Youth Dialogue Forum
_Press Statement_

VIDEO LOADING BELOW…

On the 14th of February 2019, the leadership of youth wings from various political parties and independent candidates who participated in the last harmonized elections came under one banner and launched the youth dialogue forum (YODIF;) whose main thrust is hinged on having youths from all political persuasions coming together to promote peace, unity and cohesion towards socio-economic transformation in the country.

It is from this background that YODIF wishes to further notify all relevant stakeholders of its existence.

Zimbabwean Youths, from all political persuasions have for long been victims of isolation with regards to various pertinent issues of the nation. This brings us to the issue of POLAD. YODIF would like to make it categorically clear that as youths we are behind the dialogue process by our principals and we hope and pray that eventually all political players will eventually participate in order to make Zimbabwe reclaim her role as the Jewel of Africa. It has become clear that the problems affecting our nation are stemming from politics and can be best addressed through political avenues. Henceforth; political players should not utilize these problems as leverage to gain political mileage, but should rather consider the plight of the masses as top priority and be prompted to unite towards the socio-economic transformation of our nation.

As youths we are tired of being exploited as objects to achieve individuals� selfish goals. We are tired of being tricked; being divided along political lines; to pave way for selfish agendas. We are tired of being manipulated to fight one another, destroying property and killing each other to settle political scores. We now come, united as one to claim our space and realize our mandate of developing our Nation as well as to enjoy all the milk and honey that our Nation is blessed with.

To our Principals, we appeal to you to treat this dialogue as a life transforming initiative; one that seeks to secure the future of Zimbabweans and not to treat this as a mere power sharing arrangement. We also want to highlight that the negotiations are incomplete without the participation of youths who constitute the majority of the population of the Nation and the most affected group, pertaining to the current socio economic situation in our country. At our levels as youths, through our convener, we have already taken steps to involve youths� from the political players whose Principals are yet to join the National dialogue.

YODIF is now fully functional and will keep updating the Nation, through the fourth estate of all its programs.