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Bongani Ndlovu, Chronicle Reporter
YOUTHS have been urged to emulate President Mnangagwa and Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga who sacrificed their comfort when they joined the war to liberate Zimbabwe for socio-economic emancipation, by shunning drug and substance abuse and contributing to the country’s economic growth.

Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare, Professor Paul Mavima said this on Tuesday while addressing delegates, mostly youth during the National Economic Conference in Bulawayo, which was organised by Vision 2030 Movement.

The event, which drew thousands of youths from Bulawayo, Masvingo, Matabeleland North and South provinces, ran under the theme, “Creating a young people-led economy by 2030 by fighting drug and substance abuse.”

“While President Mnangagwa and Vice-President Chiwenga and other cadres had to liberate Zimbabwe from colonialism, we are saying our youth of today have an equally important and daunting task of effecting a total socio-economic transformation and modernisation of Zimbabwe,” Prof Mavima said.

“Government is leaving no one and no place behind and starting from a position that is heritage-based, there has to be a clear understanding of where we are coming from so that we can define where we can go.”

Prof Mavima said President Mnangagwa is a visionary leader and urged the youth to emulate him.

“The young people must fully own the President’s vision of transforming Zimbabwe into an upper middle income economy by 2030. This vision must be a vision by the youths, and executed by the youths,” he said.

He said for the attainment of Vision 2030, there needs to be a sober youth hence the fight against drug and substance abuse.

“While Cde Chiwenga and his colleagues had to use the gun to liberate Zimbabwe, today our youths have even mightier tools to affect the socio-economic transformation and research in the national vision and continental agenda 2063 of the Africa we want. You have a whole range of technological tools presented to you by the fourth industrial revolution and indeed spearheaded by His Excellency,” said Prof Mavima. For our young people to take advantage of these vast opportunities, that we are giving them they need to be sober and focused. They have to avoid the menace of drug and substance abuse.”

Prof Mavima hailed President Mnangagwa for leading from the front in the fight against drug and substance abuse.

Minister of Youth, Sport, Arts, and Recreation Dr Kirsty Coventry said youths should be included in all facets of development.

She said the youths’ future must not be destroyed by drugs, hence the fight against the scourge by Government.

“The youth are demanding space to make these decisions with us and figure out our Vision 2030. They demand more opportunities skills and jobs. They demand us to ensure we continue to enable an environment to fulfil their dreams,” said Dr Coventry.

“Part of our responsibility is to ensure that the work done by Government over the last years is not stifled and hampered by drugs. We cannot allow our resilient and brilliant young people to be captured by drugs.”

Dr Coventry called for more sport and vocational facilities to be built and rehabilitated to help reduce or eradicate drug and substance abuse among the youth.

“As a member of the inter-ministerial committee, we are working hard to approach this situation as a whole of Government approach. As a ministry, we have to work to push for more sports, art, and vocational training centres to be fully capacitated,” she said.

“If we can replace drugs with structured programmes that are on offer, we will be able to attain your vision and our Vision 2030.”

Youth constitute the majority of the country’s population making them a key component in the developmental discourse of Zimbabwe.

In her welcoming remarks, Bulawayo Minister for Provincial Affairs and Devolution Judith Ncube said drug and substance abuse is detrimental to Zimbabwe’s development.

“Drug and substance abuse is a thorn in the flesh in terms of the progress and development of our nation. The scourge is affecting us all regardless of our race, economic status, and social standing,” she said.

“The main challenge with drugs is that they prohibit the youth from functioning in a healthy state of mind, deterring them from best performance and high productivity, which ultimately affects the national goal of attaining an upper middle-income society by 2030.” -@bonganinkunzi