Kasukuwere Admits Militia Campaign
CHINHOYI — Zanu PF deputy secretary for Youth Saviour Kasukuwere on Friday admitted that the former ruling party deployed militias to spearhead its violent election campaign last year that left hundreds of opposition supporters dead.
Kasukuwere, who is also the Minister of Youth Development, Indigenisation and Empowerment, told journalists at the Chinhoyi Press Club that all the political parties “abused” the youths to further their own ambitions.
“We have done it . . . all political party youths were involved in it,” he said.
“MDC have done it as well. It’s easy to take advantage of a young man or woman who is doing nothing.
What do you do? You buy them beer . . . four crates after that you say let’s go and do such and such a thing. They are young, naive and under the influence of alcohol. Wrong direction. . .wrong leadership.
“The youth do it because normally they are easy to mobilise to do activities of violence that are not in the long run helpful to themselves. I think we have learnt our lessons.”
In the past Zanu PF has denied accusations that it was using youth militia recruited for the controversial national service to launch terror campaigns against its opponents during the elections.
The youths popularly known as the Green Bombers because of their green uniforms are trained at the so-called Border Gezi centres and deployed in rural areas to campaign for Zanu PF.
There are fresh reports that youths have been deployed in rural wards to campaign for Zanu PF’s position on the new constitution.
“These are young people employed by government to co-ordinate youth activities at ward level and their duties are to attend to problems affecting youths at that level,” Kasukuwere said.
“They are looking at leadership problems in the area and looking out at NGOs activities with the intention to be involved and also to hear the concerns of young people and bring them forward to central government.”
But he admitted that there “was a general dislike” of the youth officers in the areas where they were operating.
“I will not run away from the fact that we might have one or two bad apples in the system,” Kasukuwere said.
Villagers in Zvimba and Hurungwe districts say Zanu PF youth co-ordinators are going around telling people not to be “too excited” about the unity government.
The youths are reportedly threatening to unleash another reign of terror if the country holds another election.
Posted by Dave Fish Eagle
on July 5, 2009. Filed under Main Headline.
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