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Victor Maphosa, Harare Bureau

President Mnangagwa is expected to interface with Zimbabwean youths at the inaugural two-day National Youth Indaba under the new administration to be held at the Harare International Conference Centre this week, Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation Minister Kirsty Coventry has said.

The indaba starts on Thursday.

Minister Coventry told journalists on Friday that preparations for the indaba were underway.

“Preparations are underway for the National Youth Indaba that will take place on March 14 and 15 where we are giving our youths a platform to interact, say out their concerns in life, challenges which they are facing and possible solutions.

“Our Head of State President Mnangagwa will be there to listen to the youth’s concerns and share with them the challenges and solution he may have.

“I think next week will be an interesting one for the youths, we are expecting quite a number of them at this forum,” she said.

“We don’t want the platform to be only of complaints, and we are urging them to also bring solutions, which is why we are bringing them together. We will dispatch buses to all the 10 provinces.

Minister Coventry said the indaba was apolitical.

“And let me be clear on one aspect, this is not a political youth gathering, it’s totally non-partisan , when we started planning this event, some people were saying it’s a politically-related event, but no it’s a platform organised for youth dialogue, so we are expecting all youths to be here,” she said.

Minister Coventry said her Ministry was going to make it an annual event and take it to different parts of the country.

“We want this to be an annual event, we want to be able to rotate it to other regions and provinces, it must not be held in Harare alone, we want those who are not be able to attend this year to have a chance to do so next year at a venue closer to them.”