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Cde Owen Ncube

Sukoluhle Ndlovu, Midlands Correspondent
THE country’s National Youth Service (NYS) programme is in line with regional and international statutes, a Cabinet Minister has said.

Officiating at a graduation ceremony of 320 NYS graduands at Dadaya Training Centre at the weekend, Midlands Minister of State for Provincial Affairs, Cde Owen Ncube said the programme is necessary as it instils a sense of patriotism in youths. Ninety females and 230 males drawn from the county’s ten provinces graduated.

“The National Youth Service programme, ladies and gentlemen, is a programme whose mandate of youth development is not unique to Zimbabwe but is in line with international, continental, regional and domestic policies and provisions such as the African Youth Charter, the Southern Africa Development Community Youth Development Framework, the Constitution of Zimbabwe, the National Youth Policy, and the Vision 2030.

“Instilling discipline and a sense of patriotism in our youth has been one of the milestones of the new dispensation.”

Cde Ncube said the NYS training has four key components, namely national orientation, physical education, entrepreneurship and community/industrial attachment.

“There was in-camp training in which National Orientation which comprises national values, morals, youth obligations, responsibilities and rights are fused, entrepreneurship and physical education lessons, with a bias towards discipline, were taught,” he said.

Cde Ncube said the youths were involved in community work including the construction of an early childhood development centre at Oreti Primary School in Zvishavane, saving the school about $1 150 in labour costs.

“The youths were engaged in the local communities where they spent two weeks carrying out voluntary work at schools and the chief’s homestead. They fenced Ndinaneni Primary School, dug garbage pits and started a market gardening project for the school. This saw the school saving $1 000 in labour costs. A total cost of $2 500 was saved,” he said.