Prior to 2013, youth in Zimbabwe were often employed as the foot soldiers of senior politicians and political parties in order to weaken their competitors through voter intimidation and politically motivated violence.
Furthermore, many youth feel marginalized and believe that the dominant political parties are not interested in including them in the decision making and agenda-setting processes. The perception in the political sphere paints youth as naïve and too young and inexperienced. Youth, from this angle, are taken for granted and only viewed as supporters without any real input.
Over the last three general Zimbabwe elections, however, youth participation has changed and become more constructive. Youth have campaigned for peaceful elections, while participating in new and innovative ways. In particular, youth have partnered with civil society organisations and churches and used social media platforms to promote youth-oriented messages, sharing voter information to mobilize other youth, especially in urban areas. This has gone a long way towards contributing to the generally peaceful environment experienced in recent elections.
The increased participation and mobilization of youth has led to an increase of youth as a percentage of the vote from 44% in 2018 to 76%, according to an Afrobarometer survey. With Zimbabwe’s youth currently constituting 67.7% of the country’s entire population, the prominence of their participation in electoral processes cannot be underestimated. Though the youth’s underrepresentation in parliament is still an issue, considering their large demographic representation, it is worth noting that there were improvements in the 2023 election when 35 young people were elected to the National Assembly, making up 12.5% of the allocation. This improvement was largely a result of a newly introduced youth quota. This is because out of the 35 youth legislators, 17 were openly elected while 10 and eight went through the youth and women’s quotas respectively. Before that, only five out of 260 parliamentarians were youth, representing 1.92% of the total.
Despite these recent successes, the youth continue facing several impediments encumbering them from fruitfully participating in electoral processes, with far-reaching negative implications for peace. This includes marginalisation, lack of resources, and a restrictive and harsh political environment. The more the youth remain without a voice in decision-making processes, the more they are alienated, exploited, and vulnerable to commit violence.
In this regard, Zimbabwean youth can work to build peace by not only turning out to vote in large numbers, but also effectively participating as candidates and taking action to prevent or respond to electoral violence. When the youth successfully participate in electoral processes beyond simply turning out to vote, the decision-making processes become inclusive, resulting in political parties’ election programmes, policy formulation, and implementation processes reflecting the needs and aspirations of young people.
To improve this situation, more efforts are needed to address the unemployment and poverty which make youth vulnerable to manipulation and abuse.
Enock Ndawana
Enock Ndawana is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Johannesburg. He has published extensively on African military and security affairs and has recently developed an interest in digital peacebuilding.
