A soccer tournament organized to
bring together youths in Chipinge South’s ward 28 is now hanging in the air
after Zanu PF youths threatened to disrupt the event, in yet another bold
statement showing the party’s frantic efforts to close space for any gatherings
outside their structures.
Ndomupeyi Mandhlazi, leading a
team of Zanu PF Youth Officers is alleged to have told Mukanya Holdings,
organizers of the Soccer Tournament to stop their plans for the event,
threatening to disrupt it should they continue since it is not advancing Zanu
PF interests.
Platform for Youth Development’s
Forget Hlomani who is also the Ward Coordinator for the tournament expressed concern
over the behavior of Zanu PF Youth Officers whom he said were politicizing a
noble initiative that seeks to bring youths together.
“I am pained at heart with this level of ignorance being shown by ZANU
PF youth officers. The youth officers are being partisan by taking instruction
from ZANU PF leadership who themselves cannot allow young people to gather
without sloganeering” fumed Hlomani.
The tournament which was scheduled
for Mabee on the 13th of November and Chinyamukwakwa on the 20th
of November 2016, but could not kick off as planned due to political
interference.
“The preparations were already at
an advanced level before facing this political interference since the final
games were set for the first week of December 2016,” lamented Mukanya, the
organizer of the tournament.
Mukanya has insisted that the
tournament will proceed since it has nothing to do with ZANU PF or any of the
opposition political parties, but the young people of ward 28.
“We have no allegiance to party politics but allegiance to young people”
said Mukanya.
Platform for Youth Development
Trust shares the spirit and confidence expressed by the sponsors like Mukanya
who are helping communities by bringing young people together. Young people remain
at the heart of PYD programming. The PYD Director Mr Claris Madhuku promised to
intervene to ensure that the tournament is able to take place without drama.
“As a community based
organization PYD believes that young people must be given opportunities to come
together and create platforms to discuss their challenges and hopes. A soccer
tournament is one such platform and we will intervene to positively explain the
advantages of such forums which promote co existence” PYD Director said
Platform for Youth Development
has remained very pivotal in the lives of young people in Chipinge having done
peace building projects and currently implementing a community project to
empower young women and girls to defend themselves against harmful cultural
practices.
Inserted by the PYD Information
Department
No comments:
Post a Comment