Zimbabwe's economic collapse: Negative effects on young people

 Zimbabwe's August 2023 elections were questionable. The SADC Zimbabwe's election observation reported noted the many illegalities that surrounded our election process. I was a voter in Harare, and eyewitness to many irregularities that happened on the 23rd of August. The democratic process was flawed and the will of the people was not respected.

Zimbabweans now find themselves living in continued poverty and mediocrity. There's poor service delivery in Zimbabwe. There's high corruption, nepotism and political capture within our government institutions. Our roads are bad, fatal accidents are common. Today, a 25 year old musician, Gary Mapanzure died in hospital after being involved in a road accident. What broke my heart is that they were high chances that he could've lived but because there's no government air-medical transportation available. He couldn't be airlifted to Harare for treatment. One also wonders why there's no special treatment facilities in the third largest city in Zimbabwe, Masvingo. To add, there are more less known people meeting the same fate on our roads and hospitals. Besides public service delivery, our economy is on its knees. I was surprised 2 weeks ago to find out that my $ZWL (bond) 50 notes were no longer acceptable in transactional exchange. Inflation is terribly high. I am not an economist so I will not go with monetary issues. Tuition fees in universities were hiked and our own currency is no longer favoured as a means of payment. Unemployement has reached summit levels and a huge percentage of the population is involved in "deals". This is bad. Why because a lot of these so called "deals" go hand in hand with persecution with city and law officials, bribery, crime, illegal movement of goods through borders, selling of dangerous objects etc. I can honestly go on, and spend a lot of time writing about our challenges as a nation.

With all this happening, little thought is given to young people. How does poor economic and political governance impact young Zimbabweans? In a lot of ways.

- Increased school fees mean that a lot of young people are dropping out of school because many parents just can't afford. It is a common practice that many Zimbabwean parents stop sending their children to school when they finish their O-levels.

- Unemployed graduates are seeping out of Zimbabwe in search of better life opportunities in our neighbouring countries and elsewhere in Europe and the Middle East. I personally know more than 50 people who have left Zimbabwe.

- poor service delivery is resulting in the death of many young people like I said above, be it on the road or in hospitals or because of unsafe public transportation. 

- Poverty is driving youths to abuse drugs just so they can cope with the stresses of failure. To escape poverty young girls are involved in sexual exploitation activities such as transactional sex, grooming and child marriages.

- Rise in vices which have harmful impacts on society as a whole. I have explained some above i.e drug abuse. The other, less famous but deadly is sports gambling. I know I said less famous because those businesses are legal and have the required paperwork to legitimise their work. However these businesses are profiteering on the hopelessness prospects of making a quick buck. If you take a loom at the state of youths frequenting gambling houses you'll notice something similar. All are not in good shape, with a homelessness look to them, most are drunk on cheap alcohol or high on illegal substances. They are raucous and ill-behaved.

What more do you think is affecting young people? Let me know in the comments. 

Now before anyone lash at me for politicising this issue. Well, am not. I am merely stating the obvious or the reality on the ground.

So what is the solution? Our government officials should just do their jobs.

Thank you. 

I dedicate this article to Gary Mapanzure and all the young people who have lost their lives on the road. May they rest in peace.