus but there was great need for a specific platform for young people.
When we went through the debates, we had people who had the same vision. Since 1980, we have never had a youth quota, and this is a great achievement. I believe we have left a legacy.
