We’ll save the lost generations

Dr Obert Moses Mpofu

COMRADES, we have an important task at hand. The most eminent liberators of this land were quite young when they made the decision to fight for the liberation of our motherland.

Zimbabwe’s youth make up more than 60 percent of our population.

These individuals are amongst the brightest on the planet.

They are educated, enterprising and are doing quite well as entrepreneurs, all thanks to the policies that have been introduced by the ZANU PF-led Government.

The success amongst our youth is impressive and we are more than proud of their achievements. After all, this is what we envisioned when we liberated Zimbabwe.

We always wanted to see our own prosper in the country of their birth.

Simply put, it is this demographic that is key to our country’s future.

We need to tap into this group to ensure we sustainably safeguard our national interests. There is, therefore, much work to be done in terms of ideological orientation amongst our youth. They need to understand what our country stands for and ensure that they maintain our values.

We cannot afford to see our identity fade away.

Our youth should exude this identity in every facet of their lives.

They should be inclined towards national pride.

National pride stimulates hard work and results in positive outputs for our nation.

However, the task is far from easy.

We seem to have two sets of youth — those who are aware of the national interest and others with no idea of what it means to be Zimbabwean.

The latter have been lost to opposition politics and have been enticed by our detractors.

They are the ones who have become the lost generation and need saving.

They will be saved through the efforts of national institutions such as the Chitepo School of Ideology and the National Youth Service.

These are efforts that will be instrumental in building the right kind of cadre required to drive our nation forward.

It is by the blood and sweat of yesteryear’s youth that our nation was saved, and it is by the strength of our youth that prosperity will be achieved.

The experience from the older generation and the strength of the younger generations combined will spur our beloved Zimbabwe.

There is a need to strike a balance between the old and the young, the past and the present.

The young should tap into the old as much as they can. At the same time, the old should ensure that they instil and impart proper values and ideology in the young.

We have very little time to achieve this task.  Our enemies are not resting; they have been making concerted efforts to subvert our efforts at every turn.

They have been on a recruitment drive to turn some of our young people against their motherland.

They have tried to undermine our national values.

Several efforts have been made to misdirect the younger generations from the national objectives and channel them towards activities that waste their time and are detrimental to the national agenda.

It is the youthful amongst us, with the guidance of our experienced veterans, that will come to the defence our nation.

Our people, especially the young generations, enjoy freedoms that we only ever dreamed of during our youth.

We delivered these freedoms, and we now live in a free nation where there is no persecution.

Our Constitution guarantees the right to self-determination.

One can be whatever they want, and, rightfully so, Zimbabweans have exercised this right to the fullest extent.

Many economic sectors are now dominated by our youth — in Government, political spaces and business.

Be that as it may, we have a challenge: Not all our young people have an understanding of the national interest.

Zimbabwe, like any other country, has its national interests and aspirations.

We cannot afford to compromise on our national interests.

We must hold firm in that regard.

There is, therefore, need to embrace initiatives introduced by President Mnangagwa’s Government, such as the National Youth Service, that serve as platforms for imparting national ideology, which is critical for success.

ZANU PF will make concerted efforts to save the lost generations from the jaws of our detractors, who are bent on ensuring that their mission to derail our agenda succeeds through misdirecting our youth.

Zimbabwe’s national interests will always be met; we will not compromise on that.

ZANU PF will save the lost generations.

Dr Obert Moses Mpofu is an academic and Secretary-General of ZANU PF. He writes in his own capacity.